e _Monitor_
was tiny compared to their ship, for she was not one-fifth the size, and
her queer construction and odd look made them look at their new foe with
contempt; but the first shock of battle did away with this feeling. The
_Merrimac_ turned on her foe her rifle guns, intending to blow her out
of the water, but the shot glanced from the thick iron turret of the
_Monitor_. Then the _Monitor_'s guns opened fire, and as the great balls
struck the sides of the ram the plates started and her timbers gave. Had
the _Monitor_ been such a vessel as those of her type produced later in
the war the ram would have been sunk then and there; but as it was her
shot was not quite heavy enough to pierce the iron walls. Around and
around the two strange combatants hovered, their guns bellowing without
cessation, while the men on the frigates and on shore watched the result
with breathless interest. Neither the _Merrimac_ nor the _Monitor_ could
dispose of its antagonist. The ram's guns could not damage the turret,
and the _Monitor_ was able to dexterously avoid the stroke of the
formidable prow. On the other hand, the shot of the _Monitor_ could not
penetrate the _Merrimac_'s tough sides. Accordingly, fierce though the
struggle was, and much though there was that hinged on it, it was not
bloody in character. The _Merrimac_ could neither destroy nor evade the
_Monitor_. She could not sink her when she tried to, and when she
abandoned her and turned to attack one of the other wooden vessels the
little turreted ship was thrown across her path, so that the fight had
to be renewed. Both sides grew thoroughly exhausted, and finally the
battle ceased by mutual consent. Nothing more could be done. The ram was
badly damaged, and there was no help for her save to put back to the
port whence she had come. Twice afterwards she came out, but neither
time did she come near enough to the _Monitor_ to attack her, and the
latter could not move off where she would cease to protect the wooden
ships. Tactically it was a drawn battle, neither ship being able to
damage the other, and both ships being fought to a standstill; but the
moral and material effects were wholly in favor of the _Monitor_. Her
victory was hailed with exultant joy throughout the whole Union, and
exercised a correspondingly depressing effect in the Confederacy, while
every naval man throughout the world who possessed eyes to see saw that
the fight in Hampton Roads had inaugurated a ne