tragic sinking of the Tecumseh by torpedo stroke, with the loss of the
heroic Craven and most of his brave officers and men; the halt of the
Brooklyn in mid-channel in face of that dire disaster, which, with the
threatened huddling of the ships together by the inward sweep of the
tide, portended swift discomfiture and possible defeat; the intuitive
perception and quick decision that literally enabled Farragut to take
the flood that led to fortune, in the instant ordering of the Hartford
to push ahead with his flag and assume the lead he had relinquished only
at the urgent request of the Brooklyn's commander; the restored order
and prompt following of the fleet, regardless of torpedoes, on the new
course blazed out by the eagle eye and emphatic tongue of the fearless
old admiral as he grappled with the emergency from the futtock-shrouds
of the flagship; the little boat putting off from the Metacomet,
suddenly lighted up by its saucy ensign, in the midst of the fiery chaos
and thunderous roar of battle, to save the few souls struggling in the
water from the ill-fated Tecumseh, calling forth admiration, alike from
friend and foe, at the intrepidity of its mission; the dash of the
enemy's powerful ram Tennessee, clad in heaviest armor, down the Union
line, endeavoring to strike each vessel in turn; the separation of the
coupled ships when beyond the reach of Morgan's guns, and the dash of
the gunboats led by Jouett, of the Metacomet, like hounds released from
the leash, at the enemy's flotilla; the reappearance of leviathan
Tennessee and the fierce tournament that ensued, with turtle-backed
Chickasaw following close under her stern with bulldog grip that knew no
release; the intrepid skill and desperate valor never surpassed, with
which the ram manoeuvred and withstood the hammering and ramming of the
wooden ships, the pounding and shattering of the ironclads, before she
yielded to the inevitable fate that awaited her,--all conspired to form
a scene of grand and dramatic circumstance almost without parallel in
naval warfare.