F. A. Roe, of the Sassacus, therefore resolved to try the desperate expedient of ramming the ironclad. He drew off to a distance of some 200 yards, and putting on a full head of steam rushed upon the Albemarle at a speed of ten knots an hour. He struck her just abaft the casemate on the starboard side with a shock which caused every timber to groan, though nothing gave way. There was a moment of consternation on board the ram, but seeing they did not sink the crew immediately rallied to their guns and continued the fight. The Sassacus steamed heavily, hoping to force the ram under water; and in this Roe might have met the success his bravery deserved, but for a shot from the Albemarle which passed through his boiler, and in an instant filled his vessel with scalding steam, disabling his engine and sixteen men. Crippled as he was, his engine room inaccessible, the vessel filled with smoke and steam and the shrieks of scalded sailors, Roe still fought his guns with imperturbable gallantry, hurling upon the Albemarle his hundred-pound shot, which rebounded in pieces on his own deck. He slowly dropped out of the fight, and a period of considerable confusion ensued, as the result of two mistakes; the flag of the Albemarle being shot away, it was thought she had surrendered, and the Wyalusing erroneously reported herself as sinking; this caused a temporary cessation of the battle, which was not renewed with much energy until night closed in. The Albemarle, whose riddled smoke-stack refused to draw, was able, by burning the lard and bacon on board, to steam back to Plymouth. CHAP. II. Roe, Report, May 6, 1864. Report Secretary of the Navy. Ibid. CHAP. II. 1864. She had gained great glory throughout the Confederacy by her two battles, and Captain Cooke was promoted to the command of the rebel navy on the coast of North Carolina. With a few knots more speed she could have destroyed the whole Union fleet; as it was, the capture of a fort with a brigade of prisoners, the destruction of a gunboat, and a drawn battle lasting a full afternoon with a squadron mounting 55 pieces, were no inconsiderable claims to renown. She came out of the Roanoke but once after this battle; on the 24th of May she was seen by a picket boat, apparently dragging for torpedoes. A single shot fired at her caused her to retire up the stream. She lay at her berth by the wharf at Plymouth until the 27th of October, when her name was associated forever with one still more glorious. Of course the Navy Department could not count upon this long inaction, and so long as the Albemarle lay substantially unhurt at Plymouth she was a source of constant anxiety to the squadron in the Sound. They had no ironclads of sufficiently light draft to cross the bar at Hatteras Inlet; several were in course of construction, but it was not safe to wait for their completion. A party of volunteers from the Wyalusing was sent to destroy the ram with torpedoes, late in May; but an untoward accident, the fouling of their line by a Secretary schooner, prevented a success which was merited Navy. by their courage and good conduct. September had come before the plan and the man were found that were adapted to the work. The scheme was to fit out two small steam launches rigged with spar torpedoes, and armed with how Smith, Report, May 30, 1864. Report of the itzers, which should try to reach the ram at night CHAP. II. by surprise; the man was Lieutenant William B. Cushing, who had attracted the attention of his superiors by several noteworthy examples of coolness and daring. Once he had landed by night with two boat crews at the town of Smithville, being rowed under the very guns of Fort Caswell, walked with three men to General Louis Hébert's headquarters, captured an officer of engineers, the general himself being absent in Wilmington, and had come safely away with his prisoner, from a post garrisoned by a thousand men. At another time, having volunteered to destroy the ironclad Raleigh, supposed to be lying in the Cape Fear River, he went in his cutter up the stream, eluding the sentries on either shore, landed within seven miles of Wilmington, thoroughly reconnoitered the place, found the Raleigh a total wreck, and after three days of adventures in which his luck and daring were equally amazing he was intercepted on his return down the river in the moonlight by a whole fleet of guard boats and his escape apparently cut off. Turning about, he found himself confronted by a schooner filled with troops. Instead of surrendering he dashed for New Inlet ; and, seconded by his crew, who always seemed when with him as insensible to danger as himself, he escaped into the breakers, where the enemy dared not follow, and safely rejoined his ship. His perfect coolness in critical emergencies was matter of temperament rather than calculation. He prepared everything in advance with a care and judgment remarkable in one so young; but when the time of action came, the immediate peril СНАР. ІІ. of death was nothing more than a gentle stimulant to him; he enjoyed it as he would a frolic. He was a handsome youth, 21 years of age; six feet high; with a beardless face and bright auburn hair. After conferences with Admiral Lee and Mr. Fox, the Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Cushing went to New York and found two launches, at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, suited to his purpose. They were 46 feet in length, 94 feet wide, and drew about 40 inches. While they were being equipped for the work by Engineer-in-Chief W. W. Wood of the navy, Cushing visited his mother in Fredonia, N. Y., and confided to her his intention, saying he needed her prayers. Returning to New York he took his launches out and tested his torpedoes, and then started them southward, by way of Chesapeake Bay; one of them on the way was attacked by guerrillas and burned. At Hampton Roads Cushing refitted his only remaining boat, and passing through the Dismal Swamp came to Roanoke Island. There he gave out that he was bound for Beaufort and steamed away by night to join the fleet which was lying off the mouth of the Roanoke River, the senior officer being Commander W. H. Macomb, whose flagship was the Shamrock. Here for the first time Cushing disclosed to his officers and men the purpose of his expedition, leaving them free to go or stay as they preferred; all wanted to go with him. Several others volunteered, among them Paymaster Francis H. Swan, whose anxiety for a fight was paid by a severe 1 In this chapter we have made free use of Cushing's admirable account of his expedition, printed in "Battles and Leaders of the Civil War," Vol. IV., p. 634. CHAP. II. Report, 1864. Report of the Navy. wound and four months in Libby prison; W. L. Howarth, Cushing's tried and trusted companion in former adventures, and two other master's mates, Thos. S. Gay and John Woodman; two engineer officers, Steever and Stotesbury, and eight men. A cutter from the Shamrock was taken in tow with eleven men; their duty was to board the wreck of the Southfield, if the guard which was known to be posted there should discover the party as they passed. A false start was made on the night of the 26th; the boat ran aground, and so much time was wasted in getting her off that the expedition was postponed for twenty-four hours. At midnight, Cushing, in rain and storm, the devoted little party set forth. Fortune favored them at first; they passed secretary the wreck of the Southfield without a hail, and came in view of the few lights of Plymouth. The little noise made by the low-pressure engines was muffled with tarpaulins, which also concealed every ray of light from the launch. Cushing stood near the bow, connected by lines with every part of the boat as the brain is by nerves with every limb. He held a line by which he was to detach the torpedo from the spar which carried it, when it should have been shoved under the overhang of the ram; another, by which he was to explode it after it had floated up to a point of contact; and two more, one attached to the wrist and one to the ankle of the engineer, by which he directed the movements of the boat. He had two complete plans in his mind; one was to use his own nervous phrase—"to take the Albemarle alive," by landing some distance below, stealing up, and dashing on her from the wharf; but just as he was |