eer for it, to be on our right course for
crossing the bar. The stoppers were cut, the engine started ahead, and
the fore stay-sail hoisted. As the chain rattled through the hawse-hole,
the Lee wore rapidly around, and the Confederate flag was run up to the
peak as she dashed toward the bar with the speed of a greyhound slipped
from the leash. The bar was a sheet of foam and surf, breaking sheer
across the channel; but the great length of the Lee enabled her to ride
over three or four of the short chopping seas at once, and she never
touched the bottom. In less than half an hour from the time when we
slipped our chain under the guns of the fleet, we had passed beyond Fort
Fisher, and were on our way up the river to Wilmington.

The "Mound" was an artificial one, erected by Colonel Lamb, who
commanded Fort Fisher. Two heavy guns were mounted upon it, and it
eventually became a site for a light, and very serviceable to
blockade-runners; but even at this period, it was an excellent landmark.
Joined by a long low isthmus of sand with the higher main land, its
regular conical shape enabled the blockade-runners easily to identify it
from the offing; and in clear weather, it showed plain and distinct
against the sky at night. I believe the military men used to laugh slyly
at the Colonel for undertaking its erection, predicting that it would
not stand; but the result showed the contrary; and whatever difference
of opinion may have existed with regard to its value as a military
position, there can be but one as to its utility to the
blockade-runners, for it was not a landmark, alone, along this
monotonous coast; but one of the range lights for crossing New Inlet bar
was placed on it. Seamen will appreciate at its full value, this
advantage; but it may be stated, for the benefit of the unprofessional
reader, that while the compass bearing of an object does not enable a
pilot to steer a vessel with sufficient accuracy through a narrow
channel, _range lights_ answer the purpose completely. These lights were
only set after signals had been exchanged between the blockade-runner
and the shore station, and were removed immediately after the vessel had
entered the river. The range lights were changed as circumstances
required; for the New Inlet channel, itself, was and is constantly
changing, being materially affected both in depth of water, and in its
course, by a heavy gale of wind or a severe freshet in Cape Fear River.

The "Lee" c