NAVY, U. S., OPERATIONS OF. 



669 



northern side of New Inlet, towed by a number 

 of small boats, and the Mount Vernon, 

 James Adger, and Iroquois at once bore 

 toward the shore to cut her out. The enemy 

 abandoned her at the approach of the blockad- 

 ing vessels, and, the Mount Vernon running 

 alongside, in the midst of a severe fire from 

 the rebel batteries at New Inlet and Zuk's 

 Island, fastened a hawser to her port bow and 

 by great exertions towed her out of the range 

 of the fire. The Kate proved to be a new 

 steamer, very fast, and built entirely of iron. 

 Her machinery had been removed, but her hull 

 was scarcely injured. 



At daylight, on Aug. 18th, the steamer Hebe 

 attempted to run into Wilmington by the New 



I Inlet entrance ; but being intercepted by the 

 Niphon, she headed for the shore, a few miles 

 above Fort Fisher, and her crew escaped in 

 boats. As it was blowing too hard to get her 



I off, a boarding party was sent from the Niphon 

 to destroy her. Two Whitworth guns soon 

 after opened fire from the beach upon the ship, 

 which was found to be hard aground in V feet 

 of water. The boat from the Niphon having 

 been swamped almost as soon as she reached 

 the Hebe, and the violence of the gale prevent- 

 ing the blockading vessels from sending effec- 

 tive assistance, nearly the whole boarding party 

 was compelled to wade ashore and surrender 

 to a force of Confederate cavalry and riflemen 

 which had meanwhile arrived. The Hebe was 

 then set on fire by shells from the Shokokon, 

 and burned to the water's edge. The enemy, 

 however, succeeded during the next few days 

 in discharging a portion of the cargo in a dam- 

 aged state ; whereupon the Minnesota, running 

 up to within 600 yards of the wreck, drove the 

 rebels from their battery and completed the 

 destruction of the hull and machinery. A party 

 then landed and brought off the two Whitworth 

 guns. 



The most serious disaster of the year on this 

 station was the loss of the ironclad, Monitor, 

 Commander Bankhead, the celebrated pioneer 

 vessel of her class, which foundered at sea in a 

 gale, south of Cape Hatteras, on the night of 

 Dec. 30th, 1862. The Monitor left Hampton 

 Eoads in tow of the side wheel steamer Ehode 

 Island, on the 29th, the weather being then 

 pleasant, and until 7 P. M, of the 30th, the 

 voyage was unattended by any special incident. 

 At that hour the wind, previously light, hauled 

 round to the southward, gradually increasing 

 in violence until midnight, with a heavy sea. 

 As the swell increased the Monitor began to 

 tow badly, and the bilge pumps, which during 

 the day had kept her free from water, were no 

 longer available. At 8 p. M. she labored 

 heavily, the seas completely submerging the 

 pilot house, and washing over and into the tur- 

 ret, and at times into the blower pipes. It was 

 observed that when she rose to the swell, the 

 flat under surface of the projecting armor 

 would come down with great force, causing a 

 considerable shock to the vessel and turret, and 



thereby loosening the packing around its base. 

 The Ehode Island was several times signalized 

 to stop, _ with a view of ascertaining whether 

 the Monitor would ride easier, but she imme- 

 diately fell off into the trough of the sea, and 

 the water in her hold continued to gain steadily. 

 The centrifugal pump was then started, and 

 notwithstanding it worked well, the water had 

 by 10| P. M. risen several inches above the 

 level of the engine room floor. Signals of dis- 

 tress were now made to the Ehode Island, 

 which despatched two boats to the assistance 

 of the Monitor, and at considerable risk the 

 steamers came alongside of each other. While 

 getting the men into the boats (a very hazard- 

 ous operation, in consequence of the heavy seas 

 breaking entirely over the deck of the Monitor), 

 the sharp bow of the ironclad came into such 

 dangerous proximity to the Ehode Island, 

 that the latter was obliged to steam ahead, to 

 avoid being stove near her water line. During 

 the absence of the boats the rapidly rising 

 water put out the fires in the Monitor, and her 

 engines having stopped, she rolled into the 

 trough. By letting go her anchor her head 

 was again brought to the sea and the remain- 

 ing crew and officers were taken off, except a 

 few who, stupefied by fear, refused to leave the 

 ship and went down with her. Several men 

 had previously been washed overboard and 

 drowned. At about 1 A. M. of the 31st, she 

 disappeared. One of the boats from the Ehode 

 Island employed in the last trip from that 

 vessel did not return, and was supposed to 

 have been swamped. It was however pick- 

 ed up on the morning of the 31st, by the 

 schooner A. Colby, and the crew were safely 

 landed at Beaufort. The total casualties of the 

 Monitor were four officers and twelve men 

 missing. 



"I am firmly of the opinion," "says Com- 

 mander Bankhead, in his official report of* the 

 disaster, "that the Monitor must have sprung 

 a leak somewhere in the forward part, where 

 the hull joins on to the armor, and that it was 

 caused by the heavy shocks received as she 

 came down upon the sea. The bilge pumps 

 alone until 7 P. M. had easily kept her free, and 

 when we find that all her pumps a short tune 

 after, ivith a minimum capacity of 2,000 gallons 

 per minute, not only failed to dimmish the 

 water, but, on the contrary, made no percepti- 

 ble change in its gradual increase, we must come 

 to the conclusion that there are, at least, good 

 grounds for my opinion." 



On the morning of June 24th, the blockader 

 Sumter, while cruising off Smith's Island in a 

 dense fog, came into collision with the trans- 

 port General Meigs, from the effects of which 

 she soon after sunk, being very rotten. The 

 officers and crew got off in boats, and were 

 taken on board the schooner Jamestown, but 

 everything else in the ship went down with 

 her. 



2. South Atlantic Squadron. The field of 

 operations embraced by this squadron com- 



