Wichita eagle., 1888-08-24
ALL HANDS LIE DOWN.


The Fearful Sco Fight Between tho Aha
mssie and the Sassacus.
Now came the decisive moment. for
by this action. which wss in reality a
maneuver OF our commander, we had
acquired distance from the ram of about
400 yards, and the latter, TO evade the
Mattabesett, had sheered oil little and
lay broadside to us. The Union shius
were now On both sides of the zam, with
engines stopped. Commander Roe saw
the opportunity, which an instant's de-
lay would forfeit, and boldly met the
crisis of the engagement. To the engi-
neer he cried, Crowd waste and Oil in
the fires and back slowly Give her all
the steam she can carry" To Acting
Master Bouteile he said, LAY her course
for the junction Of the casemate and the
hullf' Then came four bells, and. withfuil
steam and open throttle, the ship -prang
forward like living thing. Il was
moment Of intense strain and anxiety.
The guns ceased firing, the smoke lifted
from the ram, and we saw that every
effort was being made to evade Sae
shock. Straight as an arrow we shot
forward TO the designated spot Then
came tho order, ''All hands lie down ~
md, with crash that shook the ship
like an earthquake, we struck full and
square on the iron hull.
Our ship quivered for an instant, but
held fast, and the swift plash of the
paddles showed that the engines were
uninjured. My own station was in the
bow, on the main deck, on line with
the enemy's guns. Through the star
board shutter, which had been partly
Jared off by the conclusion, I sew the
port Of the ram not ten feet away. 1t
opened, and like flash of lightning /
saw the grim muzzle of a cannon, the
guns crew naked TO the waist
and blackened with powder; then q
blaze, roar and rush of the shell as it
crashed through, whirling me FOUND and
dashing me to the deck.
Both ships were under headway. and,
as the ram advanced. our shattered bows
clinging to the iron easement were
twisted round and a solid shot from
Brooke gun almost touching our side
crashed through, followed immediately
by a cloud of steam and boiling water
that filled the forward decks as our over
charged boilers, pierced by the shot.
emptied their contents with a shrilI
scream that drowned for an instant the
roar Of the guns. The shouts of COM
mand and the cries of the scalded,
wounded and blinded men mingled with
the rattle of small arms that told of a
RI fct oh -.
surged heavily to port as the great weight
Of water in the boiler was expended, and
over the cry. 1.-THE ship is sinking" came
the shout, ''All hands repel boarders ON
starboard bow''
The horrid tumult, always character
stic Of battle, was intensified by the
cries of agony from the scalded and fran
bic men. Wounds may rend, and blood
may flow. and grim heroism keep the
teeth set firm in silence; but to be boiled
aliye-to have the flesh drop from the
face and hands, to strip off in Golden
mass from the body as the clothing is
torn away in savage eagerness for relief,
will bring screams from the stoutest lips.
In the midst of all this, when every man
had left the engine room, our chief en-
yi,eer, Mr.. Hobby, although badly
'calded, stood with heroism at his post;
nor did he leave it till after the action,
when he was brought up, blinded and
helpless, to the deck had often before
1een In battle: had stepped over the
lecks of a steamer in the MerriInac
ight when shell had exploded cover
ng the deck with fragments Of human
'odies, literally tearing to pieces the men
N the small vessel as she lay
alongside the Minnesota, but never
,efore had experienced such sicken-
ng sensation of horror as ON this
occasion, when the bow of the Sassacus
ay for thirteen minutes on the roof Of
he Albemarle. An officer of the Wya-
using says that when the dense smoke
nd steam enveloped us they thought we
ad sunk, till the flash OF our guns
urst through the clouds, followed by
ash after fash in quick succession. as
ur men recovered from the shock Of the
xplosion.
In Commander Febiger's rrport the
me Of our contact wls said 70 be ''soIne |
wv minutes To US, at least, there |
eemed time enough for the other ships /
} close in on the ram and sink her or |
NIX beside her, and it was thirteen min
ties as timed by an officer, who told NE,
ut the other ships were silent, and with
opped engines looked on as the clouds
osed over us in the grim and final |
ruggle.-E. Holden, IL D., late U. s.
:, in The Century.