_From an engraving by Buttre._] On the afternoon of August 26, 1861, the squadron rounded Cape Hatteras and anchored about three miles above the inlet, where it was proposed to make a landing. Two schooners, with their decks loaded with “heavy iron surf-boats,” had been brought along, and these surf-boats were floated before dark. The next morning the debarkation of General Butler’s force began, and Captain Shuttleworth, of the marines, with enough of his men to raise the whole landing force to 915 men, went along. The _Pawnee_, the _Monticello_, and the _Harriet Lane_ steamed close in and opened the attack on the beach by shelling the live-oak and other trees that grew in profusion just beyond the reach of the waves. When the surf-boats started ashore at 8.45 o’clock in the morning, the other ships of the squadron made a swoop at the forts that could be plainly seen guarding the inlet. The sailing frigate _Cumberland_ had joined the force during the night, and the _Wabash_ took her in tow and followed in the wake of the flagship _Minnesota_. Meantime the frigate _Susquehanna_ had happened along, and she joined in the procession, the plan of attack being to steam in until within range, fire as the forts were passed, and then steam out to sea and back again over an elliptical route. It was a plan that was followed in several attacks of the kind; but it is condemned by Admiral Porter as “not the best calculated to bring an engagement to a speedy conclusion.” The plan “bothers the enemy’s gunners”--it is safer for the ships--but it also “detracts from the accuracy of the fire on board the vessels.” [Illustration: B. F. Butler. _From a photograph._] A small earthwork called Fort Clark was the first one met. It had no bomb-proof, and it mounted five guns. The ships opened fire on this fort long before they were within range, and the fort replied. Both sides sowed the water with shot and shells; but the Confederates soon ceased to waste their ammunition, and when the ships got within range, their fire proved so hot that the fort was abandoned. Meantime the troops had reached the surf in their boats, and for a pleasant day they found it a right vigorous surf. There was very little difficulty in getting the boats to the sand; they were so large that a gale would scarcely have swamped them; but the moment they touched bottom forward, the waves caught them under the floating stern, slewed them around broadside on, and hove them up hard and fast. In vain the soldiers and sailors and marines tugged and pried and swore. In all 420 men, with two howitzers, were placed on the beach, and not another armed man could they land. And what made matters worse was the fact that they had neither provisions nor supplies of any kind, and their ammunition (it was the day of paper cartridges) was in great part wet by the surf. It was a fortunate thing that the Confederates were kept busy in Fort Hatteras about that time.