National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1881-04-26
A COMMODORE'S YARN
ABOUT THE BATTLE IN MOBILE BAY.
Coffee Instead or GrOg-The Terrible Fight with
the Tsnnessee-HOH Commander Craven Per-
ished Farragut Climbing Up the
Rigging Above the Smoke.

| nently as commander Of the GaIena in the roer,o
rable naval contest at Mobile and obtained from
him the following narrative of the brilliant vic
tory which crowned the cool and heroic conduct
of Admiral Farragut on that occasion:
"On that occasion I commanded the Galcna. A
wooden vessel carrying eight nine inch broadside
guns, sixty FOUNDER Parrot on the forecase and
a thirty FOUNDER Parrot on her poop-deck, with
crew of nearly 200 men. The day before we went
into the action Admiral Farragut assem-
bled all the commanders of vessels on board
his flagship TO settle upon the plan of battle
TO come off the next morning at daylight. He
impressed upon each commander the importance
Of passing the fort according to his programme
According to this the vessels were 70 be ashed to-
gether in pairs that if one ship disabled the
other would be able to take her cOnsOrt through
though with the strong food-tide that would be
running even should both vessels be disabled they
would drift through; but in the event both vessels
were disabled, they were TO SO manage as not 10
interfere with the ships astern of them. The Ad-
miral was cool and collected very much in ear
nest inspiring his officers with the same feeling Of
victory which he seemed to be possessed Of said
he: Il shall
| PRAY FOR A BRISK BREEZE
from the west to blow the smoke of our guns away
in the direction of Fort Morgan Strange 70 say,
we had just such wind during the latter half Of
that night and the whole of the next day During
that day and evening the ships were prepared for
/ the conaict-Stripped of their light sparS, and
lashed together according to the order distinctly
remember an officer suggesting to the Admiral that
| it would be well to serve out
| GLASS OF GROG
| to each man before going into action. The Admiral
replied that as the liquor ration had been abolished
and very little spirits was to be had on board the
vessels except that included in themedieal stores
he thought it would be great deal better if each
I commander would serve to his crew q cup of good
strong coffee as if it pleased God he expected to
pipe to breakfast inside of Mobile Bay by least ten
| o'clock the next morning. At the signal the next
morning the ships moved ahead according to the
plan of battle and the fight was begun which
lasted about two and half hours. As the line
| came within range of Fort Morgan the
| FIRING BECAME VERY HEAVY,
while the rebel gunboats, the Selma, Gains. and
| Morgan, took up raking position and received Us
with very destructive cannonade. As the head
! of our line approached Fort Morgan the Tecum-
! SEN commanded by Commander Craven. came in
contact with sUnken torpedo, submerged about
| ten feet under water. This exploded directly IN
derneath the vessel and blew her whole bottom
out The iIl-fated ship filed and sunk almost i'm
mediately, drowning every soul on board, with the
| exception of two officers and about dozen men.
| At this juncture the MetacOmet received orders
/ from the Admiral to lower a boat and pick I'D the
/ survivors. Henry C. Neales, who died recently
/ with the rank of lieutenant commander then act
| ing ensign and volunteer officer, had command of
| this boat. He picked up the men who
were struggling in the water, and brought
| the pilot of the TecumSeh on board
my ship, dripping wet and without hat
or shoes. The pilot originally detailed for the
Galena had become so paralyzed that I had to
send him below. As this man came up the side
he said that he had been the pilot of the Tecum-
| sch, was familiar with the channel and would
serve on my shipas pilotwhich he did and well, too
After the action was over Admiral Farragut sent
| for this man, and from him obtained all the par
| tculars known of the last moments on board the
| Tecumseh. In the conversation had with him,
| he told me that the last he saw of Commander
Craven was while he, with a crowd Of Others was
endeavoring to ascend the ladder to the top of the
| turret, where have no doubt he perished. The
SINKING OF THE TECUyIsEH
momentary arrested the advance Of the line,
when Admiral Farragut, who, in his flag ship, the
Hartford, was directly astern of the Brooklyn the
next vessel in the line to the Tecumseh not under
standing the reason for this pause of the vessel
ahead of him, ordered the wheel of his ship to be
put hard-a -starboard, dashed forward at full
speed, and took the head of the line the other
sells following directly oyerthe line of the channel
that was known to be filed with tOrpedOes This
powder sunk below the surface, with their biIges
full of percussion caps, which were intended to
explode as they came in contact with the vessels
keels. The line stretched from the piles driven by
the rebels or confederates as they now called,
some distance to the eastward of the main
channel, and at the eastern end there
was black buoy floating the surface. The Ad-
miral had previously been informed by officers
making recOnuoisanceS, and by rebel deserterS,
ri ne ms of and hot
the black buoy had been put there for. In the Ad-
miraIs order of battle were directed to pass to
the eastward of this buoy where the water was
very Deep that being channel left open by the
rebels to permit tine entrance of blockade runners
Just after the destruction Of the Tecumseh, | saw
the rebel RAM the Tennessee, again rush out from
behind the fort and try to strike some of our YES
sells as they passed. She again failed, however, to
strike any of them. By this time nearly all of our
vessels
HAD PASSED FORT MORGAN,
which was but a short distance away covered in
the smoke from our guns, carried toward it by the
fresh westerly breeze, and through this sulphurous
shrOud we could see the flashes of their guns The
Tennessee, under command of Buchanan, formerly
of our navy, then passed under the stern of our
rearmOst ships and delivered severe raking fire
that caused considerable loss of life on board the
Oneida, by exploding one of her boilers BY this
time all our line had passed the fort and the rebel
ram steamed away for the feet, which was then
just out of gunShOt from the fort and in the bay.
The MOnOngahela, under Captain Strong now rear
admiraD, the first of our vessels to rush at the
Tennessee, and that, too, without orders. Under
full head of steam he struck the rebel ram amid
ships and his vessel almost half her length on
the shield of the Tennessee. This blow he re-
peated. The Ossipee and Lackawapna were then
signaled by the Admiral to ram the enemys vessel
in conjunction with his own ship. BY that time
the Tennessee was
SORE BEsEF
by our three monitors, whose FIRE demolished the
stern port, disabled the after gun, and cut away
the smoke stack, as well as cut the whee-ropes Of
the rebel ram rendering her completely unman-
ageable, snd she surrendered. OF the three rebel
gunbOats, one was captured by the MetacOmet,
under Captain JOuett, one went up the river and
escaped, and the third, the Gaines took refuge un-
der the guns of Fort Morgan. where she was after
ward abandoned by her crew and fired. While
we were running in we paid no attention whatever
to the fire from Fort Gaines which was located on
DaUphin Island. but too far away to be worthy of
That fort was surrendered the next
day to General Candy, who had invested it with
about fifteen hundred men and carried his lines
50 close to the walls that it was difficult for the
garrison to work their guns. There was also
small squadron of our gunbOatS in Mississippi
Sound, under Captain DeKrafft which rendered the
rebel fort located in that direction so untenabIe
hat it was abandoned by its garrison and
BLOWN UP
he following night. Fort Morgan was imme-
lately invested, battery constructed across the
leck of the peninsula and within a few days guns
we're mounted and manned by sailors, under the
of naval officers. A portion Of the land
orces were also transferred from Fort Gaines and
IS soon as our preparations were completed a Sc
-ere bOmbardment was opened up in which the
ressels Of the fleet assisted including the Ten
lessee, which had been Immediately repaired and
in mission hv q rrnIr made frnn