repairs, or,
sailors would say, "out of commission." Of the forty-two vessels in
commission, twenty-six were absent on missions to the East Indies,
the African coast, and other distant quarters of the globe. Long
months must elapse before the most hasty orders could reach them. Many
were sailing-vessels, and must consume many months of precious time
before they could reach the shores of the United States. Indeed,
though on the inauguration of President Lincoln on March 4, 1861, all
these vessels were immediately recalled, not one arrived before the
middle of June, and many were delayed until late in the following
winter. Of the vessels at home, many were old-fashioned
sailing-frigates; beautiful with their towering masts and clouds of
snowy canvas, but almost useless in that day when steam had become
known as the only means of propelling vessels-of-war.

[Illustration: The "Hartford," Farragut's Flagship.]

In officers and men the navy was almost as deficient as in vessels. A
long peace had filled the lists of officers with old men past that
age in which may be expected the alertness and energy that must be
possessed by Jack afloat. The lower grades were filled by boyish
officers from the Naval Academy, who had never seen a gun fired in
anger. The service was becoming rusty from long idleness.

Such was the condition of the navy of the United States when Abraham
Lincoln was made President. Four years later the navy of the United
States consisted of six hundred and seventy-one vessels. No nation of
the world had such a naval power. The stern lessons of the great war
had taught shipbuilders that wooden ships were a thing of the past.
The little "Monitor" had by one afternoon's battle proved to all the
sovereigns of Europe that their massive ships were useless. And all
this had been done by a people grappling in deadly strife with an
enemy in their very dwellings. The world's history contains no more
wonderful story of energy and invention.

[Illustration: Departure of a Naval Expedition from Port Royal.]

When President Lincoln began his term of office, he appointed Gideon
Welles of Connecticut Secretary of the Navy. South Carolina had
seceded from the Union. Mississippi, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, and
Louisiana had followed South Carolina. Anderson, with a handful of
United States troops, was holding Fort Sumter, expecting every minute
to see the puff of smoke from the distant casement of Fort Moultrie,
and hear th