made
two or three spasmodic rolls, hung for a moment on the rocks below,
was then swept into deep water by the current, and rounded to safely
into the bank. Thirty thousand voices rose in one deafening cheer, and
universal joy seemed to pervade the face of every man present."

After the dam was repaired, the rest of the fleet passed down safely.

With the escape of the Red-river flotilla, the career of Admiral
Porter on the rivers ended. Indeed, there was but little work for the
river navy remaining. The Mississippi, Tennessee, and Cumberland
Rivers were opened; and the Confederate works on the smaller streams
were unimportant, and could be left to fall with the fall of the
Confederacy, which was near at hand. There was work for fighting
sea-captains along the Atlantic coast, and thither Admiral Porter was
ordered. He will re-appear at the bombardment of Fort Fisher.

An event which caused the greatest excitement in naval circles at this
time, and which for courage and dash has probably never been equalled
in the history of the world, was the run of the Confederate privateer
"Florida" past the United States fleet blockading the harbor of
Mobile. The "Florida" was originally a merchant-ship, known as the
"Oreto;" and under that name she sailed from Liverpool, carrying a
peaceful cargo, and manned by sailors who had no idea that any thing
beyond a peaceable voyage was planned. She was commanded by an English
sea-captain; and, although the United States consul at Liverpool
looked on her with some suspicion, yet he could find no pretext upon
which to oppose her departure.

Hardly had the ship passed the mouth of the Mersey, when her course
was shaped for Nassau, the haven of privateers and blockade-runners.
At Nassau several officers of the Confederate navy were living; and
from the anxiety with which they scanned the horizon day after day,
through their telescopes, it would seem that they were watching for
some friendly craft. The "Oreto" arrived safely at Nassau; and a young
gentleman who had come with her made all possible haste ashore, and
delivered to the watchful gentlemen in the town certain letters, which
made them first look with the greatest satisfaction at the newly
arrived ship, and then begin again their outlook for vessels. The
letters were from Capt. Bulloch, the agent in London of the
Confederacy; and by them he notified his brother naval officers that
he delivered to them the "Oreto," an admirably buil