those which did explode could not be replaced in action, that
they were all fixed to their own spots, and that if one ship was
blown up her next-astern would get through safely.

The _Brooklyn_, his next-ahead, was in his way. So he ordered the
flagship _Hartford_ and her lashed-together consort, the double-ender
_Metacomet_, to use, the one her screw, the other her paddles, in
opposite directions, till he had cleared the _Brooklyn's_ stern.
As he drew clear and headed for the danger-channel a shout went up
from the _Brooklyn's_ deck--"'ware torpedoes!" But Farragut, his
mind made up, instantly roared back--"Damn the torpedoes!" Then,
turning to the _Hartford's_ and _Metacomet's_ decks, he called
his orders down: "Four bells! Captain Drayton, go ahead! Captain
Jouett, full speed!" In answer to the order of "four bells" the
engines worked their very utmost and the two vessels dashed ahead.
Torpedoes knocked against the bottom and some of the primers actually
snapped. But nothing exploded; and Farragut won through.

Inside the harbor the _Tennessee_ fought hard against the overwhelming
Union fleet. But her low-powered engines gave her no chance at
quick maneuvers. Three vessels rammed her in succession; and she
was forced to surrender.

After this purely naval victory on the fifth of August, General
Granger's troops invested Fort Morgan, which, becoming the target
of an irresistible converging fire from both land and sea on the
twenty-second, surrendered on the twenty-third.

The next objective of a joint expedition was Fort Fisher, which
stood at the end of a long, low tongue of land between the sea and
Cape Fear River. Fort Fisher guarded the entrance to Wilmington
in North Carolina, the port, above all others, from which the
Confederate armies drew their oversea supplies. Lee wrote to Colonel
Lamb, its commandant, saying that he could not subsist if it was
taken. Lamb had less than two thousand men in the fort; but there
were six thousand more forming an army of support outside. The
Confederates, however, had no naval force to speak of, while the
Union fleet, commanded by Admiral Porter, was the largest that
had ever yet assembled under the Stars and Stripes. There were
nearly sixty fighting vessels of all kinds, including five new
ironclads and the three finest new frigates. The guns that were
carried exceeded six hundred.

There was also a mine ship, the old _Louisiana_, stuffed chock-a-block
with powder to bl