The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1864-06-10

the brave fellow in cur foretop was finging
N the enemy's hatch, driving back their
Sharpahooters, and creating CONSERVATION
and dlsmay among the closely packed crew
OF the iron-clad; but not until our pilot
house and smoke stack had been spattered
all over with the indentation of rifle balls.
No one had Yet fallen. We had thrown shot
ant shell square into her ports from our
rltieu guns on the hurricane deck, and driven
voley after Voley OF musketry through every
aperture in her iron shield, and nov cur
heavy 00-pounder was training for another
crushing blow.
Present. movement was felt in the two
ships. We heard crashing of timbers as
at the moment Of collision. The ram was
swinging under our slarboard bow, and now
suddenly the vessel trembed with the shock
as our 100 FOUNDER and that of the enemy
thundered at each other with simultaneous
roar. Another sound, more fearful than
bursting shells or belching cannon, how
reached our ears The terrible sound of un-
loosed unmanagable steam rushing in tre-
mendous volumes, seething and Kissing as it
spread, Till both cOmbatants were hidden in
dense, suifocatiug cloud of sitting yapor
Her shot had pierced our boiler, and all was
lost! No! not lost yet! Our sharp false
stem, which had cut deeply into the side Of
the ram, now gave way as she forced herself
ahead across our bow, crushing and bruising
our more delicate craft in her progress, and
this stem, thus wrenched eff, allowed the two
vessels to swing side by side.
Now came the fierce duel for life. Our
gunners could only hope to iljure our an
tagonist by firing with accuracy into her
open porte, while every shot of the enemy
would tell with fatal effect upon our wooden
vessels. The guns were new served and fred,
niuzzle to muzz,e, the powder from those Of
the Albemare blackeniug the bows and sides
of the Ssssacus, as they passed within ten
feet. A solld shot from cur FOUNDER
struck her pJrt sill, and crumb!ing into frag.
n.ents ore piece rebcuud,d on to our own
deck, but the rest flew in to that threatening
port hole, aud siIeuctd the enemys gu1. 4
njne-iGcn solid shot and 3O-pounder Shell
'":lowed through the same opening, in rapid
succession, as the tough sided monster drift
ID clear OF US, while our Star5oard wheel
crushed and wrenched lis iron braces, in
grinding over her quarter, sa.ashiny he
lsu Aches that She v as towing into a ,hhpeItss
mass Of driftwood, aud grating over the
SnarC ion plates with most Glsma sound.
Now size passed our wheel q! i the crews OF
ihs after guns, Watching the moment, drove
the solid shot into her ports. The elev.tipg
screw of our PaIrott rife was broken and
ne gun could not be depressed to bear or
the enemy S port, bat hurled its missile
against her ron armoT, leaving a rent to
marx the point of its impact. \ nine-inCh
so id Shot, fired with an increased charge,
struck her inclined roof, and flew en- ricochd,
like pebble bounding from a pavement, in
to the sir beyond, AID this at distance of
not more than fifteen feet.
All this cool gunnery and precise artillery
practice lrsnspired while the ship, from the
tire-r.om to hurricane deck, was shrouded in
one dense cloud of fiery steam. The situs
ton was appalling. The shreks of the scald-
ed and dying, as they frantically rushed up
from below, with their shrlveIled flesh hang
ing in Shreds upon their tortured limbs, the
engine be, ord control, surging and revolving
without guide or check, abandoned by all
save one, who, scalded, blackened, sightlsss,
still stood like hero to his post. Alone,
amidst that mass Of unlooSed steam and un-
controllabe machinery, the Chief Engineer
of'1he Sassacus remained, calling to his men
to return with him into the fire-room, to drag
the fires from beneath the uninjured boiler,
which was now in imminent danger OF explo-
sion. Let his name be long remembered by
the two hundred beings whose lives were
saved in that fearful moment by his more
than heroic fortitude and exertion
There were no means of instantly cutting
off communication between the two boilers
and all the steam contained in both rushed
out like flash, exposing the ship to a more
fearful catastrophe, should our brave en-
gneers be too late in drawing the heavy
fires which threatened our destruction. All
this time our consorts looking towards US
could only STE thick white cloud, lighted
up necessarily by the flashes Of our rapidly
served guns, as the gallant Sassacus rose
gloli IuS ly above the storm of disaster that
surround ded her, anu challenged the admira-
ton Of her anxious comrades by the stubborn
thunderio; of her battery. The ship still
moved, working slowly ahead, on a vacuum
alone. Tie cloud Of steam at last lifted, and
We could see The grim enemy Of the Sassacus
gladly escaping from that embrace of death
i. which We had held her for nearly a quar-
Ter of an hour. and retreating discomf;ed
and demoralizeG toward the port from which
she had sailed with SO much bravado OILY
a few hours before. The broad ensign which
had waved so proudly over her casemgte cn
our approach, now lay draggled and torn,
with its shattered flags taft, on her deck and
turning our vessel around, with hard-a-port