Page:The Wreck of a World - Grove - 1890.djvu/97

Rh But whether he kept a less straight course or whether the enemy's ship ported her helm, she was not immediately sunk, but a gaping hole was made along her side. As I passed her in the America my gunners gave her the coup-de-grace with one of our great shells, which struck her boiler and exploded her. Two seconds more and I was close upon the vessel I had selected for attack, and was expecting each moment to be thrown off my feet with the shock of collision, when with astonishing velocity she put her helm hard down and stood across the river. Seeing her manœuvre I starboarded my helm at almost the same instant, and (her way being checked by the rudder) managed to strike her full and fair amidships. Incredible as it may appear we passed clean through that vessel as if she had been built of so much paper, and it is hardly an exaggeration to say that we suffered no more damage than the scraping of the paint off our sides.

But other vessels came swarming round us, and the odds were great. Our guns began to fire rapidly, and so good was the sailors' practice that scarce a shot missed its mark, while I think every one of our heavy shells struck and blew up the boilers of the vessel at