uld be
undertaken, he said: "I calculate thus: The chances are that I shall
lose some of my vessels by torpedoes or the guns of the enemy, but with
some of my fleet afloat I shall eventually be successful. I can not lose
all. I will attack, regardless of consequences, and never turn back." To
a mind thus disciplined and prepared, the unforeseen dilemma presented
before the barriers of Mobile Bay caused but a passing perplexity. Like
the Puritan soldier who trusted in God and kept his powder dry, Farragut
met the overthrow of his carefully arranged plans and the sudden
decision thrust upon him with the calm resolution of a man who has
counted the cost and is strengthened by a profound dependence upon the
will of the Almighty. He resolved to go forward.

The Hartford was now too near the Brooklyn to go clear by a simple
movement of her helm. Backing hard, therefore, the wheels of the
Metacomet, while turning her own screw ahead, her bows were twisted
short round, as in a like strait they had been pointed fair under the
batteries of Port Hudson; then, going ahead fast, the two ships passed
close under the stern of the Brooklyn and dashed straight at the line of
the buoys. As they thus went by the vessel which till then had led, a
warning cry came from her that there were torpedoes ahead. "Damn the
torpedoes!" shouted the admiral, in the exaltation of his high purpose.
"Four bells![X] Captain Drayton, go ahead! Jouett, full speed!" The
Hartford and her consort crossed the line about five hundred yards from
Mobile Point, well to the westward of the buoy and of the spot where the
Tecumseh had gone down. As they passed between the buoys, the cases of
the torpedoes were heard by many on board knocking against the copper of
the bottom, and many of the primers snapped audibly, but no torpedo
exploded. The Hartford went safely through, the gates of Mobile Bay were
forced, and as Farragut's flag cleared the obstructions his last and
hardest battle was virtually won. The Brooklyn got her head round, the
Richmond supporting her by a sustained fire from her heavy broadside;
and, after a delay which allowed the flag-ship to gain nearly a mile
upon them, the other ships in order followed the Hartford, "believing,"
wrote the admiral in his dispatch, "that they were going to a noble
death with their commander-in-chief."

[Footnote X: The signal in the United States Navy for the
engines to be driven at high speed.]

After the flag-s