Being well aware of the many vulnerable points of the Hatteras, I hoped, by closing with the Alabama, to be able to board her, and thus rid the seas of the piratical craft.

I steamed directly for the Alabama, but she was enabled by her great speed and the foulness of the bottom of the Hatteras, and consequently her diminished speed, to thwart my attempt when I had gained a distance of but thirty yards from her.

At this range musket and pistol shots were exchanged.
The firing continued with great vigour on both sides.

At length a shell entered amidships in the hold, setting fire to it, and at the same instant -- as I can hardly divide the time--a shell passed through the sick bay, exploding in an adjoining compartment, also producing fire.

Another entered the cylinder, filling the engine-room and deck with steam, and depriving me of my power to manoeuvre the vessel, or to work the pumps, upon which the reduction of the fire depended.
With the vessel on fire in two places, and beyond human power, a hopeless wreck upon the waters, with her walking-beam shot away, and her engine rendered useless, I still maintained an active five, with the double hope of disabling the Alabama and attracting the attention of the fleet off Galveston, which was only twenty-eight miles distant.
It was soon reported to me that the shells had entered the Hatteras at the water-line, tearing off entire sheets of iron, and that the water was rushing in, utterly defying every attempt to remedy the evil, and that she was rapidly sinking.