It was covered with four inches of iron, and being continued round the bows, became there a beak or ram. The vessel carried, however, only six guns; one VIII-inch rifle at each end and two VI-inch rifles on each broadside. These were Brooke guns, made in the Confederacy; they threw 110-pound and 90-pound solid shot. The ports were closed with iron sliding shutters, five inches thick; a bad arrangement, as it turned out. “Though thus powerfully built, armored, and armed, she had two grave defects. Her engines were not built for her, but taken from a high-pressure river steamboat, and though on her trial trip she realized about eight knots, six seems to be all that could usually be got from her. She was driven by a screw, the shaft being connected by gearing with the engines. The other defect was an oversight, her steering chains, instead of being led under her armored deck, were over it, exposed to an enemy’s fire. She was therefore a ram that could only by a favorable chance overtake her prey, and was likely at any moment to lose the power of directing her thrust.” While Banks was on the useless Red River expedition Farragut had been anxious to attack Mobile, but had been unable to do so because no troops could be spared for use against the forts and to hold the place when it should be taken. For six months, in fact, the admiral had to lie idle while the Confederates strengthened their works--even watching them while they brought the _Tennessee_ down the river on which she had been built, and then carried her over the shoal waters of the upper part of the bay, just as Perry carried his two brigs out of Erie harbor on Lake Erie when he went out to win his great victory. It was in March, 1864, that the Confederates began this slow task under Farragut’s eyes (figuratively speaking; Farragut was not with the fleet constantly), and it was not until May 18th that they had her anchored in the deep water within the forts guarding the channel. As a matter of fact, Buchanan, the Confederate admiral, intended to go out and attack Farragut’s fleet that night, as the _Merrimac_ had attacked the wooden fleet in Hampton Roads. What he would have accomplished may not now be guessed; but Farragut had wooden ships only to meet the _Tennessee_, although he had done everything he could to get ironclads. However, the _Tennessee_ grounded, and when she was floated Buchanan, for some reason unknown, changed his mind. Meantime the Confederate had anchored forty-six beer-keg torpedoes and 134 torpedoes made of tin, all fitted with percussion fuses, across the channel, leaving a pass, marked by a red buoy, near Fort Morgan (on the east side) for the blockade-runners. The pass was about 100 yards wide and at the most deadly range from the fort.