Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1907-03-08

lUdI udy ut WAS d Dlltlul iOOhiub OU-
ject. His smoke stack was gone and,
his boat was half full, of water. He
and his crew were suffering from the
chill of the atmosphere. / received
them. and gave them my quarters and
set my men to pump out the water
and get the boat ready for any require
ment. We soon had 1t in good order
and Gushing, his crew recruited, set
out the next morning for the fleet Off
Edenton.
"A few days after that, having ac-
complished what l had been detailed
to do as to the soundings, we got un-
der way and started for the fleet. On
arriving there we found that Cushing
had arrived ahead of us, and as be-
longed to the Otsego. 1 reported
aboard that boat. / found great enthu-
siasm among my old shipmates be.
cause of an order that had been is
sued calling for volunteers to join
Gushing in his picket boat for the pur-
pose of destroying the rebel ram Abe
marie. l did not grow enthusiastic
over joining that expedition. / had
been engaged in many of similar
kind and it seemed to me and was re-
one of the first to be detailed on such
adventures. However, l volunteered
to join.
About three days afterward Lieut..
Cushing's picket boat came alongside
the Otsego to receive his volunteers.
AS we stepped down the gangway
some of our friends and shipmates
made remark that was not encour-
aging. 1t was There goes them boys
in their coffin Capt. Arnold made a
few remarks, cheering us on our way
to death, or glory and promotion but
he rather insinuated that he never ex-
pected to see any of us again.
1T was Oct. "a when the Otsego
! took the picket boat with her volun-
teers in tow to the mouth of the
Roanoke river. We had also the
Shamrock in tow. The Otsego cast us
adrift at the mouth of the river and
returned to the feet off Edenton
There we were on our journey UP the
river to achieve either death or glory
and promotion When we got about
seven miles up the river, at the bend
below Plymouth, we were fired into
by, pickets stationed in the pilot house
of the sunken Southfield, which had
been sent to the bottom by the con-
federate ram that we were hunting.
Approaching the situation and finding
that our object had been frustrated,
we returned to the fleet where we re-
mained three days getting ready for
another attempt. On the evening of
the 9th We again headed our course
for the mouth of the Roanoke. We
entered about ten o'clock at night
dark and dreary, wet and stormy 1t
was. We moved along cautiously on
the dark side of the river under the
shadow of the bamboo swamps and
soon found that we had passed the
Southfield unobserved.
"All eyes were now searching for
the monster of the sound, the confed
crate ram Albemarle. We found our
selves on the opposite side of the river
from Plymouth and observed a black
lump on the opposite shore and con
cluded it to be the object of our
search. 1t was, however, only large
pile of coal that the confederates had
stored there to supply their vessels
including the ironclad. Disappointed
we backed off, still scanning the
Plymouth shore. Steaming up stream
another half mile we sighted another
black object, and, on approaching it
we found that we had made no mis-
take this time. There, indeed, lay the
contrivance that had wrought deatf
and destruction among our vessels.
when we got within hailing dis
tance the lookout on the ram haileC
us as follows: Boat ahoy! Boa
ahoy. Boat ahoy! What boat comes
, there?' Cushing's reply as he stooC
by the halyards of the torpedo boon
, was: Well soon let you know wha
boat comes here At the same tim,
, he gave orders to the engineer to pu
on full speed. Just then a volley o
musketry whistled all around us.
Our boat was now leaping through
2 the water, fire belching out of he
, smokestack, when we struck boon
, of logs with which the ram had beel
entirely surrounded. The confederate
on the ram then threw open their gul
, ports and fired their heavy broadside
+ at us, but while they were doing thi
q our boat went head down and sterl
! up, the boom raising on our launc
q and catching on our propeller. So di
4 the torpedo boom go down under tn
v ram. Cushing gave the torpedo han
y mer quick pull, when there came a
n awful explosion. 1t filled our boa
with water, and Cushing cried out
A Boys, save yourselves; our work
q done!'
"We swan ashore, and for thre
n days wandered in the swamps. pickin
d our way down the river. was pickle
d up by the United States picket boa
@ Whitehead and was taken aboard m