380 : The Atlantic 



to designing the Monitor Ericsson was one of the first to have devel- 

 oped a practical screw propeller and was also the inventor and devel- 

 oper of a series of hot-air engines. 



Construction of the Monitor had begun in October of 1861 and 

 been carried forward with great haste. Monitor was 172 feet long, had 

 a beam of forty-one feet and a draft of ten feet. Her iron deck was 

 raised only a foot or so above her water line. Set upon this deck was 

 a rotating iron turret mounting two heavy guns of eleven-inch diam- 

 eter. 



At the very hour that Buchanan, on the Merrimac, was disposing 

 of the Cumberland and the Congress, Monitor with a crew of fifty- 

 eight volunteers under command of John L. Worden was making a 

 slow passage between New York and Hampton Roads and taking a 

 terrible beating from heavy weather. She arrived in the Chesapeake 

 just in time to hear the last of the gunfire of the engagement of 

 March 8 and to see the bay still illuminated by the burning Congress. 



Monitor was forced to take up a position in the bay and had no 

 opportunity to permit her tired crew to rest or to make repairs on 

 the ship's machinery that had suffered from the storm during the pas- 

 sage from New York. When the sun came up on March 9 Monitor 

 presented a strange sight and promptly became the target first of 

 Southern abuse and then of the guns of the Merrimac. She was at 

 once called the "cheesebox on a raft" and Catesby Jones brought the 

 Merrimac out to dispose of her as rapidly as possible. 



Monitor, however, presented a poor target. Even Merrimack broad- 

 sides only skipped off Monitor's low deck or glanced off the sides of 

 the revolving turret. She sustained some damage and Captain Wor- 

 den was injured when a pilothouse or conning tower was hit, but 

 otherwise Monitor came through the engagement very well. On the 

 other hand, even Monitor s heavy guns were not able to inflict any 

 damage on Merrimac. 



Exasperated at their inability to damage each other by gunfire, the 

 commanders of the two ironclads finally commenced a ramming 

 match. This also was inconclusive and no serious damage was in- 

 flicted on either vessel. Merrimac finally withdrew. 



The general results of the battle have been often debated. Even 

 though the duel between the Monitor and the Merrimac might be 

 regarded as indecisive, the engagement had the effect of a Northern 

 victory. It was clear that Monitor could at least stand up to Merri- 

 mac, could neutralize the effectiveness of her operations and prevent 

 her from inflicting any further damage on the Northern fleet. 



