There were lying at Hampton Roads at that time five Union vessels, which, being so close to the dangerous craft, were on the alert day and night for her appearance. About noon on March 8th a column of dark smoke in the direction of the Norfolk navy yard, followed by the forging into sight of the huge hulk, left no doubt that the long-expected _Merrimac_ was coming forth upon her errand of death and destruction. In her company were three gunboats ready to aid her in any way possible. The steam frigate _Minnesota_ and _Roanoke_ and the sailing frigates _Congress_, _Cumberland_, and _St. Lawrence_ immediately cleared their decks for action. The _Minnesota_ and _Roanoke_ moved out to meet the _Merrimac_, but both got aground. In the case of the _Minnesota_ this was due to the treachery of the pilot, who was in the employ of the Confederates. The _Cumberland_ swerved so as to bring her broadsides to bear, and opened with her pivot guns, at the distance of a mile. The aim was accurate, but the iron balls which struck the massive hide of the _Merrimac_ bounded off like pebbles skipping over the water. Then the _Congress_ added her broadsides to those of the _Cumberland_, but the leviathan shed them all as if they were tiny hailstones, and, slowly advancing in grim silence, finally opened with her guns, quickly killing four marines and five sailors on the _Cumberland_. Then followed her resistless broadsides, which played awful havoc with officers and men. Swinging slowly around, the _Merrimac_ next steamed a mile up the James, and, turning again, came back under full speed. Striking the _Cumberland_ under the starboard bow, she smashed a hole into her through which a horse might have entered. The ship keeled over until her yardarms were close to the water. The terrific force broke off the prow of the _Merrimac_, but her frightful shots riddled the _Cumberland_ and set her on fire. The flames were extinguished, and the _Cumberland_ delivered broadside after broadside, only to see the enormous missiles fly off and spin harmlessly hundreds of feet away. Lieutenant George U. Morris, of the _Cumberland_, ran up the red flag meaning "no surrender," and with a heroism never surpassed maintained the unequal fight, if fight it can be called where there was absolutely no hope for him. Finally the _Cumberland_ went down to her cross-trees, in fifty-four feet of water. Lieutenant Morris succeeded in saving himself by swimming, but of the crew of 376, 121 lost their lives.