April 10, 1863, The Charleston Mercury
Since our last issue the enemy has made no movement of importance in this vicinity. On the Stono his operations seem to progress very slowly, as if he were awaiting the issue of the final contest between the iron fleet and the batteries of our harbor. The Monitors, six in number, with the Ironsides, still lie at anchor within the bar, and at a distance of about three miles southwest from Fort Sumter. Whatever the motives for their delay may be, there are good reasons for believing that they will not depart until they have made one more effort for the reduction of Charleston.
During Wednesday afternoon many pieces of the Keokuk furniture, with the spy glasses and other effects of her officers, were washed ashore on the Morris Island beach. Most of these articles, when found, were covered with clotted blood. That our readers may have correct information of the strength and character of the iron vessel we have sunk, we append a minute description of the Keokuk, taken from a New York paper of December last:
The Keokuk, the invention of Mr. C.W. Whitney, an iron merchant of this city, is of an entirely novel construction. Her dimensions are as follows: Length over all, including the ram of five feet; 159 feet 6 inches; breadth of beam, 36 feet; depth of hold, 13 feet 6 inches; draft of water 9 feet. Her sides present a very peculiar appearance, being constructed at an angle of 37 degrees, so as to cause the shot to roll off. With the exception of a few inches of wood on deck, which is locked so as to keep it tight, some minor pieces between decks, and the necessary joiner work, the vessel is exclusively built of iron, with an armor extending some four feet below the water line, while her flush deck is about five feet above the water line. The hull of the vessel, including frame and beams, are exclusively of iron. It is constructed of half-inch rolled iron plates. Three keelson run the whole length, while two bulwarks, fore and aft, form an inner vessel, which enables the structure to float, should the outside be riddled with shot. Two bulwarks – one fore and one aft – can be filled with water in fifteen minutes, and emptied in forty minutes, so as to settle or raise the vessel as wanted in action as much as one foot. These compartments also serve as a security against a leak caused by the wrenching off of the ram. The hull is covered with an armor of bars of four one-inch iron set edgeways, one inch over which are three five-eighth inch plates, the whole riveted with 1 1/8 inch bolts, with eight countersunk heads of about one foot apart.
The vessel has two fixed turrets, each carrying one gun, pierced with three port holes each, but the gun is on a revolving slide. They are built on a base of 1/2 inch rolled plates, and covered in the same manner as the hull, thus obtaining for the turrets a thickness of 6 1/4 inches. The port holes are provided with heavy shutters, so constructed and to work in two halves. The slides for the guns, which will be of 11 inch calibre, are placed 20 inches below the level of the deck, which secures a greater height for the turrets, which are of a conical form, 20 feet diameter at the base and 14 feet at the top. Their length is 8 feet 8 inches. They are strongly braced by five 1-inch iron bars set edgeways. The size of the ports allows the guns 10 degrees vertical and 8 degrees lateral range. The ventilation of the turrets is admirably provided for by an arrangement by which the lower portion of the turrets can be opened, and as there is a communication between the two turrets a draft is produced, which removes the foul air generated inside. The vessel will be propelled by two propellers and two engines of five hundred horse power. Both rudder and propeller are guarded by an overhanging guard of wrought iron on the after part.
Mr. Whitney, who had conceived the idea of building this vessel about four weeks after the outbreak of the war, is quite sure of her success, both as regards easy navigation and proof against shot. She requires a crew of 100 men, and can carry in her magazines 200 11-inch shots, 150 11-inch shell, and the necessary powder, &c.
The propellers and engines of the Keokuk are so arranged as to allow one to work forward while the other can be reversed, so as to turn the vessel on her own pivot. The guns of the ship are worked on a pivot similar to the arrangement of the pivot guns on a gunboat. The ship sits on the water with all the grace of a regularly built wooden vessel, thus putting at rest all the fears expressed by many nautical men that she could not float.
The army correspondent of the Savannah Republican, in describing the scene on the Battery during Tuesday’s fight, says:
The conflict was witnessed by thousands of spectators from the Battery promenade and from the house tops. Among the vast throng there assembled I did not encounter one who expressed any doubt as to the result. It was a magnificent spectacle. The white puffs of smoke issuing from the port holes of the iron clads with a tongue of fire in the centre, the solemn waltz kept up by these huge monsters as they wheeled past the forts, the fantastic festoons of smoke that garlanded the heads of the forts and slowing floated off to the north, the bursting of 15 inch shells in mid air, and the deep booming of the titanic guns engaged in the conflict, the appearance of the Confederate rams, Chicora and Palmetto States, steaming energetically up and down their chosen fighting position, the silent city, and the breathless multitude who crowded its house tops and promenade, made up a spectacle at once grand and imposing.