"The efforts of the enemy to stop our steamers are increasing. Their force is largely increased. I have met with a serious and heavy loss in that Whitworth, a gun that in the hands of the indefatigable Lamb has saved dozens of vessels and millions of money to the Confederate States. I beg that a couple of the Whitworth guns originally saved by him from the _Modern Greece_ may be sent here at once. Their long range, five or six miles, makes them most suitable for a seaboard position. Could I get them with horses we could save many a vessel that will now be lost to us. But chiefly in this letter I beg of you, if you concur in my views, to lay the matter of the necessity of increasing the force here before the President. "Very respectfully, "W.H.C. Whiting, "_Major General_. "Hon. James A. Seddon, "_Secretary War, Richmond_." A Port of Refuge. The natural advantages of Wilmington at the time of the War between the States made it an ideal port for blockade runners, there being two entrances to the river--New Inlet on the north and Western or Main Bar on the south of Cape Fear. The slope of our beach is very gradual to deep water. The soundings along the coast are regular, and the floor of the ocean is remarkably even. A steamer hard pressed by the enemy could run along the outer edge of the breakers without great risk of grounding; the pursuer, being usually of deeper draft, was obliged to keep farther off shore. The "Lilian." The Confederate steamer _Lilian_, of which I was then purser, was chased for nearly a hundred miles from Cape Lookout by the U.S. steamer _Shenandoah_, which sailed a parallel course within half a mile of her and forced the _Lilian_ at times into the breakers. This was probably the narrowest escape ever made by a blockade runner in a chase. The _Shenandoah_ began firing her broadside guns at three o'clock in the afternoon, her gunners and the commanding officers of the batteries being distinctly visible to the _Lilian's_ crew. A heavy sea was running, which deflected the aim of the man-of-war, and this alone saved the _Lilian_ from destruction. A furious bombardment by the _Shenandoah_, aggravated by the display of the _Lilian's_ Confederate flag, was continued until nightfall, when, by a clever ruse, the _Lilian_, guided by the flash of her pursuer's guns, stopped for a few minutes; then, putting her helm hard over, ran across the wake of the warship straight out to sea, and, on the following morning, passed the fleet off Fort Fisher in such a crippled condition that several weeks were spent in Wilmington for repairs. The "Lynx" and Her Pilot.