This was one of the first of a series of attempts made by the British government to aid in the destruction of the Union--a series that did not end until the United States laid the keels of a fleet of ships of which the _Wampanoag_ was the type--ships that could carry a few one-hundred-pounder rifles and steam at the then unequalled rate of seventeen knots per hour. That the British government became friendly after the trial trip of the _Wampanoag_ had been described in print is one of the most instructive incidents in the history of the American navy. If it be coupled with the facts that before the building of the modern Yankee White Squadron the British government refused even to consider a proposition for a general arbitration treaty between the two English-speaking nations, and that since the efficiency of the Yankee ships has been demonstrated the British were particularly in favor of such a treaty, the incident proves--but let the candid reader consider this matter in all its bearings for himself. The hull of the _Wampanoag_ was designed by Constructor Delano, and the machinery by Engineer Isherwood. And it is written, “Blessed are the peacemakers.” For a year after the sinking of the Stone Fleet the Union squadron off Charleston did nothing but the tedious work of interrupting commerce. During this time the Confederates, although Charleston had had nothing in the semblance of a shipyard, had been building two ironclads there, called the _Palmetto State_ and the _Chicora_. Commodore D. N. Ingraham supervised the work. They were from plans by John L. Porter, the enterprising constructor of the _Merrimac_, and they were somewhat like her, though but 150 feet long by thirty-five broad, with a draft of twelve feet. They had the same kind of iron armor, backed by twenty-two inches of wood, and their guns included sixty-pounder and eighty-pounder rifles and some larger shell guns. The plating covered the ram-shaped bows, and was continued five feet below the water-line. On the morning of January 31, 1863, the warships _Housatonic_, _Ottawa_, and _Unadilla_, with the armed merchantmen _Mercedita_, _Keystone State_, _Quaker City_, _Memphis_, _Augusta_, _Stettin_, and _Flag_ were lying at wide intervals off Charleston harbor. There was a heavy fog lying low on the water. At 4.30 o’clock a ship suddenly appeared in the mists abeam of the _Mercedita_, Capt. Henry S. Stellwagen. The officer of the deck on the Union ship, manifestly believing the stranger was one of the blockading force, shouted: “What steamer is that? Drop your anchor or you will be into us!” The reply that came was startling. It was made by Commodore Ingraham, and he said: