The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1898-08-25
GRAPHIC STORY OF A
FAMOUS SEA FIGHT
concluded from Page 81

ing up of the Merrimac in the James
river by our own officers, without a
fight, and there being caught in such
a trap. determined, by an unexpected
dash into the fleet, to attack and do 1t
all the damage in my power; to expend
all my ammunition and what little coal
had on board (only six hours steam
ing), and then, having done all / could
with what resources l had, to retire
under the guns of the fort, and, being
without motive power, there to lie and
assist in repulsing the attacks and as
saults on the fort"
The unexpectedness of the second
attack is well illustrated by Admiral
Farragut's remark at the time. After
having anchored, all hands were piped
to brakfast, when the officer on duty
on the deck of the Hartford, seeing the
ram slowly heading up the bay for the
Federal fleet, reported the fact to Ad-
miral Farragut while he was taking
breakfast.
What! Is that so?" he inquired
Just like Buchanan's audacity! Sig
ial to all frigates to get under way
Immediately and run the ram under
| and attack at once.'
The greatest injury done to the Ten
nessee was by the Chickasaw, COM
manded by Captain G. H. Perkins. Our
| pilot, in pointing it out to Captain
Johnson, said: THAT ironclad is hang
| ing to us like a dog and has smashed
| our shield already. Fight him! Sink
| him if you can!" The Chickasaw real
| ly captured the Tennessee.
The Conferedate torpedoes, planted
at the entrance to Mobile Bay, were
the first of the kind and were very
| primitive in their construction, merely
a large beer keg filled with powder
and anchored by chains to a big, fiat
piece of iron called a mushroom"
Projecting from the swinging top, some
| four feet under water, were tubes of
| glass filled with sulphuric acid, caus-
! ing rapid chemical combustion and
| finally mass of fire, thus exploding
the powder They had been planted so
long that many leaked, only one out of
| ten remaining intact, and this fact eX-
| plains why so many were run over by
the Federal fleet without exploding.
During the four months that we were
| guarding the entrance to Mobile Bay
we were not by any means safe from
the danger of our own contrvances.
One hot July morning we officers were
upon the first deck of the ram enjoy
ing the sea breezes, when a floating
black object was observed bobbing up
| and down. We supposed at first that it
was a sort of devil fish with it's young
as we had killed one with it's calf
only a few weeks previously, but the
| motion was too slow, evidently. A
| telescope soon revealed the fact that it
was a torpedo drifting in with the flood
| tide. We could not send a boat crew
| after II to tow it out of the waV. We
could not touch tive could not guide it,
There was no means in our power to
divert it from its course. Finally, at
the suggestion of Captain David Eainy
of the marines, he brought up his whole
guard with loaded muskets, who at
once began to shoot at the floating keg.
We sunk 1T not moment too soon, for
it only disappeared under the water
abount twenty feet from the ram.
The wound received by Admiral
Buchanan was from a fragment of
iron. either a piece of solid shot or part
of the plating of the ram, which frac-
tured the large bone of the leg. The
Admirals aides We're Lleuts. Carter
and Forrest. They tenderly nursed him
during the entire four months of his
confinement in the hospital at Pensa-
cola, accompanied him to Fort Warren,
cared for him while here, and brought
him back to Richmond after his ex-
change. Carter is now a well-known
citizen of North Carolina. Forrest un-
til ten years ago lived in Virginia.