e of wind as soon as we passed Sandy Hook. The
vessel behaved splendidly. The seas rolled over her, and we found her
the most comfortable vessel we had ever seen, except for the
ventilation, which gave us more trouble than I have time to tell you
about. We had to run into port and anchor on account of the weather,
and, as you know, it was two o'clock in the morning of Sunday before we
were alongside the _Minnesota_. Captain Van Brunt gave us an account of
Saturday's experience. He was very glad to make our acquaintance, and
notified us that we must be prepared to receive the _Merrimac_ at
daylight. We had had a very hard trip down the coast, and officers and
men were weary and sleepy. But when informed that our fight would
probably open at daylight, and that the _Monitor_ must be put in order,
every man went to his post with a cheer. That night there was no sleep
on board the _Monitor_.

"In the gray of the early morning we saw a vessel approaching, which our
friends on the _Minnesota_ said was the _Merrimac_. Our fastenings were
cast off, our machinery started, and we moved out to meet her half-way.
We had come a long way to fight her, and did not intend to lose our
opportunity.

"Before showing you over the vessel, let me say that there were three
possible points of weakness in the _Monitor_, two of which might have
been guarded against in her construction, if there had been more time to
perfect her plans. One of them was in the turret, which, as you see, is
constructed of eight plates of inch iron--on the side of the ports,
nine--set on end so as to break joints, and firmly bolted together,
making a hollow cylinder eight inches thick. It rests on a metal ring on
a vertical shaft, which is revolved by power from the boilers. If a
projectile struck the turret at an acute angle, it was expected to
glance off without doing damage. But what would happen if it was fired
in a straight line to the center of the turret, which in that case would
receive the whole force of the blow? It might break off the bolt-heads
on the interior, which, flying across, would kill the men at the guns;
it might disarrange the revolving mechanism, and then we would be wholly
disabled.

"I laid the _Monitor_ close alongside the _Merrimac_, and gave her a
shot. She returned our compliment by a shell weighing one hundred and
fifty pounds, fired when we were close together, which struck the turret
so squarely that it received the whole force. Her