me damage to the ropes should cause him to fall
overboard. He told Signal Quartermaster Knowles to climb the rigging and
secure Farragut to the shrouds. He obeyed and passed a lead line to one
of the forward shrouds and then drew it around the Admiral to the after
shroud and made it fast. Feeling the faithful officer at work, the
Admiral looked down kindly at him and said: "Never mind me, I am all
right." But Knowles persisted and did not descend until he had completed
his work.

By and by the increasing smoke made it necessary for the commander to
ascend still higher, in order to maintain a clear view of the battle. He
untied the fastenings, and, climbing to the futtock shrouds, passed the
rope once more around his body several times and tied the end to the
rigging. The picture of Admiral Farragut thus lashed to the rigging has
been seen thousands of times in the histories of the Civil War.

While in this perilous position he signalled for closer order. The
bombardment of the fort was terrific and produced great effect.
Commander Craven, with the _Tecumseh_, singled out the ram _Tennessee_,
under the command of Admiral Franklin Buchanan, who had charge of the
_Merrimac_ on the first day of her fight with the _Monitor_. Both were
ironclads and Buchanan was as anxious to fight Craven as the latter was
to fight him. Craven, fearing his adversary would retreat, pressed
forward so eagerly that he paid no attention to the torpedoes over
which his hull was continually scraping. One or more of these suddenly
exploded, the front dipped and the _Tecumseh_ plunged bow foremost to
the bottom of the bay, carrying with her 93 men out of a crew of 114.

This appalling disaster was accompanied by a touching incident. When the
_Tecumseh_ was diving downward Commander Craven and the pilot
instinctively started for the opening through which only one man could
pass at a time. They reached the foot of the ladder at the same moment.
"You first," said Craven, halting. The pilot just succeeded in
scrambling out, when the _Tecumseh_ went down, taking her heroic captain
with her.

The terrible occurrence was witnessed by friends and foes. A boat was
quickly lowered from the _Metacomet_ and sent to the relief of the
survivors. It passed within a hundred yards of Fort Morgan, which could
have easily blown it out of the water. But General Page, the Confederate
commandant, knowing her errand, gave the order not to harm the boat,
which was on it