-inch plates of forged iron, rose four
feet above the deck, and would hold three men by crowding. The _Monitor_
was one-fifth the size of the _Merrimac_, and her appearance has been
likened to that of a cheese-box on a raft. She was in command of
Lieutenant John L. Worden, with Lieutenant S. Dana Green as executive
officer. Her crew consisted of sixteen officers and forty-two men, and
she left New York on the morning of March 6th, in tow of a tug-boat. The
greatest difficulty was encountered in managing her, the men narrowly
escaping being smothered by gas, and, had not the weather been unusually
favorable, she would have foundered; but providentially she steamed into
Hampton Roads, undiscovered by the enemy, and took her position behind
the _Minnesota_, ready for the events of the morrow.

[Illustration: JOHN ERICSSON.

The famous constructor of the Monitor.]

The _Merrimac_ was promptly on time the next morning, and was
accompanied by two gunboats; but while steaming toward the remaining
Union vessels the _Monitor_ darted out from behind the _Minnesota_ and
boldly advanced to meet her terrible antagonist. They silently
approached each other until within a hundred yards, when the _Monitor_
fired a shot, to which the _Merrimac_ replied. The firing was rapid for
a time and then became slower, with the intervening space varying from
fifty yards to four times that distance. A number of the _Merrimac's_
shots struck the _Monitor's_ pilot-house and turret, the crash doing no
harm except almost to deafen the men within. Most of the shells,
however, missed or skipped over the low deck of the smaller boat.

The latter was able to dodge the rushes of the larger craft and play all
around her, but the terrible pounding worked damage to both, the
_Monitor_ suffering the most. The iron plate of the pilot-house was
lifted by a shell, which blinded Lieutenant Worden, and so disabled him
that he was forced to turn over the command to Lieutenant Green. Worden,
who lived to become an admiral, never fully recovered from his injuries.
The firing, dodging, ramming, and fighting continued for four hours, but
the _Merrimac_ was unable to disable her nimble antagonist, and slowly
steamed back to Norfolk, while the _Monitor_ returned to her former
position, and was carefully kept in reserve by the government against
future perils of a similar character.

FATE OF THE MERRIMAC AND MONITOR.

Neither of the vessels was permitted to do furth