. Battles and leaders of the Civil War : being for the most part contributions by Union and Confederate officers . he water-line. The enemys lights were put out, and his menwere hurled from their feet, and, as we learned aft-erward, it was thought for a moment that all wasover with them. Our ship quivered for an instant,but held fast, and the swift plash of the paddlesshowed that the engines were uninjured. Throughthe starboard shutter, which had been partly jarredoff by the concussion, I saw the port of the ramnot ten feet away. It opened, and like a flashof lightning I saw the grim muzzle of
. Battles and leaders of the Civil War : being for the most part contributions by Union and Confederate officers . he water-line. The enemys lights were put out, and his menwere hurled from their feet, and, as we learned aft-erward, it was thought for a moment that all wasover with them. Our ship quivered for an instant,but held fast, and the swift plash of the paddlesshowed that the engines were uninjured. Throughthe starboard shutter, which had been partly jarredoff by the concussion, I saw the port of the ramnot ten feet away. It opened, and like a flashof lightning I saw the grim muzzle of a cannon,the guns-crew naked to the waist and blackenedwith powder; then a blaze, a roar and the rush ofthe shell as it crashed through, whirling me roundand dashing me to the deck. Both ships were under headway, and as the ramadvanced, our shattered bows clinging to the ironcasemate were twisted round, and a second shot 630 THE ALBEMARLE- AND THE SASSACUS. from a Brooke gun almost touching our side crashedthrough, followed immediately by a cloud of steamand boiling water that filled the forward decks as our. REAR-ADMIRAL F. A. ROE, U. S. N. overcharged boilers, pierced by the shot, emptiedtheir contents with a shrill scream that drownedfor an instant the roar of the guns. The shouts of command and the cries of scalded, wounded, andblinded men mingled with the rattle of small-armsthat told of a hand-to-hand conflict above. Theship surged heavily to port as the great weight ofwater in the boilers was expended, and over thecry, The ship is sinking! came the shout, Allhands, repel boarders on starboard bow! The men below, wild with the boiling steam,sprang to the ladder with pistol and cutlass, andgained the bulwarks ; but men in the rigging withmuskets and hand-grenades, and the well-directedfire from the crews of the guns, soon baffled theattempt of the Confederates to gain our decks. Tosend our crew on the grated top of the iron-cladwould have been madness. The horrid tumult,a
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, bookpublishernewyo, bookyear1887
