Page:Cambridge Modern History Volume 7.djvu/593

 1862] The Merrimac assails the wooden ships. 561 sea was extremely trying to her crew. She was ill-ventilated even in the best circumstances ; her speed was very low ; the steam-engine which made the turret revolve was not easily controlled, and was apt to carry the guns past the point of aim. The ship was therefore imperfect an improvisation to meet a great emergency but, had her designer had more time, there is no doubt that her defects might have been remedied. On March 6, 1862, this vessel left New York for Hampton Roads, in command of Lieutenant Worden, convoyed by two unsea- worthy steamers. The voyage tasked her crew severely ; water poured in through the openings in her deck, which was awash in the ground- swell of the Atlantic. There were moments when it seemed as though she must be abandoned ; but Worden was an excellent officer, a man of extreme tenacity and resolution, and he finally succeeded in bringing his charge safe into Hampton Roads late in the evening of March 8. As she drew near the roads the thunder of heavy firing could be heard far off, towards Norfolk. The crew went to general quarters, and put the ship in fighting trim. They were lighted to their berth in the roads by the glare of a burning vessel, which told eloquently that the Merrimae had already got to work. On that same morning the Merrimac had come down to try her guns upon the Northern fleet. She engaged two of the wooden ships, the Congress and Cumberland, and received their fire with impunity, the shot glancing off her armoured side like so many peas. Far different was it when her own heavy guns gave tongue against her adversaries. Her shells wrought horrible slaughter in the Congress ; she then charged the Cumberland with the ram and struck her at her moorings, in the fore-channels, a blow which proved deadly. A huge gap was left in the side of the Cumberland, and she at once began to settle in the water ; but the crew refused to surrender, and fought their ship to the last. While this was happening, the Congress made sail, and strove to reach the shoal water under the Northern batteries at Newport News. Here she ran aground and was assailed by the Merrimac. The Southern ironclad was able to take up a position where her guns would bear, while the Congress could only use two of her thirty pieces, and those two were powerless against the Merrimac's armour. The combat was a hopeless one for the wooden vessel from the first, but it was bravely protracted for an hour, when, with the ship on fire in several places, the white flag was raised. This resistance, however, had served some purpose. The tide in the roads was beginning to ebb, and the water was shoaling fast, so that the Merrimac could not now get near the Northern vessels which still survived, and would otherwise have fallen to her guns. Leaving till next day the completion of the work of destruction, she steamed back to Norfolk, with no more serious injuries than the loss of her ram, the disablement of two guns, the springing of a slight leak, and some trivial damage to her armour. The C. M. H. VII. CH. XVII. 36