24 THE SEA. 



run in for loading, a kind of pendulum port fell over the holes in the turret. The 

 propeller, rudder, and even anchor, were all hidden. 



This was a war of surprises and sudden changes. It is doubtful if the Southerners 

 knew what to make of the strange-looking battery which steamed towards them next 

 morning, or whether they despised it. The Merrimac and the Monitor kept on approach- 

 ing each other, the former waiting until she would choose her distance, and the latter 

 apparently not knowing what to make of her queer-looking antagonist. The first shot 

 from the Monitor was fired when about one hundred yards distant from the Merrimac, 

 and this distance was subsequently reduced to fifty yards ; and at no time during the 

 furious cannonading that ensued were the vessels more than two hundred yards apart. The 

 scene was in plain view from Fortress Monroe, and in the main facts all the spectators 

 agree. At first the fight was very furious, and the guns of the Monitor were fired 

 rapidly. The latter carried only two guns, to its opponent's eight, and received two or 

 three shots for every one she gave. Finding that she was much more formidable than 

 she looked, the Merrimac attempted to run her down ; but her superior speed and 

 quicker handling enabled her to dodge and turn rapidly. " Once the Merrimac struck 

 her near midships, but only to prove that the battery could not be run down nor shot 

 down. She spun round like a top; and as she got her bearing again, sent one of her 

 formidable missiles into her huge opponent. 



" The officers of the Monitor at this time had gained such confidence in the 

 impregnability of their battery that they no longer fired at random nor hastily. The fight 

 then assumed its most interesting aspect. The Monitor went round the Merrimac repeatedly, 

 probing her sides, seeking for weak points, and reserving her fire with coolness, until 

 she had the right spot and the right range, and made her experiments accordingly. In 

 this way the Merrimac received three shots Neither of these three shots re- 

 bounded at all, but appeared to cut their way clear through iron and wood into the 

 ship."* Soon after receiving the third shot, the Merrimac made off at full speed, 

 and the contest was not renewed. Thus ended this particular episode of the American 

 war. 



Lieutenant Worden was in the pilot-house of the Monitor when the Merrimac 

 directed a whole broadside at her, and was, besides being thrown down and stunned by 

 the concussion, temporarily blinded by the minute fragments of shells and powder driven 

 through the eye-holes only an inch each in diameter made through the iron to enable them 

 to keep a look-out. He was carried away, but, on recovering consciousness, his first 

 thoughts reverted to the action. " Have I saved the Minnesota ? " said he, eagerly. 

 "Yes; and whipped the Merrimac!" was the answer. "Then," replied he, "I don't 

 care what becomes of me." The concussion in the turret is described as something 

 terrible ; and several of the men, though not otherwise hurt, were rendered insensible for 

 the time. Each side claimed that they had seriously damaged the other, but there seems 

 to have been no foundation for these assertions in facts. 



But although this, the original Monitor, was efficient, if not omnipotent, in the cairn 



* Account of eyewitnesses furnished to the Baltimore American, 



