140 



THE SEA. 



she made her appearance in the harbour of St. John's, Newfoundland, by two tenders, 

 one a second-class corvette, the other a captured blockade-runner, which had been mounted 

 with a single ' Parrot' pivot gun, throwing a spherical shot of 180 Ibs. This projectile 

 was dubbed ' the Devil ' by those on board, who were by no means anxious to hear its voice, 

 for the lightly-built blockade-runner trembled in every knee at each discharge. Never- 



MIANTONOMA. 



theless, such a vessel properly built is destined to play an important part in the navy of 

 the future, when our present unwieldy ironclads shall have been relegated to that bourne 

 where torpedoes cannot terrify. 



" The Miantonoma was a twin-turreted monitor, carrying two of Parrot's 480 

 pounder smooth-bore. Her spar-deck, which was flush fore and aft, was about two and a 

 half to three feet above the surface of the water in harbour. What we would call the 

 gun-deck was below the water-line some eight feet, and here at sea during any sort of 

 rough weather, the men were compelled to live. Air was supplied (faugh ! what an 



