Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1862-08-11

startling Reports from the Southern
Const--.Lhe Rebel Rama---Danger 20 our
Whole Fleet.
Correspondence from Hilton Head shows
that the whole Of Com. Duponts Heet is in
imminent danger from the rams which have
been constructed at Savannah and Charles
ton, particularly the former. If what is
reported of them is true we may we'll be
alarmed both for the feet and the land
forces IT, however, the rams wait little
before showing themselves, they win find
themselves invited to the combat by
Monitors which will block their passage
through the walls Of our wooden fleet. The
correspondent ofthe New York Times says;
TFreouent interviews have been had
during the past week between Commodore
Dupont and Maj. Gen, Hunter, their object
being, it is supposed, to concert thorough
system of cooperative defence between
the land and naval forces in the event Of
the expected attack. We have reliable in
formation that the two rams in Charleston
! harbor are nearly, is not quite, ready for
| service, and will be used mainly to protect
the harbor, and convoy vessels out and in
through the Bloekading Fleet. They are
small, however, though formidable, and
can hardly be used to advantage or
with safety at any great distance from
shore. They have conical revolving tur-
rets an improvement on the Monitor, and
! these turrets and their sides are cased with
railroad iron, mainly sent down from the
railroads which the rebels have destroyed
] 40 Wfrninia
| The great ram which now threatens Ns
from Savannah is Of very different propof-
tions. being the Scotch steamer Fing9l,
razed and thoroughly mailed (the secesh
claim that she is shot-proof against our
heaviest guns) with railroad iron brought
down from Chattanooga, Atlanta and the
other main depots of railroad business in
Georgia. It is claimed for her that she is
perfectly seaworthy, her heavy guns be-
ing mounted on elevating platforms, which
can be lowered to the bottom Of her hold,
seven feet below her water line, when she
is at sea. These guns are raised by means
of screws when she is prepared for action,
and are said TO number fourteen-twO l20
FOUNDERS rihed four so Founders rihed,
six 1O-inch columbiads, made at the Tired
epar Iron Works, and two brass "A pound
er hoWitzers to sweep the after and fore
parts of her decks in case Of her being
boarded, and to be used with grape and
canister against any vessel that may at
tempt 10 grapple with this marine destroy
er.
It is a matter Of sincere congratulation
that the Crusader joined us a couple of
DAYS ago-her gallant commander, Capt.
lRhind. being, of all men in the Navy, the
yerv one best suited 10 such desperate
work as We may shortly have in these wa
ters. The presence Of the Paul Jones with
her heavy armament is also an advantage,
but it cannot be denied and should not be
concealed, that without th9 aid Of float
ing battery Of the Monitor class, Flag Off
Ger Duponts blookading squadron is in
danger of annihilation The time has
come in which we must talk plainly or
perish. The navy cannot plead, if sunk or
mashed up into match-timber, that it has
won a 81 strategic victory" and that it has
succeeded in its dearest and most necessary
wish when driven, routed, whipped and
disabled before conquering enemy.
And with the destruction Of the navy,
should such be accomplished, the rebels
will, in all human probability, be enabled
to wrest back from US every foot Of soil
now under shelter Of the Union flag in the
States Of South Carolina and Georgia.
The small force left with General Hunter,
further and largely reduced of late, in or
der to furnish renewed legions to till the
burial trenches and choke up the hospitals
Of the Virginia Peninsula, can scarcely
hope, for any length of time, to success
fully resist the masses OF secession troops
now held IN Teadinoss on the mainland Op-
posite Port Royal and Hilton Head Islands.
II once the ram succeeds in crushing our
gunboats, the secesh will have obtained an
unmolested crossing for the RATS and
barges which they are known to have been
busily building oflate in every creek, bay
on and stresmlet along the mainland shore;
and then farewell to the gallant soldiers
Of the Department of the South.
have just seen the negroes whom Col.
Barton sent here from Fort Pulaski for ex-
animation by Gen. Hunter. One Of them,
the most intelligent, informed me that the
battery is sheathed with railroad iron, the
plate being u inches thick. She mounts
10 I0-inch Columbiads, four on either side,
and one on either end, and Capt. Ander-
son commands her. The negro said that
he had been a waiter at the Pulaski House,
and does not pretend to have worked, as
was at first reported, upon the floating
battery or the ram. He picked up his in
formation from the conversation of officers
and others frequenting the hotel. He is
fully cOrroborated by the other two, both
Of whom have been house servants in Sa-
vannah, one of them being a slave of Ma
jor Gordon, Of that city; and my impress
sion is that they are honest in what they
have stated. They report the soldiers as
living on quarter rations, with the eKcep-
tion Of corn meal, which is said to be
abundant.