y remarked when a youth, returning in 1820 from the European
station.[Q] "Had regular naval officers," said Kennon bitterly, "instead
of being kept in the mud forts on the creeks in Virginia, and in the
woods of Carolina cutting timbers to build ironclads, been sent to
command these vessels, even at the eleventh hour, they would have proved
very formidable."

[Footnote Q: See page 62.]

Steaming into the midst of such as these, the peril of the Cayuga, real
enough, was less than it seemed; but she had to do at once with Warley's
Manassas and with the Governor Moore, the vessel that Kennon commanded,
and which afterward sunk the Varuna. "Three made a dash to board us,"
records Lieutenant Perkins, agreeing therein with the official reports
of Captain Bailey and of his own commander, Lieutenant Harrison; "but a
heavy charge from our eleven-inch gun settled the Governor Moore, which
was one of them. A ram, the Manassas, in attempting to butt us just
missed our stern, and we soon settled the third fellow's 'hash.' Just
then some of our gunboats which had passed the forts came up, and then
all sorts of things happened." This last expression is probably as terse
and graphic a summary of a _melee_, which to so many is the ideal of a
naval conflict, as ever was penned. "There was the wildest excitement
all round. The Varuna fired a broadside into us instead of into the
enemy. Another of our gunboats attacked one of the Cayuga's prizes; I
shouted out, 'Don't fire into that ship, she has surrendered.' Three of
the enemy's ships had surrendered to us before any of our vessels
appeared; but when they did come up we all pitched in, and settled the
eleven rebel vessels in about twenty minutes." Besides the eleven armed
boats known to have been above, there were several unarmed tugs and
other steamers, some of which probably shared in this wild confusion.
One at least came into conflict with the Hartford.

The second column, led by the flag-ship, was promptly away and after the
first; following, indeed, so closely that the head of the one lapped the
rear of the other. The Brooklyn and Richmond, close behind the Hartford,
formed with her a powerful "body of battle," to use the strong French
expression for the center of a fleet. Though called sloops-of-war, the
tonnage and batteries of these ships were superior to those of the
medium ships-of-the-line of the beginning of this century, with which
Nelson fought his celebrated battles.