ugh which the fleet could pass. The Rebels considered
the works impregnable, but they did not depend solely upon them. Just
around the point of land, behind Fort Morgan, we could see that
afternoon three saucy-looking gunboats and the famous ram 'Tennessee.'
The latter was then considered the strongest and most powerful
iron-clad ever put afloat; looking like a great turtle, with sloping
sides covered with iron plates six inches in thickness, thoroughly
riveted together, and having a formidable iron beak projecting under
the water. Her armament consisted of six heavy guns of English make,
sending a solid shot weighing one hundred and ten pounds,--a small
affair compared with the heavy guns of the present time, but
irresistible then against every thing but the turrets of the monitors.
In addition to these means of resistance, the narrow channel in front
of the fort had been lined with torpedoes. These were under the water,
anchored to the bottom, and were chiefly in the shape of beer-kegs
filled with powder, from the sides of which projected numerous little
tubes containing fulminate, which it was expected would be exploded by
contact with the passing vessels.

"Except for what Farragut had already accomplished on the Mississippi,
it would have been considered a foolhardy experiment for wooden
vessels to attempt to pass so close to one of the strongest forts on
the coast; but when to the forts were added the knowledge of the
strength of the ram, and the supposed deadly character of the
torpedoes, it may be imagined that the coming event impressed the
person taking his first glimpse of naval warfare as decidedly
hazardous and unpleasant. So daring an attempt was never made in any
country but this, and was never successfully made by any commander
except Farragut, who in this, as in his previous exploits in passing
the forts of the Mississippi, proved himself the greatest naval
commander the world has ever seen. It was the confidence reposed in
him, the recollection that he had never failed in any of his attempts,
and his manifest faith in the success of the projected movement, that
inspired all around him."

When the reconnoissance was completed, the admiral called a council of
his captains in the wardroom of the "Hartford," and announced that the
attack would be made early the following morning. The council over,
each commander returned to his ship, there to make ready for the dread
business of the morrow. The same writ