, 1861-12-18

after shell inside Of her walls without any re,
sponsc, We could hardly believe that we had
eflcnced them so soon, but thought that they
must be at work In preparing some larger gun
for our benefit.
BECOME too dark to get good aim. Our whole
number Of shell fred WAS one hundred and
eighty; Of these, forty-thrce were filed with
Eand-an expcd1ent sometimes usedm breach
ing wall. The shots r #hich struck Us proved
to be from an eight inch co1umbiad. At six
O'Clock We got up anchor and steamed ont to |
safer anchorage, and then al hands began to
find out TINT they we're very tired and hungry.
All bceTimmed and black with powder, our
nostrifs filled with smoke and heads nearly
splitting with SO uauch noise, We were glad
wen as to TT the effects Of little supper.
Our men hare done nobly; too much cannot
be said in their praise. Once In while I
would glance towards Pickens, and could see
that the semiclrcle Of batteries around her
her were keeping up constant t explosion 3.o OF
sides there came a 6teady stream Of white
smoke, and [ could sec that the shots took
good effect. We had already made two good
holes in McRae, and Pickens had knocked u
hole that horse aud cart might enter
SECOND OATS FIGHTING.
Fort Pickens opened fire little after ten.
We came to anchor ut forty minutes past ten,
and fired the first gun at a quarter to eleven;
At this time all the batteries were hard at
work. There were between forty and Gtty
guns playing into Fort Pickens. As we e1-
pecfed, masked batteries had disclosed them
Selves III along The beach.
Our firing was very slow, owing to our ina
bi1ity to reach them, except with the ritlcd
gun. The wind, which Was quite strong, was
directly against us, and very much in favor of
the rebels. The charges Of powder were in
creased from fifteen to seventeen pounds, and
still our shots fell short. About a dozen Of
| their shells have exploded quite near enough
| for comfort. The men seem to have taken
| matters quite coolly to-day.
| As passed along the berth deck I saw many
| of them stretched out, FAST asleep, and not a
few playing back CANNON and checkers.
Finding that all our shots fell short, We
| weighed anchor at llalf-past two, aud moved
| in q little closer. Hardly had we dropped il
/ tefore shot went whizzing in between ou1
smoke pipes, and dropped il the water half :
came another and then another, and whilt
| they came over us thick aud fast, our guns re
turned the compliment, But it was no use
our shots al1 fell short The wind was tot
strong and our ship was dangerously near th
bottom,
| The charges Of powder were increased t.
twenty pounds, five more than the regula
charge, and finding that that did US no good
we weighed anchorand stood out. Even aftc
ne had moved ont q long distance, scyera
| tuOtS VI Ll1h IEN gun Ct&lllt ullEEt1t ofe1 uu
quarter: It conld have been no other than
ten-fnch co1umbiad, or else one Of the rifle
| 120-pounders said to have been brought owe
by the Bermuda. One Of our men says h
I could hear it say "Eecesh, secesh, secesh, ST
chone," as it landed in the water. Had On
Of the secesh villains hit US, it would hay
bored us through and through.
We got cut Of their range at last, and the
We had the satisfaction of watching the gran
conhagration. # the wind changes and r
can get in, VIC shall give them an opportunit
to try guns again on Monday. We have fire
about Eeyenty-dye shells to-day. No one ha
been hurt on our ship.
The Richmond received serious damage
the action Of Friday, although at the time
was not considered to be much. 4 shot struc
the side, landing in one Of the purser's stol
rooms. Yesterday size gained three feet (
wafer, Notwithstanding the steam pumps Wei
: Kept in operation constantly. It will benece
| sary to send her to Key West, and as she goe
today. hasten to send you this letter, i
| hopes it may reach you at an early date.
question whether Col. Brown will attem{
to do much more. He has effected his p1.
pose-that Of destroying the winter quarter
| Of the rebels, aud although they succeeded
putting out the fire in the Navy Yard, be h
J shown them that it Will be 4 very unsafe OPT
ration to commence work there again, as
can and will set fire to it again, if they mak
| | the attempt.
4 sad accident happened at Fort Picker
this morning. As some Of the men were r
| moving the " flsesr and emptying the po7
der from the shells that tell inside the fort Ill
did not explode, spark Of fire from the CHS
| used in removing the fuse caused one Of sle1
to explode, killing five men and Wounding tW