before
unknown in the United States navy, and the whole country joined in
honoring him.

Swinging to and fro with the ebb and flow of the tide at the entrance of
Mobile Bay, is a buoy which marks the spot of a deed of purest heroism.
A few fathoms below that buoy lies the monitor Tecumseh, sunk by a
torpedo at the beginning of the battle, as we have seen, and the buoy
commemorates, not the sinking of the ship, but the self-sacrifice of her
commander, Tunis Augustus Craven.

Craven had entered the navy at the age of sixteen and had seen much
service and distinguished himself in many ways before he was given
command of the Tecumseh and ordered to join Farragut's squadron. On the
morning of the attack, he was given the post of honor at the head of the
column, and determined to come to close quarters with the Tennessee, if
he could. But fate intervened, when his quarry was almost within reach.
Craven had stationed himself in the little pilot-house beside the pilot,
the better to direct the movements of his ship, and when he and the
pilot felt that sudden shock and saw the Tecumseh sinking, both of them
sprang for the narrow opening leading from the pilot-house to the turret
chamber below. They reached the opening at the same instant; it was so
small that only one could pass at a time, and Craven, with a greatness
of soul found only in heroes, drew back, saying quietly, "After you,
pilot."

"There was nothing after me," said the pilot afterwards, "for when I
reached the last round of the ladder, the vessel seemed to drop from
under me."

* * * * *

At the outbreak of the Civil War, the commerce of the United States was
the next to the largest in the world. The North destroyed southern
commerce by capturing or blockading southern ports, while the South
retaliated by fitting out a large number of commerce-destroyers, to
range the seas and take what prizes they could--a plan which had been
adopted by America in both wars with England, and which is the only
resource of a power whose navy is greatly inferior to that of its
antagonist.

The bright particular star of the Confederate service was Raphael
Semmes, who had been trained in the United States navy, and who, first
in the Sumter and afterwards in the Alabama, captured a total of
seventy-seven prizes, nearly all of which he destroyed. To his capture,
the United States devoted some of its best ships, but it was not until
the summer of 18