The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1898-08-25
That's my lookout, sir!"


And now began the second part Of
the fight. l may as well explain why
he did this uch-criticised and desper-
ate deed of daring. He told me his
reasons long afterward. as follows: He
had only six hours coal on board, and
he intended to eXpend that in fighting
lie did not mean to be trapped like a
rat in a hole and made to surrender
without a struggle. Then he meant to
go to the lee of the fort and assist Gen
eral Page in the defence of the place.
This calculation was unluckily pre-
vented by the shooting away of the
rudder chains of the Tennessee in this
second engagement. AS we approached
the enemys fleet, one after another of
Farraguts ten wooden frigates swept
out in wide circle, and by the time
we reached the point where the moni-
tors We're a huge leading frigate was
coming at us at the rate of ten miles
an hour. A column of white foam,
formed of the dead water" piled in
front of it's bows many feet high.
Heavy cannonading from the monitors
was going on at this time when this
leading wooden vessel came rapidly
bearing down on us, bent on the de-
struction of the formidable ram, which
we on board the Tennessee fully real
lied as the supreme moment of the
test of our strength. We had escaped
from the torpedo bed" safe and were
now to take our chances of being run
under by the heavy wooden frigates
that We're fast nearing us.
Captain Johnson, in the pilot house,
| now gave the word to Ulcers and men,:
STEADY yourselves when she strikes;
stand by and be ready"
Not word was heard on the deck
under it's shelving roof, where the Off
GERS and men, standing by their guns,
appeared. silent and rigid, awaiting
their fate. Captain Johnson shouted
out:
I'VE are all right. They can never
run US under now"
AS he spoke the leading vessel had
struck against our overhang with tre-
| mendous impact, had shivered its iron
prov in the clash, but only succeeded
in whirling the Tennessee around as
If she We're swung on pivot. | was
sitting on the combing of the hatch,
having nothing to do as yet, a close
| observer as each vessel in turn struck
| us, and our BLACK wales" came in
contact. At a distance of ten feet they
poured their broadsldes of twenty IL
inch guns into us. This continued for
more than an hour, and as each ves-
sci "rammed" the Tennessee and slid
alongside they discharged their broad
sides fast and furious, so that the noise
was one continuous deafening roar.
You could only hear voices when close
| to the speaker, and the reverberation
was so great that bleeding at the nose
was not infrequent.
Soon the wounded began to pour
down to me. Stripped to their waist,
| the white skins of the men exhibited
curious dark blue spots. l found that
unburnt cubes of cannon powder that
had poured into the port had perforated
| the flesh and made these great blue
| ridges under the skin. Their sufferngs
We're very severe, for it was as If they
had been shot with hot bullets, but no
| serious effects followed. All the wooden
vessels, disabled and their prows brok-
| en- off, anchored in succession over a
| mile away Then Admiral Farragut
| signalled to the monitors:
Destroy the ram!"
Soon these three grim monsters, al
| thirty yards distance, took their posi-
tion ON each quarter of the Tennessee