eminent Swedish engineer, and was being rapidly built in New
York while the Merrimac was being plated with thick iron
bars in Norfolk. A contest for time took place between these
two unlike craft. Spies were in both places, to report
progress. Fortunately, the Monitor was finished a day or two
before her competitor. Immediately she steamed away for
Hampton Roads. The passage was a severe one. Three days were
consumed, during which the seas swept repeatedly over the
low deck, the men being often half suffocated in their
confined quarters, the turret alone standing above the
water. As they approached Fortress Monroe the sound of
cannonading was heard. Tarrying but a few minutes at the
fort, the Monitor, as this odd vessel had been named,
approached the Minnesota, and reached her side at a late
hour of the night.

[Illustration: THE MONITOR AND THE MERRIMAC.]

And now, with the new day, back to the fray came the
Merrimac, looking like a giant in comparison with this
dwarfish antagonist. As she approached, the little craft
glided swiftly in front of her grounded consort, like a new
David offering battle to a modern Goliath. As if in disdain
of this puny antagonist, the Merrimac began an attack on the
Minnesota. But when the two eleven-inch guns of the Monitor
opened fire, hurling solid balls of one hundred and
sixty-eight pounds' weight against the iron sides of her
great opponent, it became at once evident that a new move
had opened in the game, and that the Merrimac had no longer
the best of the play.

The fight that followed was an extraordinary one, and was
gazed on with intense interest by the throng of spectators
who crowded the shores of the bay. The Merrimac had no solid
shot, as she had expected only wooden antagonists. Her
shells were hurled upon the Monitor, but most of them missed
their mark, and those that struck failed to do any injury.
So small was the object fired at that the great shells, as a
rule, whirled uselessly by, and plunged hissing into the
waves. The massive solid balls of the Monitor were far more
effective. Nearly every one struck the broad sides of the
Merrimac, breaking her armor in several places, and
shattering the wood backing behind it. Many times the
Merrimac tried to ram her small antagonist, and thus to rid
herself of this teasing tormentor, but the active
"cheese-box" slipped agilely out of her way. The Monitor in
turn tried to disable the screw of her opponent, but without
s