Hobson. The collier Merrimac was chosen as the vessel to be sunk. You
have no idea how much had to be done before the Merrimac was ready.
There were hours and hours of work. The crew had to take off all the
things that were not to be sunk, the machinery had to be fixed in
certain ways, the heavy anchors had to be placed in the right parts,
and the torpedoes, which Lieutenant Hobson made for blowing holes in
the vessel at the right moment, had to be fitted into their places.
More than two thousand tons of coal had to be shoveled away from
certain places in the hold to make room for the torpedoes and to leave
spaces for the water to rush in and sink the vessel. So, much hard
work was done before the good collier was ready to be forced under the
waves.

There was only a small chance that the men who took the Merrimac into
the channel would ever see their friends again. Death in the waves, or
death in the hands of the Spaniards, was the prospect. Lieutenant
Hobson said that he would not take one man more than was needed. A
signal was put up on all the ships, to find out the men who were
willing to go in the Merrimac. Hundreds of brave fellows sent in their
names, begged to go, gave good reasons why they thought they ought to
go, and were grieved to be refused. Lieutenant Hobson chose only six,
but at the last minute a seventh man got his chance; so, counting
Lieutenant Hobson, there were eight men going to almost certain death.

After the passing away of the old wooden ships of the navy, and before
our war with Spain, it was often said that opportunities for
individual bravery and daring had departed from the navy; but this was
disproved in the case of Lieutenant Hobson and his men, and in many
other instances. Every man in the fleet was ready to go on the
Merrimac and do what he was told to do; and so long as such men man