s way to save drowning men. His soldiers broke into
cheers, but he sternly stopped them, with the advice to wait till the
_Hartford_ was sunk. The boat picked up ten men and officers, while four
swam to the beach and were made prisoners.

When the lull was over Farragut headed his ship for the fort,
signalling to the remainder of the fleet, which followed close after
him. When warned of the torpedoes the wrathful Admiral came near adding
a little profanity to his contemptuous opinion of them as he passed on.
Wheeling, he launched his whole broadside at the fort, then delivered a
second at the _Tennessee_ and headed for the gunboats _Selma_, _Gaines_
and _Morgan_, all of which were raking him. Casting off his consort, the
_Metacomet_, he sent her after the _Selma_, and, after a hot chase, she
captured her. The other two took to shallow water under the guns of the
fort.

The ships, having passed the latter, were about to anchor when the
_Tennessee_ was perceived coming straight for the fleet, with the
intention of attacking it. Farragut signalled to the vessels to run her
down and ordered the pilot of the _Hartford_ to drive her with full
speed at the ironclad. The _Monongahela_ was the first to reach the
monster, struck her fairly, and, swinging around, let fly with a
broadside of 11-inch shot, which dropped harmlessly from her mailed
side. Undaunted, the _Monongahela_ rammed her again, though she received
ten times as much damage as she inflicted. The _Lackawanna_ passed
through a somewhat similar experience but a gunner drove a 9-inch shell
into one of the shutters, which was shattered and forced within the
casemate. The crews were so close that they taunted each other through
the portholes and even hurled missiles across the brief intervening
space.

At this juncture the _Hartford_ arrived, charging full speed upon the
ram, which so shifted its position that the blow was a glancing one.
Recoiling, the flagship delivered its most tremendous broadside, doing
no harm, while the _Hartford_ itself was pierced again and again by the
exploding shells which strewed her deck with dead and dying. Nothing
daunted, Farragut prepared to ram once more, when his ship was badly
injured by an accidental blow from the _Lackawanna_. But Farragut,
seeing that she still floated, called for a full head of steam that he
might deliver a blow that was likely to send his own ship to the bottom.

By this time the slower going monitors had a