THE “ALBEMARLE” AND THE “SASSACUS.”

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our ships firing into or en-tangling each other. Asonr own ship delivered herbroadside, and fired thepivot-rifle with great rapid-ity at roof, and port, andhull, and smoke-stack, try-ing to find a weak spot,the ram headed for us andnarrowly passed our stern.

She was foiled in this at-tempt, as we were underfull headway; and swiftlyrounding her with a hard-a-port helm, we delivered abroadside at her consort,the Bombshell, each shothulling her. We now head-ed for the latter ship, goingwithin hail.

Thus far in the actionour pivot-rifle astern hadhad but small chance tofire, and the captain of thegun, a broad-shouldered,brawny fellow, was nowwrought up to a pitch ofdesperation at holding hisgiant gun in leash, and aswe came up to the Bomb-shell he mounted the rail,and, naked to the waist, hebrandished a huge board-ing-pistol and shouted,

“Haul down your flag andsurrender, or we’ll blowyou out of the water! ”

The flag came down, andthe Bombshell was orderedto drop out of action andanchor, which she did.

Now came the decisivemoment, for by this ac-tion we had acquired adistance from the ram ofabout four hundred yards,and the latter, to evadethe Mattdbesett, had sheered off a little and laybroadside to us. The Union ships were nowon both sides of the ram, with engines stopped.Commander Roe cried to the engineer, “CrowdWaste and oil in the fires and back slowly! Giveher all the steam she can carry!” To ActingMaster Boutelle he said, “Lay her course forthe junction of the casemate and the hull! ”Then came four bells, and with full steam andopen throttle the ship sprang forward like aliving thing. It was a moment of intense strainand anxiety. The guns ceased firing, the smokelifted from the ram, and we saw that every effortwas being made to evade the shock. Straight asan arrow we shot forward to the designated spot.Then came the order, “All hands,lie down!” andwith a crash that shook the ship like an earth-quake, we struck full and square on the iron hull,careening it over and tearing away our own bows,

ripping and straining our timbers at the water-line.

The enemy’s lights were put out, and his menwere hurled from their feet, and, as we learned aft-erward, it was thought for a moment that all wasover with them. Our ship quivered for an instant,but held fast, and the swift plash of the paddlesshowed that the engines were uninjured. Throughthe starboard shutter, which had been partly jarredoff by the concussion, I saw the port of the ramnot ten feet away. It opened, and like a flashof lightning I saw the grim muzzle of a cannon,the gun’s-crew naked to the waist and blackenedwith powder; then a blaze, a roar and the rush ofthe shell as it crashed through, whirling me roundand dashing me to the deck.

Both ships were under headway, and as the ramadvanced, our shattered bows clinging to the ironcasemate were twisted round, and a second shot

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MAPS OF THE COAST OF THE CAROLINAS.