The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1863-02-21

aeEsaa 81 asa.ia BID January FL, 1858. IS
SIR:-It is my painful duty to inform the De-
partment of the destruction of the U. s. steamer
Hatteras, recently under my command, by the
rebel steamer Alabama, on the night of the llth
inst, of the coast of Texas. The circumstances
of the disaster are As follows: HEIss,s sE
On the afternoon Of the llth inst at three and
. half o'clock, while at anchor in company With
the feet with Commander Bell, off Galveston, l
was ordered BY signal from the flag. ship Brook.
lyn to give chase and sail to south ward of east
ward. got under way Immediately, steamed
with oil possible speed In the direction indicated
After some time . strange sail could be eeen
from the Hatteras, and was easily discerned to
be steamer, which fact / communicated to the
fsg ship BY signal. I continued the chase, RAJ
pidy gaining upon the suspicious vessel. When
within about four miles of the vessel observed
that che had ceased to steam, and was lying
broadside and awaiting us. 1t was nearly seven
o'clock and quite dark. but notwithstanding tie
obscurity Of night, felt assured, from the gen
eral character Of the vessel and her maneuvers
that / should soon encounter the rebel steamer
Alabama IA ". ta4f ssau s1e -a Is ,i#
Being able 70 work but guns on the side Of
the Hatteras, two short 82-pounders, one so
pounder rifled gun and one 2o-pounder riled
gun, concluded 70 close with her that my guns
might DO % effective ~ necessary. I came
within speaking range, and upon asking "what
steamer is that" received as answer, "Her
Britanic Nsjesty's ship Vixen. Ireplied that
would send boat aboard and Immediately gave
orders In the meantime both vessels we're
changing their positions, the stranger endeavor.
ing to gain desirable position for raking FIRE
Almost simultaneously with piping away the
boat, stranger again replied I'VE are the Con-
federate steamer Alabams," all of which was
accompanied with brosdside.
at the same moment returned the FIRE.
steered directly towards the Alsmama, but she
was enabled by her great speed and by the foul.
ness Of the bottom of the Hatterss, and conse-
quently her diminished speed TO thwart my At
tempt, when had gained distance of but 80
yards from her, at this range musketry and pis.
tol shots we're exchanged and firing continued
| with great vigo: on both sides At length q shell
entere ed embrasure in the hold setting Ere to it,
the same instant ebell passed through the sick
bay, exploding in the adjoining compsrtme ent,
also producing FIRE, another entered the eylin-
der, filling the engine room and deck vithsteam
and deprivingme Of any power to maneuver my
reduction of the. Ere depended. With the vessel
on FIRE in two places, and beyond human power
. hopeless wreck, with her walking beam shot
away and her engines rendered useless still
maintained an active FIRE, with the double hope
of disabling the Alabama and attracting the 1t.
tention ofthe feet of Galveston, which was
only 2S miles distant.
twas soon reported to me that shells had
entered the Hatteras at the water line, tearing
Of entire sheets of iron and water rushing in.
utterly defying the Ievery attempt to remedy
the evil, and that she was rapidly sinking
Learning this melancholy truth, and observing
beyond range Of my guns doubtless preparing
for raking FIRE Of decks, I telt that bad no
right to sacrifice usslessly, and without any de-
sirable result, the lives of all under my com.
mand. To prevent the blowing up Of the Hat
teras from fire, which wss making much pro-
gress, ordered the magazine to be flooded, and
afterwards lee gun to be fred. 1 Ia
The Alabama then asked If assistance was de-
sirable, to which an affirmative Was anewered-
The Hatteras was now going down and in order
to save the lives of my officers and men, caused
the armament on the port side to be thrown
overheard. After considerable delay caused by
- report that steamer was seen coming from