, 1888-08-09
ALL a N LIE DOWN.
The Fearful Sea Fight between the Abe
mario and tho Sassncns.

|
THE Fearful Sea Fight Between tho Able.
marie and the Sassacus.
Now came the decisive moment, for
ny this action, which was in reality a
vancouver of our commander, we had
acquired a distance from the ram of about
400 yards, and the latter, to evade the
M~attabesett, had sheered of a little and
lay broadside to us. The Union ships
were now on both sides of the ram, with
engiros stopped Commander Roe saw
the 1%Portunity, which an ~instant's de
ia, nd FORTE / boldly met the
crisis OF the en-, ,,.ant. To the engi-
neer he cried, "CI.- waste and oil in
the fires and back SLOWLY Give her all
the steam she can carryr' To Acting
Master Boutelle he said, Lay her coulse
for the junction of the casemate and the
hulll' Then came four bells, and, with full
steam and open throttle, the ship sprang
forward like a living thing. 1t was a
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 the
shock. Straight as an arrow we shot
forward 10 the designated spot. Their
came order, 'All hands lio 10
and, W. a n crash that 81 %
like an earthquake, we . an
square on the iron hull.
Our ship quiz 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 a line with
the enemy's guns. Through the star
board shutter, which had beer r~-tlY
Jared off by the conclusion, / sa, 6
- - H. 49,. - a.. 81 Il
opened, and hk a flash of lightning l
saw the grim muzzle of q cannon, the
straining guns crew naked to the waist
and blackened with powder; then n
blaze, n roar and a rush of the shell as it
crashed through, whirling me round and
dashing me to the deck.
Both ships were under Roadway, and,
as the ram advanced, our shattered bows
clinging to the iron easement were
twisted round and a solid shot from u
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,
elmptied their contents with "A shrill
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 u
hand to hand conflict above. The ship
surged heavily to port as the great weight
of water in the boiler was expended, and
over the cry, ''The ship is sinkingin came
the shout, IAN hands repel boarders on
starboard bow ~
The horrid tumulC, always character
istic of battle, was intensified by the
cries of agony from the scalded and fran
tic men. Wounds may rend, and blood
may flow, and grim heroism keep the
teeth set firm in silence; but to be boiled
alive-to nave tine flesh drop from the
face and hands, TO strip off in sodden
mass from the body as the clothing is
torn way in avage cagerness for relief,
will bring creams from the stoutest lips.
In the midst of all this, when every man
had left the engine room, our chief en-
gineer. Mr.. Hobby, although badly
scalded, 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. l had often before
been in battle; had stepped over the
decks of n steamer in the Merrimac
fight when q shell had exploded cover
ing the deck with fragments of human
DodleS, literally tearing to pieces the men
on the small vessel as she lay
alongside the Minnesota, but never
before had L experienced such a sicken-
ing sensation of horror as ON this
occasion, when the bow of the Sassacus
lay for thirteen minutes on the roof OF
the Albemarle. An officer of the Wya.
lusing says that when the dense smoke
and steam enveloped us they thought we
had sunk, till the flash of our guns
burst through the clouds, followed by
flash after flash in quick succession, us
our men recovered from the shock of the
explosion.
In Commander Febiger's report the
time of contact was said to be ''some
few minutes" To us, at least, there
seemed time enough for the other ships
to close in on the ram and sink her or
sink beside her, and it was thirteen min
utes as timed by an officer, who told me,
but the other ships were silent, and with
stopped engines looked on as the clouds
closed over III in the grim and final
struggle.-E. Holden, N. D., late U. S.
N, in The Century.