Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1913-05-06

ging OF bull terrier. wanted to catch
him by the throat and with one shake
drop his corpse" But there was no
death shake that morning for the little
ironclad. Says Captain Howard: The
shots Of the Merrimac made great
dents in the monitors plate. but did
not so through IL. Our guns tore the
iron OF the Merrimac. and had we un-
derstccd her construction we might
have sunk her We should have aim
ed for her below the water line. Her
iron plate did not extend much below
this"
Close Action, Then q Draw.
During the fight, which lasted about
three hours, the shots in the Monitors
turret gave out and she hauled or to
replenish the supply. Meanwhile the
Merrimae turned again to the Mime
sofa and was struck with broadside
Of twenty guns that would have torn
wooden ship to shreds. She answer
ed with shell that set the Minnesota
on fire and. turning. found the Moni-
tor again closing in. The first shot
Of the Merrimac in this second attack
struck the upber log Of the pilothouse
where Worden was looking out, and
blinded him with powder. Surprising
that the pilothouse was destroyed and
the steering gear along with 1t, Wor-
den ordered his subordinate. Lieuten-
ant Greene. who was in the turret, to
sheer of and look to the damaged
works
Greene decided to go on with the
fight alone. for Worden was stunned
by the conclusion Of the shock as well
as blinded. But the Merrimac had
sailed away without waiting to finish
her enemies. Even the Minnesota was
saved by putting out the fires. So the
net result OF the second foray Of the
ram was that she went back to her
moorings with few extra wounded
men in her crew and the reputation Of
running from the smallest fighting ship
afioat
During the fight both the Merrimacf
and the Monitor tried ramming. The
Monitor lightly lodged her antagonist
and in turn just missed striking the
Merrimac with he- sharp end by q
hair. Officers and men OF both ships
declared that the contest was not
fought out. Those aboard the ram said
that when the Monitor backed OF,
which was to replenish her ammuni-
ton and change commanders, they be-
Iieved her out of the fight.
A Confederate Account Of the Battle
The surgeon of the Merrimac, Cap
tain d. r. Phillips. wrote the following
description Of the fight between the
two ironclads from the Confederate
side:
Discovering that the United States
steamer Minnesota was seriously Grip
pied and aground, Commander Jones
ordered the pilot to take US as near
that vessel as possible in order that we
might give her the coup de grace. but
he, not being of the stuff from which
heroes are made and preferring to re-
ceive her formidable broadside from
afar, purposely ran us aground some
two miles off.
while we were thus stuck In the
mud the Monitor, commanded by my
old friend and messmate, John L. Wor-
den, made her appearance and opened
fire upon us. Worden fought his yes
sci brayely and well.
"How long we continued to bang
away at each other I cannot now re-
member, but after a long time our
chief engineer, by straining his en-
gines to their uttermost tension, spc-
ceeded in releasing us from the tena-
cious mud, when, springing like man
from q horrible nightmare, we made
rush at the Monitor to sink her. For
tunately, however, for that vessel. the
Cumberland had been the Delilah Of