... finishing his four iron-clads in time, Farragut would have either been destroyed or the siege of Mobile raised. The account of the sinking of the Southfield by the ram Albemarle in the Sounds of North Carolina , on the 17th of April, and the stubborn battle made by the Albemarle against the comparatively heavy force of gun-boats on May 5th, in which the ram moved off apparently unharmed after a three hours ...