The Republican journal., 1883-05-03

returned with solid shot. The massive
balls from the nine inch guns hurled
with charge of thirteen olnds of pow
der, struck the ram with crash that
could be heard two miles away, but
bounded upwards or fell back into the
water having scarcely left a dent in the
armor of the ram.
Shearing Oft to avoid the ra m, the Mat
tabesett received the fire of the Bomb
shell, which had gallantly followed the
Albemarle into the fight The Federal
gave her one single broadside, and brought
down her flag. During the remainder of
the fight, the Mattabesett had all the or
ders to give by signals, but her report, at
the close of the action, showed that she
had fired fifty shots, forty five of which
were at the ram, and thirty seven of
which struck her fair and square. As to
her damage, she was struck six or seven
times, and had two men killed and six
wounded. One solid shot, fired from the
ram at close quarters, crashed into the
bow of the Mattabesett, and traversed a
| distance of forty-t five feet before it rested.
This was the shot which killed the two
men, and wounded two Others. Some
thing of the awful force of such a shot
may be cleaned from the estimate made
on board the gun boat that it would have
crashed through a barrier of blanks six
feet lhick.
THE SASSACUS.
This craft followed the Mattabesett
into the fight and delivered her broad
side into the ram when fairly abreast
and not over 200 feet away. One solid
shot bounded back third of the dis
| tance, and the others fell into the water
1t was as if bullet had been fired from
revolver at piece of boiler plate. In
crcling to avoid the Mattabesett, the AL
hemarle fell into the position hoped for
| by the Sassacus, and this latter vessel
took a run of several hundred yards with
throttle wide open and struck the ram
amidships. The collision knocked down
nearly every person on both vessels, but
was felt more on the gun boat than on
the ram. 1t seemed to those on the Sas-
sacus as if every bolt in the ship had been
started, and the jar could have been no
worse had she run full tilt att a stone
wharf.
The situation was now strange and full
of peril. The gun boat held her bow
III III ~ SttIllSi tIC IAN anu SIL "
push her under, and she SO nearly sue
ceeded that at one time the crew Of the
Albemarle cried out to each other that
she was going down. While in this posi-
| ton both vessels kept up fire from such
guns as would bear, and here it was
shown that the ram had great ad-
vantage in carrying ritiemen. But for
their fire the ram could have been
boarded and disabled. After the push
ING had continued seven or eight min
utes the ram began to turn on d pivot,
and amidst the cheers of her crew she
slowly swung around and delivered
shot from one of her hundred pohnders.
The shot had only thirty feet to traverse
before striking the Sassacus. 1t crashed
into her a few feet from the bows, tore
away bulkheads, lockers, beams and
| braces, and struck one of the boilers and
passed through it from end to end. In
three seconds the Sassacus was envel9p-
ed in a cloud of steam which blinded
everybody and completely hid her from
view. Nearly twenty men were more or
less severely scalded, and two or three
fatally. The gun boat was now compell-
ed to drift out Of the fight and come to
anchor, but she fought as she drifted and
did not cease firing until obliged to by the
approach of other Federals.
The Sassacus fired about twenty-five
shots, and received about eight or ten,
and was little better than wreck when
the fight ended.
THE WYALUSING.
This craft, being third in line, delivered
oil cIO+c = +l,o ~ IL
range, and her fire was maintained fer
full two hours. She fired over 100 shot
and shell altogether. She received eight
or nine shot and shell in her, and more
than half her bulk heads were torn away
There was scarcely a beam or brace in
her interior which did not show scars of
the fight and yet she had no killed or
wounded to report. Had the last shot
which came aboard of her not been turned
aside at the last moment by a plank end
ed up by a previous shot, it would have
entered her boiler and produced the
same terrible results as on board the Sas-
SacuS.
THE COMMODORE HULL.
This vessel fired over eighty shot at
the ram, at least sixty of which stuck,
nd yet in return she was not even fired
at and consequently received not the
least damage. just before the close of
the fight the Hull closed in within pistol
shot and sent nine or ten shell square
against the rams port shutters, but failed
to intllct any damage. One solid shot
which she fired at the ram bounded
about fifty feet into the air, and in its
fall it alighted on the stern Of the ram
and rolled into the sea.
THE MIAMI
The Federal gun boat Miami was arm
ed with spar and torpedo, and twice
during the fight she made efforts to reach
the ram and blow her up. The design
was foied both times by the easy manner
in which the Albemarle worked, and be-
cause her pilots had been warned in ad-
vance that the Miami was thus prepared.
Finding that her shot at musket-ra ange
bounded off the ram like pease frofn fn
pane Of glass, the gunboat steamed u so
close that an apple could have been tbss-
ed aboard and then poured in shot and
shell as fast as her guns could be worked.
Not one OF the missiles even entered the
outer armor otthe strange monster, while
some of them broke in pieces and bound
ed back with sufficient force to disa bic
the gunners who had fired them. At pne
stage Of the fight the Miami remained
within 100 feet of the ram for thirteen
minutes, and gave her shot every TIVE I've
seconds She fired 12U shot, all six and
nine inch, the former having chilled ends
and driven by ten pounds of powder, and
yet not one of these shot produced the
least damage.
The Miami received seven or eight
shot from the Albemarle, and had near
ly all her bulkheads knocked into kin
dlings and her decks pretty well cleared
of everything which could be carried
away. One of her worst injuries was in
t1icted by a shell from one of her own
guns, which rebounded from the ram to
her deck and there exploded She Was
leaking badly when the fight was ended
but she had passed through such fight
as would have shaken the nerves of a
Nelson. Every missile which struck her
was distinctly felt by every man aboard,
and as beams, braces and bulkheads
nriy- l,t - / : q