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him such information as would he of interest, I obtained permission togo up to the entrance to the swash channel, which was well known tome previously, when sounding out the bar on Coast Survey duty. Afterthe sun went down, all the vessels designated left the line of blockade,proceeding, like ourselves, to the entrance of Port Eoyal harbor, somesixty miles away. Following the seven-fathom curve, the Seneca roundedthe shoal lying east of the main channel, known as “ Martin’s Industry,” atearly daylight, and soon after found a small black barrel-buoy, which, werightly conjectured, had been put there by the enemy. An hour after sunrise,aided by the refraction, the tops of the pine-trees on both sides of the head-lands were plainly in sight, although twelve miles off. At that hour theflag-ship Wabash was at anchor with several other vessels about two milesdistant, and the eastern horizon was fleckedwith approaching vessels. We steamedout to the flag-ship at a later hour, re-ported the finding of the barrel-buoy, andwere informed that the entrance wouldsoon be sounded out. About noon, Cap-tain C. O. Boutelle, in the Coast Surveysteamer Vixen, with the gun-boats Paw-nee, Ottawa, Pembina, Curlew, and Seneca,crossed the bar and went far enough into have a good view of the faces andembrasures of the earth-works that wewere soon to engage, the one on HiltonHead known as Fort Walker and theother on Bay Point as Fort Beauregard. ☆
After the surveying steamer had plantedsome buoys, to serve as general guides,the four gun-boats last named anchoredin the channel some distance apart, asadditional guides, the one farthest in beingsome three miles from Fort Beauregard, the Vixen and the Pawnee going outto pilot the vessels across the bar. This was done without delay; all ofthem that came in had no more than eighteen feet draught. They anchoreda mile or so outside of the gun-boats, and from the shoal ground to seaward.
Near sunset three steamers came outside of the headlands and fired at ourgun-boats at long range. The steamers were under the command of JosiahTattnall, a commodore in the Confederate service, who had been a distinguishedofficer of our navy, and had resigned some time before, on the secession ofGeorgia, of which State he was a citizen. His vessels were river boats; asmen-of-war they were in every respect of the most vulnerable class. The fouradvanced gun-boats of our squadron got under way, pivoted their heavyshell-guns over the starboard bow, and headed to the westward so as to bring
& On Nov. 15th, 1861, General T. W. Sherman changed the name of Fort Walker to Fort Welles(after Secretary Welles), and of Fort Beauregard to Fort Seward^ (after the Secretary of State).
SLOOP OF WAR “ VANDALIA, REAR SHIP OF THELINE AT PORT ROYAL.
FROM A WAR-TIME SKETCH.