as strong as the
_Merrimac_. It was covered with iron five or six inches thick, and
carried a half-dozen big guns.

Franklin Buchanan, who had been captain of the _Merrimac_, was admiral
of the _Tennessee_.

But Admiral Farragut--he was an admiral now--had his iron-clad vessels,
too. Four monitors like the old _Monitor_ of Hampton Roads, had been
built and sent him, and these, with his wooden vessels, made nearly
twenty ships.

Such was the fleet with which Farragut set out for his second great
victory, early in the morning of August 5, 1864. It was six o'clock when
the ships crossed the bar and headed in for Fort Morgan.

On they went, bravely, firing at the fort. But not a shot came back till
the leading ships were in front of its strong stone walls. Then there
began a terrible roar, and a storm of iron balls poured out at the
ships. If the guns had been well aimed, dreadful work might have been
done, but the balls went screaming through the air and hardly touched a
ship. And the fierce fire from the ships drove many of the men in the
fort from their guns.

But now there is a terrible tale to tell, a tale of death and
destruction, of the sinking of a ship with her captain and nearly all
her crew on board.

This was the monitor _Tecumseh_. It was steered straight out where the
torpedoes lay thick. Suddenly there came a dull roar. The bow of the
iron-clad was lifted like a feather out of the water. Then it sank till
it pointed downward like a boy diving, and the stern was lifted up into
the air. In a second more the good ship went down with a mighty plunge.

But with this there is also one fine story, the story of a gallant man.
This was Captain Craven, of the _Tecumseh_. He and the pilot were in the
pilot-house and both sprang for the opening. But there was room only for
one. The brave captain drew back.

"After you, pilot," he said.

The pilot escaped, but the noble captain, with ninety-two of his men,
sank to the depths.

A boat was sent to pick up the swimmers, with a gallant young ensign, H.
C. Neilds, in charge. Out they rowed where the waters were being torn
and threshed with shot and shell. The ensign was only a boy, but he had
the spirit of a Perry. He saw that his flag was not flying, and he
coolly raised it in the face of the foe, and then sat down to steer.

Brave men were there by the hundreds, but none were braver than their
admiral, their immortal Farragut. The smoke blinded his eyes on deck