nd the admiral often afterward spoke with
enthusiasm of the hearty "Ay, ay, sir!" he received in reply, and of the
promptness with which the fasts were cut, the men being already by them,
hatchet in hand. The Metacomet backed clear at once and started rapidly
in pursuit. The gunboats in the rear followed as soon as the signal was
made out; but, both from their position and from the inevitable delay in
reading signals, they were at a disadvantage. A thick rain squall coming
up soon after hid both pursuers and pursued from each other's sight. The
Morgan and the Gaines took advantage of it to change their course for
Fort Morgan; the third Confederate, the Selma, kept straight on, as did
the Metacomet. When the squall cleared, the latter found herself ahead
of her chase. One shot was fired, killing the first lieutenant and some
of the crew of the Selma, whose flag was then hauled down. The Morgan
made good her retreat under the fort, and that night succeeded in
escaping up the bay to the city, although she was seen and fired upon by
several of Farragut's vessels.

At half-past eight o'clock, three hours after the first signal was made
to get under way and an hour and a half after the action began, the
flag-ship anchored in the upper part of the deep pocket into which the
channel expands after passing the entrance. She was then about four
miles from Fort Morgan, and the crew were sent to breakfast. The admiral
had come down from his post in the main rigging and was standing on the
poop, when Captain Drayton came up to him and said: "What we have done
has been well done, sir; but it all counts for nothing so long as the
Tennessee is there under the guns of Morgan." "I know it," replied
Farragut, "and as soon as the people have had their breakfasts I am
going for her." These words were exchanged in the hearing of the first
lieutenant of the Hartford, now Rear-Admiral Kimberly, and at present
the senior officer upon the active list of the United States Navy. In
writing home a few weeks later, the admiral said: "If I had not captured
the Tennessee as I did, I should have taken her that night with the
monitors, or _tried_ it." The latter undoubtedly represents the more
deliberate opinion, that would have guided him had Buchanan not played
into his hands by attacking the fleet; for if the Tennessee had
remained under Morgan and there been sought by the monitors, the fight
would have been at such close quarters that in the darkness