Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1895-08-08

the captain of his brig. ee two
had brought their ship vii.
mington to Fortress = for
provisions, and seeing onitor
they came to visit be- they
stepped upon the deck Cd Wor.
den greeted them and to IN his
troubles about pilot. gnant
Howard at once offered BE the
position. He said he K e6me.
thing of the Roads. a <llas he
would gladly conduct itin >ction.
He told Captain Wordea ~ the
pilots had been lying to hin about
their ignorance. He SAID They
know the Roads better tI1au Il do,
bat you can't make theri acc. You
had better take me-" 10 this Cap
tain Worden gladly assented, and
Howard was ushered into the pilot
house of the Monitor and remained
there almost from the time of its
arrival Saturday until the close of
its fight with the Merrimac on the
following day.
The Deadly Merrimac.
Before give Lieutenant How
ards story of the battle proper let
me say something of the events of
the day preceding. Lieutenant
Howard had arrived on his brig in
time TO see the engagement between
the Merrimac and our gunboats,
and the most of my information
concerning that fight comes from
him. Sitting In the rigging of his
ship with his glass, he saw the queer
ironclad sail down the Elizabeth
River and take its way across the
channel to engage with our gun
boats lying along the coast between
Newport News and Fortress Mon
roe, and he watched that terrible
fight. The Merrimac, you know,
was frigate of $500 tons, which
had beon burned and sunk during
the spring of 1861 at Norfolk.
A few months later it was raised
by the Confederates and converted
into an ironclad. The sf was
then cut down to the OH berth
decks. Her machinery NAs left
within her. but the wh,la the
ship above the water was covered
with iron plates two inches thick
and eight inches wide, 90 riveted
together that the vesssl had an
armor of iron four in hes thick.
Upon its prov they Rat a great
iron ram, which projected four feet
beyond the vessel and Which did ter
rible damage to one;cf the Northern
gunboats before tbs Monitor arrived.
In the sides Of the vessel there were
port holes, and the 10 great guns
behind these vented forth shot and
shep~~fth&t Esing while she was
in action. fhe ship was command
SG some of the ablest officers in
4 nAderacy, and it had crew
of 800 picked men. 1t was clumsy
vessel. 1t drew % feet of water.
1t gould not travel more than five
miles IN hour and it took from 80
to 40 r.,inutes to turn. Still, with
the wooden ships of 1862, it was an
all.powerfd monster. Its iron coat
made it practically impregnable,
and when it started on its first voy-
age of destruction there was a panic
in the Cabinet at WashingtoE, and
Secretary Stanton predicted that 1t
would ruin our navy, and the other
members almost felt that it was al
ready anchored in the Potomac with
its guns trained on the White House.
The ship was built at the Norfolk
Navy Yard, its iron plates having
been rolled at the Tredegar iron
foundry in Richmond. When it
started out some of the officers
thought that it was merely for q
trial trip, but if so, it was the most
terrible trial that any vesseleyer had.
The Ramming Of the Cumberland.
Only few miles from Norfolk is
Fortress Monroe, with Hampton
Roads lying between. About seven
miles above Fortress Monroe, at the
mouth of the James River, is New
port News. This line Of several
miles constitutes the northern part
of the Roads, and, scattered along
it. was line of Northern men-of.