... 9th of January, 1862, and arrived the next day at Fortress Monroe. After a short delay, the fleet, composed in great part of vessels by no means in a fit condition for such important service, left Old Point , and arrived off Hatteras Inlet on the morning of the 13th. Here began one of the most trying episodes of the war. The extreme danger to which the fleet, with its precious freight of eight or ten t...