as therefore a ram that could only by a
favorable chance overtake her prey, and was likely at any moment to
lose the power of directing her thrust.

Such as she was the Tennessee was ready for service early in March,
1864, when Commander J.D. Johnston was ordered as her captain. She was
taken from the city, through one of the arms of the Alabama, to the
mud flats which reach to a point twenty miles down the bay, and are
called Dog River Bar. The least depth of water to be traversed was
nine feet, but throughout the whole distance the fourteen feet
necessary to float the vessel could not be counted upon. She was
carried over on camels, which are large floats made to fit the hull
below the water line, and fastened to it, on either side, by heavy
chains passing around them and under the keel, while the camels are
filled with water. When the water was pumped out the buoyancy of the
camels lifted the ram five feet, reducing her draught enough to let
her go over the bar. Two months were taken up in building and placing
the camels, during all which time Farragut was begging either for
ironclads or for co-operation by the land forces, in reducing the
forts. In either case he was willing to enter the bay, but he did not
like to run the risk of getting inside with his wooden ships crippled,
the forts intact in his rear, and the enemy's ironclads to contend
with as well. Neither assistance was given, and he was therefore
compelled to look on while the Tennessee was moved from a position in
which she could do no harm to one in which she became the principal
menace to the attacking fleet. On the 18th of May she was finally
towed across and anchored in the lower bay six miles from the
entrance. That night the camels were removed, steam raised, and
everything made ready to cross the outer bar and attack the fleet;
but when the anchor was weighed the ship was found to be hard aground.
The intended attack was given up, and when the tide rose enough to
float her, she was moved down to Fort Morgan, near which she remained
from that time.

The preparations for defence of the enemy were not confined to the
forts and the ships. From the point of Dauphin Island a line of pile
obstructions extended across the sand bank, in the direction of Fort
Morgan, blocking the passage of any light vessels that might try to
pass that way. Where the piles ended, near the edge of the bank, a
triple line of torpedoes in echelon began, extending across the m