The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1876-07-07
Inside a Fighting Turret-Ship.

l once heard an old sailor who fought
in a monitor, describe the sound of the
shots beating against the vessels plates.
| You know what it is to be in a long rail-
way tunnel,-how intensely dark it is,
| far darker than a starless night, and how
yellow and feeble the lights look. Well,
it is much the same in the bowels of a
turret-ship, when all the hatch-ways are
! closed. Oil-lamps swinging from the
beams, but they give no luster, and each
flame seems like little bit of yellow
floating in the air. The men grope
about and knock against each other, some
bearing ammunition to the elevator con-
Meeting with the turrets, others carrying
coal from the bunkers to the furnaces
underneath the boilers. The engines
groan and rattle, and at times the cap
tain's bell rings a sharp order to slacken
or increase the speed.
Meanwhile, if there has been a lull in
the firing, the men move about feeling
very like timid boy who is alone in
are afraid. The boy looks at every
shadow, thinking there is a robber or a
kidnapper behind it. The men anxiously
wait each moment, not knowing what
deadly surprise it may bring forth.
And as the battle goes on, it is not
long before there is ringing sound that
is calculated to fill the bravest and
strongest nerve with momentary terror.
1t is as though the inner deck and walls
were falling in upon them, and for
little while they are unable to realize
what has appened-uncertain that they
are. not on their way to the bottom.
Every ear is stung with the awful sound,
and every nerve is thrilled.
The great mass of iron seems to tum-
BILE over on one side and moan with pain
before the vessel rights herself again and
steadies herself for fresh exertions. Then
she returns the compliments paid her
with a vengeance, and her bulldogs IN
the turrets bark and spit fire at the
enomy until we pity that unfortunate,
and wish she would retire from the field.
The turrets are ranged along the deck.
They are about ten feet in diameter,
fifteen feet high, and each one is fastened
to massive upright pillar of iron pass
ing through the center and working in
socket on the lower deck. The pillar
is connected by a series of cog-wheels
With steam-engine, which causes it to
turn the turret in the direction the cap
tain requires.
Two small portfolios are cut ia the
plates of the turret, and furnished with
solid iron DOORS When the guns are to
be fired, they are worked on slides to the
pOrt-holes, which remind us of the meuth
of dogs kennel, and their noses are
pointed at the enemy. A second after
thew have uttered their bark, they are
dragged in, and the doors are closed, just |
in time, perhaps, to avoid tive return
shots which crack like thunder on the |
plates outside. While the guns are |
being loaded again, the men are hastened |
bv the whistle and crash of the shot and |
shell. which strike the iron walls of the |
turret.
Above one of the turrets there is
little iron-cIad pilOt-house, whence the |
captain directs the movements of his |
vessel. 1t has no window, and the only |
is through Sits, about an inch |
wide, in the plates. The intrepid man,
whose position is the most dangerous of
all, stands there throughout the thick of |
the fight, controlling the rudder, the
engines,I and the turrets, by motion of |
the hand or the tinkle of bell.
You may remember what l told you
in a previous article,-I am beginning |
to look upon you as old friends, by the
way,-about Admiral Worden, the hero |
of the Monitor. He was watching the |
Merrimack from the Sits in his little |
lookout box, when a shell struck the |
outside and knocked him seuseless. All |
of turret-ships are exposed to |
such danger as this, and even greater |
ones indeed, as have said, their posi- |
tions are the most perilous.-W H.
Rideing, st. Nicholas.