Modest and unassuming, with a genial frankness of manner that told
pleasantly alike on quarter-deck or street, in family-circle or
drawing-room, he wore his honors in the quietest way possible, never
speaking of his own part in the brave deeds of the time, except when
pressed to do so, and then with a reticence all too provoking, from the
well-grounded suspicion that he kept back the pith of the real story of
personal participation he might tell without tinge of exaggeration or
boastfulness.

Returning to the Cayuga he found a new commanding officer,
Lieutenant-Commanding D. McN. Fairfax, another loyal Virginian, who not
only stood faithful to the flag under all circumstances, but had, as the
officer from the San Jacinto, boarded the Trent and taken from her the
arch-conspirators, Mason and Slidell, suffering the contumely of rebel
womanhood in the reception accorded him by Mr. Commissioner Slidell's
daughter.

Fairfax and Perkins had known each other on the coast of Africa, and it
was the meeting of old friends made doubly pleasant by the senior's
hearty appreciation of the laurels so gallantly won by the junior, and
self-congratulation in the promised comfort of retaining an executive of
so much energy, ability, and reputation.

Rejoining Farragut's squadron, Perkins saw other gallant and varied
service in the Cayuga until November, 1862, when he was transferred to
the Pensacola, and the following month commissioned
lieutenant-commander, a new grade created by Congress to correspond with
that of major in the army.

In June, 1863, General Banks, then besieging Port Hudson, sent word to