Year: 1864

enl it was this iron-clad, and as heI


black hull was forced under by our bow,


till the water flowed over it from side


to side, we thought our foe was going


down, and could hardly repress shout


of exultation, in answer to the ringing
cheer with which our comrades on the


Wyalusing greeted our bold grapple with


the monster.


AS we struck her, the ram drove 100


FOUNDER Brooke shot through and


through us, from starboard to port side


Our stem was forced into our side, and


her down beneath our weight, and push


ed her, like an inert mass, before us


while, in profound silence, our gunners


were training their heavy ordnance to


bear on our astonished enemy. Now g


black muzzle protrudes from the ram
open port, and the leaders of our Parrot


rife. standing on the slide, serve the
gun within fifteen feet of that yawning
cannon's mouth. 1t was grand repro
duction of the old days of 'broadside to


broadside" and ''yard-arm locked to
yard" but the immense guns, now grin
ming defiance across the few feet of space
which separated them, each one carrying
the weight of metal of a whole tier ot
the old time carronades, rendered this
duel of ponderous ordnance a magnif-
cent and imposing spectacle.


Still we pushed her broadside- to before
us, our engine at full speed, pressing our
bow deeper and deeper into her. Still
she gave way, and we threw a hasty. anx-
ious glance toward our consorts. Were
they coming to assist US? Would they
seize the golden chance we so invitingly
held out to them, and pushing on to the
monsters unguarded side, help us to
crush her down, out of sight forever?
Not a sound; not a movement; not gun.
All was quiet as the night throughout
our feet. 1t was a grapple for life. A
silent but fearful struggle for the mastery,
relieved only by the sharp, scattering vol
leys of musketry, the whizzing of leaden
bullets, and the deep, muffled explosion
of hand grenades which the brave fellow
in our foretop was ffinging In the enemy's
hatch, driving back their sharpshooters,
and creating CONSERVATION and dismay
among the closely packed crew of the
iron-clad; but not until our pilot-house
and smoke-stack had been spattered all
over with the indentation of rife-balls.
No one had yet fallen. We had thrown
shot and shell square into her ports from
our rifle guns on the hurricane deck, and
driven volley after volley of musketry
through every aperture in her iron shield,
and now our heavy 100 FOUNDER was
training for another crushing blow.


Presently, movement was felt in the
two ships. We heard crashing of tim
bers, as at the moment of collision. The
ram was swinging under our starboard
bow, and now suddenly the vessel trem-
bled with the shock, as our 100 0-pounder
rife, and that of the enemy thundered
at each other with simultaneous roar
Another sound, more fearful than burst
ing shells or belching cannon, now reach
ed our ears. The terrible sound of un-
loosed, unmanagable steam, rushing in
tremendous volumes, seething and hiss
ing as it spread, till both combatants were
enveloped and hidden in dense, sufioca-
ting cloud of stiffiing vapor. Her shot
had pierced our boiler, and all was lost
No not lost yeti Our sharp false stem,
which had cut deeply into the side of the
ram, now gave way, as she forced herself
ahead across our bows, crushing and bruis-
ing our more delicate craft in her prog
ress, and this stem, thus wrenched off al
lowed the two vessels to swing side by
side.


Now came the fierce duel for life. Our
gunners could only hope to injure our
antagonist by firing with accuracy into
her open ports, while every shot of the
enemy would tell with fatal effect
upon our wooden vessel. The guns were
now served and fred, muzzle to muzzle,
the powder from those of the Albermarle
blackening the bows and sides of the
Sassacus, as they passed within ten feet.
A solid shot from our 100-pounder struck
her port-sill, and crumbling into frag
ments, one piece rebounded on to our
deck, but the rest flew into that threat
ening port hole, and silenced the enemy's
gun. A 9-inch solid shot, and 20poun-
der shell followed through the same open
ing, in rapid succession as the tough
sided monster drifted clear of US, while
our starboard wheel crushed and wrench
ed its iron braces, in grinding over her
quarter, smashing the launches that she
was towing into shapeless mass of drift
wood, and grating over the sharp iron
plates with most dismal sound. Now
she passed our wheel, and the crews of
the after guns, watching the moment,
drove their solid shot into her ports.
The elevating screw of our Parrot-rifle
was broken, and the gun could not be
depressed to bear on the enemy's port,
but hurled its missile against her iron ar
NOR, leaving rent to mark the point of
its impact. A 9-inch solid shot, fired
with an increased charge, struck her in
clined roof, and flew en- rieochet, like a
pebble bounding from a pavement into
the air beyond, and this at distance of
not more than fifteen feet.


All this cool gunnery, and precise artil-
lery practice, transpired while the ship,
from fire-room to hurricane-deck, was
shrouded in one dense cloud of fiery
steam. The situation was appalling.
The shrieks of the scalded and dying, as
they frantically rushed up from below,
with their shriveled flesh hanging in
shreds upon their tortured limbs; the en-
CINE, beyond control, surging and revol-
wing without guide or check, abandoned
by all save one, who, scalded, blackened,
sightless, still stood like hero at his post.
Alone, amidst that mass of unloosed
steam and uncomfortable machinery, the
chief engineer of the Sassacus remained,
calling to his men to return with him in
to the fire-room, to drag the fires from
beneath the uninjured boiler, which was
now in emminent danger of explosion.
Let his name be long remembered by
the two hundred beings whose lives were
saved in that fearful moment by his more
than heroic fortitude and exertion.
There were no means of instantly cut.
ting off communication between the two
boilers, and all the steam in both rushed
out like flash, exposing the ship to q
more fearful catastrophe, should our en-
gineer be too late in drawing the heavy
fires which threatened our destruction
All this time, our consorts looking toward
us, could see only thick white cloud
lighted up necessarily by the flashes oi
cur rapidly served guns. as the gallant
Sassacus rose gloriously above the storm
of disaster that surrounded her, and chal


lenged the admiration of her anxious
comrades by the stubborn laundering o.


her battery. The ship still moved, work


ing slowly ahead, on a vacuum alone