e fight to the very last
gasp. When she sank with a roar her topmasts still showed above
water and her colors waved defiance. An hour later the terribly
mauled _Congress_ surrendered; whereupon her crew was rescued and
she was set on fire. By this time various smaller craft on both
sides had joined the fray. But the big _Minnesota_ still remained,
though aground and apparently at the mercy of the _Merrimac_. The
great draught of the _Merrimac_ and the setting in of the ebb tide,
however, made the Confederates draw off for the night.

Next morning they saw the "tin can on the shingle" between them and
their prey. The _Monitor_ and _Merrimac_ then began their epoch-making
fight. The patchwork engines of the deep-draught _Merrimac_ made her
as unhandy as if she had been water-logged, while the light-draught
_Monitor_ could not only play round her when close-to but maneuver
all over the surrounding shallows as well. The _Merrimac_ put her
last ounce of steam into an attempt to ram her agile opponent.
But a touch of the _Monitor's_ helm swung her round just in time
to make the blow perfectly harmless. The _Merrimac_ simply barged
into her, grated harshly against her iron side, and sheered off
beaten. The firing was furious and mostly at pointblank range.
Once the _Monitor_ fired while the sides were actually touching.
The concussion was so tremendous that all the _Merrimac's_ gun-crews
aft were struck down flat, with bleeding ears and noses. But in
spite of this her boarders were called away; whereupon every man
who could handle cutlass and revolver made ready and stood by. The
_Monitor_, however, dropped astern too quickly; and the wallowing
_Merrimac_ had no chance of catching her. The fight had lasted all
through that calm spring morning when the _Monitor_ steamed off,
across the shallows, still keeping carefully between the _Merrimac_
and _Minnesota_. It was a drawn battle. But the effect was that
of a Northern victory; for the _Merrimac_ was balked of her easy
prey, and the North gained time to outbuild the South completely.

Outbuilding the South of course meant tightening the "anaconda"
system of blockade, in the entangling coils of which the South
was caught already. Three thousand miles of Southern coastline
was, however, more than the North could blockade or even watch to
its own satisfaction all at once. Fogs, storms, and clever ruses
played their part on behalf of those who ran the blockade, especially
during