The reader is requested to note that he says “within _four or five hundred yards_ of Fort Fisher.” His idea was submitted to the Administration and approved, although Mr. Lincoln accepted it “with more caution” than the others. Admiral Porter accepted it because “it was considered advisable to try almost any expedient.” When it came to details, Butler says on page 800 of his book: “My proposition to the Navy Department contemplated using but one hundred tons of powder ... that this one hundred tons of powder should be put into a light-draught steamer, and arranged and packed in such a way that either by electrical or other apparatus fire could be communicated all through the vessel into every part of the mass of powder at one and nearly the same instant; that that vessel should be run ashore; that time fuses or other means of calculating the time necessary for the explosion should be put in operation, and that with the vessel hard and fast on shore so that none of the powder substantially could go down into the water until it had time to take fire, the whole mass should explode. The effect that I expected from that was that the gases from the burning powder would so disturb the air as to render it impossible for men to breathe within two hundred yards; that the magazines of the fort would be burst in and possibly the magazines themselves be exploded; that by the enormous missiles that would be set in motion and by the concussion many men would be killed, and if the explosion were to be followed immediately by an attack of even a small number of effective men, the fort could be captured.” Accordingly, an old and worthless steamer, the _Louisiana_, was fitted for the purpose. Instead of 100 tons, 215 tons of powder were put on board. Part of it was not of full power, but nearly 200 tons of the best was stowed in the ship. The work of preparing her delayed the expedition some days, and it was valuable time. However, the expedition finally arrived on the coast, Butler, with his transports, at Masonboro’ Inlet, twenty-five miles up the beach from Fort Fisher, and Porter out at sea, twenty-five miles from the fort. The transports had water and coal for but ten days, but there were delays due partly to weather and partly to the ill feeling between the commanders, and eventually Butler, with most of his transports, went away to Beaufort to take on water for the troops.