adsides that could be brought against her. She was a most dangerous
vessel indeed, and caused the government a great deal of uneasiness.

Several attempts were made to destroy her, but the Confederates were
watchful and vigilant. She was moored to the wharf, about eight miles up
the river, upon the shores of which a thousand men were encamped. They
patrolled the banks and kept bright fires burning all night. The crew of
the ram were alert, and a boom of cypress logs encircled the craft some
thirty feet from the hull, to ward off the approach of torpedoes. It
would seem that no possible precaution was neglected.

Among the most daring men ever connected with the American navy was
William Barker Cushing. He was born in 1842, and educated at the Naval
Academy. He was of so wild a disposition that many of his friends saw
little hope of his success in life. But, entering the service at the
beginning of the war, he quickly gave proof of a personal courage that
no danger could affect. He seemed to love peril for the sake of itself,
and where death threatened he eagerly went. He expressed confidence that
he could destroy the _Albemarle_ and asked permission to make the
attempt. His superior officers knew that if its destruction was within
the range of human possibility, he would accomplish it, and the ram was
so great a menace to the Union fleet that he was told to try his hand at
the seeming impossible task.

Although Cushing was a young man of unsurpassable bravery, ready at all
times to take desperate chances, there was what might be termed method
in his madness. He needed no one to tell him that in his attempt to
destroy the _Albemarle_, the slightest neglect in his preparations were
likely to prove fatal. He, therefore, took every precaution that
ingenuity could devise. Two picket boats were constructed with spar
torpedoes attached, and with engines so formed that by spreading
tarpaulin over them all light and sound was obscured. When traveling at
a low rate of speed, they could pass within a few yards of a person in
the darkness without his being able to hear or see anything. A howitzer
was mounted at the bow, and the spar, with the torpedo attached, was
fitted at the starboard bow.

The boats, having been completed in New York, were sent to Norfolk by
way of the canals. One of them was lost in Chesapeake Bay, but the other
reached its destination. Several days were spent in preparation, and the
night of October 27th w