generally known by her former name.

At noon on Saturday, 8 March, 1862, the "Merrimac" started on her voyage
down the Elizabeth River. It was to be at once her trial trip and her first
fighting expedition. She was to attack and destroy the Federal blockading
fleet in Hampton Roads. Up to the last moment the ship was crowded with
working men. They were cleared out of her as she cast off from the quay. As
the "Merrimac" went down the river the officers were telling off the men to
their stations. Not one of her guns had ever been fired. There had been a
few hurried drills. Everything was improvised.

The first disappointment was to find that with the engines doing their best
she could only make five knots. She steered badly, answering her helm
slowly and turning on a wide circle. As one of her officers put it, "she
was as unmanageable as a water-logged vessel." She drew 22 feet of water,
so that she had to keep to the narrow channel in the middle of the river,
and the risk of getting hopelessly aground was serious.

The Confederate troops crowded the batteries on either bank, and cheered
the "Merrimac" as she went slowly down. It was a fine day, with bright
sunshine and absolutely no wind, and the broad stretch of water in Hampton
Roads was like a pond. At the same time a small squadron of Confederate
gunboats came down the James River to co-operate in the attack. These ships
were the "Yorktown" (12 guns), the "Jamestown" (2 guns), and the "Teaser"
(1 gun). Two other gunboats, the "Beaufort" and the "Raleigh," followed the
"Merrimac." But the chief hope of the attack was placed upon the ironclad.

The nine vessels of the blockading fleet lay along the north side of
Hampton Roads, from the point at Newport News to Old Point Comfort, where
the Roads open on Chesapeake Bay. They were strung out over a distance of
about eight miles. The shore on that side was held by the Federals, and the
point at Newport News bristled with batteries. Near the point were anchored
the sailing frigate "Congress," of 50 guns, and the sloop "Cumberland," a
full-rigged three-master, armed with 30 guns. On board the Federal ships
there was not the remotest expectation of attack. Clothes were drying in
the rigging. A crowd of boats lay alongside. It was known that the
Confederates had been busy converting the old "Merrimac" into an armoured
ram at Norfolk Navy Yard, but it was not believed that she was yet ready
for action. The men had just eaten t