of the Army, the men of the Navy nearly all took sides with the North, and the South had very few seamen of any other kind. To oppose the _Merrimac_ the dilatory North contracted with John Ericsson the Swede, who had to build the _Monitor_ much smaller than the Merrimac owing to pressure of time. He enjoyed, however, enormous advantages in every other respect, owing to the vastly superior resources of the North in marine engineering, armor-plating, and all other points of naval construction. The _Monitor_ was launched at New York on January 30, 1862, the hundredth day after the laying of her keel-plate. Her length over all was 172 feet, her beam was 41, and her draught only 10--less than half the draught of the _Merrimac_. Her whole crew numbered only 58; but every single one was a trained professional naval seaman who had volunteered for dangerous service under Captain John L. Worden. She was not a good sea boat; and she nearly foundered on her way down from New York to Fortress Monroe. Her underwater hull was shipshape enough; but her superstructure--a round iron tower resting on a very low deck--was not. Contemptuous eyewitnesses described her very well as looking like a tin can on a shingle or a cheesebox on a raft. She carried only two guns, eleven-inchers, both mounted inside her turret, which revolved by machinery; but their 180-pound shot were far more powerful than any aboard the _Merrimac_. In maneuvering the _Monitor_ enjoyed an immense advantage, with her light draft, strong engines, and well-protected screws and rudder.