[143] a distance of four or five miles, and empties into the open sea at the southern extremity of the bank. The ships loaded with stones which the Federals had sunk in these passes had been absorbed by the sand, together with their contents: the passes were free, but the entrance of each was, as formerly, marked by a bar of small depth. The blockading fleet kept outside of these bars, and had therefore a vast extent of water to watch. One portion kept guard over the northern passes; the remainder, separated by a considerable space, guarded the principal entrance. The Housatonic, the Augusta, and two others1 formed the northern division; the Mercedita and the Keystone State, the one of eight hundred and the other of fourteen hundred tons, were in front of the southern bar; the Memphis and the Quaker City more in the rear. On the evening of the 30th of January the whole fleet, as usual, was under steam, moored to anchor-buoys, ready to slip their cables and fall upon any blockade-runners that might happen to heave in sight. It had made an important capture during the day, that of the English steamer Princess Royal, coming from the Bermudas, and the hope of new prizes not less lucrative stimulated the vigilance of the Federal crews. But a dense fog stretching over a perfectly calm sea enveloped each of their vessels with a veil that was impenetrable to the most practised eyes.
Commodore Ingraham on the Palmetto State, followed by the Chicora, took advantage of this fog to venture unperceived into the main pass; and, overcoming all the difficulties of such navigation in spite of the darkness, got over the bar at four o'clock in the morning, being fully convinced that he would not have to go far to encounter the enemy, whom he proposed to surprise. In fact, espying through the mist the lights of the Mercedita, he makes for that vessel with the greatest speed. The Palmetto State is within a hundred yards when she is signalled by the lookout, and before her hull, which is but a few feet above water, has been clearly defined, he has got so close that the enemy's vessel cannot give her guns the necessary depression to reach him. He then fires a single cannon-shot against his adversary, which passes through her boiler, and, ramming her almost at the same moment, springs a large leak
