It was a Well-guarded Harbor, and the Channel was Long and Crooked-- The “Stone Fleet” and the Attitude of Foreign Powers--Brief Career of Two Confederate Ironclads--The Blockade was not Raised--A Confederate Cruiser Burned--Utter Failure of the Ironclad Attacks on the Forts--Capture of the Confederate Warship _Atlanta_--“Boarders Away” at Fort Sumter--Magnificent Bravery of the Men who Manned the Confederate Torpedo Boats. CHAPTER XVII. CAPTURE OF FORT FISHER 503 It was One of the Best Works in the South, though not well Located-- Butler’s Powder-boat Scheme, and what he Expected to Accomplish by it--Throwing 15,000 Shells at the Fort Disabled Eight Great Guns out of a Total of Thirty-eight--Butler Thought the Fort still too Strong and would not Try--He did not even Make Intrenchments According to Orders--Gen. A. H. Terry, with 6,000 Soldiers and 2,000 from the Ships, Easily Took the Fort Three Weeks Later--The Navy’s Last Fight in the Civil War. CHAPTER XVIII. STORY OF THE NEW NAVY 523 The Folly of Allowing other Nations to Experiment for us--In Spite of what we Learned from their Mistakes, we were Unable, when we First Began for ourselves, to Build even a First-class Cruiser--The Result of Ten Years of Earnest Work--Battle-ships whose Power is Conceded by Foreign Writers--Cruisers that Awakened the Pride of the Nation-- Three “Newfangled Notions”--A Yankee Admiral at Rio Janeiro and a Yankee Lieutenant on the Coast of Mexico--The One Important Fact about the New Navy. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE FARRAGUT’S FLEET PASSING FORTS JACKSON AND ST. PHILIP. (From a painting by Carlton T. Chapman), _Frontispiece_ A THIRTY-TWO-POUND CARRONADE FROM THE _CONSTITUTION_. 1 THE _MINNESOTA_ AS A RECEIVING SHIP. (From a photograph by Rau), 3 A LOOP-PATTERN GUN OF 1836--A TYPE WHICH RUNS BACK OVER 100 YEARS, 4 A THIRTY-TWO-POUNDER FROM THE CAPTURED _MACEDONIAN_--NOW AT THE BROOKLYN NAVY YARD. (From a photograph), 5 A THIRTY-TWO-POUNDER FROM THE CAPTURED _MACEDONIAN_. 7 OLD CAST-IRON THIRTY-TWO-POUNDER (BELIEVED TO BE SPANISH), 8 JOHN ERICSSON, 10 THE _GREAT WESTERN_--ONE OF THE FIRST STEAMSHIPS TO CROSS THE ATLANTIC OCEAN. (After an old painting), 13 TWELVE-INCH WROUGHT-IRON GUN--THE MATE TO THE “PEACEMAKER,” WHICH BURST ON THE _PRINCETON_. (From a photograph of the original at the Brooklyn Navy Yard), 14