Comte de Paris, History of the Civil War in America. Vol. 2.
Henry Coppee , LL.D., Ed.

To bring this chapter to a close we have only to mention a maritime disaster which, although purely accidental, must find its place here; for we cannot allow the Monitor to disappear from the naval scene where she had played the most important part, without relating the manner of her loss. The year 1862 had seen her launched upon the sea, witnessed her first encounter with the Virginia, her fight at Drury's Bluff, and finally, when the year was about to expire, during the last night of December, it saw her go down in a storm.

The Federal navy was already assembling all its forces for the purpose of laying siege to Charleston. It was decided that the Monitor should precede the new turreted vessels which were being constructed on her model, and join Dupont's fleet on the coast of South Carolina. It was hoped that she would be able to force the passes of Fort Sumter. On the 29th of December she left Chesapeake Bay under the direction of Captain Bankhead, proceeding under steam, and towed, at the same time, by another vessel, the Rhode Island. As was to be expected at that season of the year, she found in deep water, south of Cape Hatteras, a chop sea, caused by strong southerly winds. It soon became evident that the Monitor was not in a condition to stand such a trial. The jerking of the tow-cable shook her violently, and the Rhode Island vainly slackened her speed to relieve her. The waves, breaking against the turret, shook it so as to detach the oakum inserted between the chinks of its junction with the deck. Moreover, this iron-plated deck, projecting considerably beyond the hull, formed a kind of balcony, which the sea struck underneath, and finally detached. Without any perceptible leak, the Monitor began to fill, the water penetrating at every point. The ordinary pumps being of no avail, it became necessary on the evening of the 30th to start the large centrifugal pump with the aid of the steam-engine; but at half-past 10 o'clock, tile storm increasing, the water gained decidedly. Captain Bankhead made a signal of distress, and two launches came to take a portion