e sounds was the vast
facilities given them for constructing, at their leisure, powerful
iron-clads in some of the North Carolina shipyards; then sending them
to reduce the Hatteras forts, and so out into the Atlantic to fight
for the destruction of the blockade. All these conditions were clear
to the authorities of the Union; and therefore, in the early part of
January, 1862, a joint military and naval expedition was fitted out
for operation against the Confederate works and steamers in these
inland waters. It was in the early days of the war; and the flotilla
was one of those heterogeneous collections of remodelled
excursion-steamers, tugs, ferry-boats, and even canal-boats, which at
that time was dignified with the title of "the fleet." In fitting out
this expedition two very conflicting requirements were followed. In
the most favorable circumstances, the channel at Hatteras Inlet is
seldom over seven and a half feet: consequently the vessels must be of
light draught. But the Confederate steamers in the sounds carried
heavy rifled cannon, and the armament of the forts on Roanoke Island
was of the heaviest: therefore, the vessels must carry heavy guns to
be able to cope with the enemy. This attempt to put a heavy armament
on the gun-deck made the vessels roll so heavily as to be almost
unseaworthy.

[Illustration: Shores of Albemarle Sound.]

In addition to the armed vessels belonging to the navy, a number of
transports accompanied the expedition, bearing the army corps under
the command of Gen. Burnside; and the whole number of craft finally
assembled for the subjugation of the North Carolina sounds was one
hundred and twenty. This heterogeneous assemblage of vessels was sent
on a voyage in the dead of winter, down a dangerous coast, to one of
the stormiest points known to the mariner. Hatteras was true to its
reputation; and, when the squadron reached the inlet, a furious
north-easter was blowing, sending the gray clouds scudding across the
sky, and making the heavy rollers break on the beach and the bar in a
way that foretold certain destruction, should any hardy pilot attempt
to run his ship into the narrow and crooked inlet. Outside there was
no safe anchorage, and the situation of the entire squadron was most
precarious. Several serious mishaps occurred before the vessels got
into the small and altogether insufficient harbor between the seaward
bar and the "bulkhead" or inner bar. The first vessel to come to g