On the morning of March 8, 1862, the steam frigates _St. Lawrence_, _Roanoke_, and _Minnesota_ were anchored at wide intervals, in the order named, in a line southwest from Fortress Monroe toward Newport News Point, while the sailing frigate _Congress_ lay just east of Newport News Point, and the sailing sloop-of-war _Cumberland_ lay just a little to the west of the point. It was a lovely day of the early spring. The ships swung easily to their cables; the small boats wabbled over the tiny waves as they tugged at the painters that held them fast to the wide-spread booms. The wash-clothes, on well-filled lines stretched in the rigging, fluttered in the gentle breeze. There was nothing to indicate that any officer had any care or thought of the ironclad ship that for months past the Confederates had been building at Norfolk. And as a matter of fact they did not give the ironclad a serious thought, for they were conservatives. What could a newfangled notion like this ironclad do, any way? Hadn’t Lord Howard Douglas and other good English authorities proved to the satisfaction of the experienced men of the world that a ship plated with iron would really prove more dangerous to her crew than to an enemy in the oft-approved frigates of the day? He had. The morning wore away in peace, but at noon exactly, the crew of the _Cumberland_ saw the long trail of smoke from steamers that were boldly coming up the channel from Norfolk. A careful lookout kept watch of that smoke until it was seen that the steamers were three in number, of which one, although it made more smoke than both the others, did not look at all like a ship, but like a low black box instead. There was no mistaking her character, however. She looked as the escaped colored people had said the new ironclad looked, and the drums beat the long call to quarters. Over on the _Congress_, lying east of Newport News Point, there was a similar stir while signal flags fluttered aloft to warn the big steam frigates lying up to the northeast toward Fortress Monroe. [Illustration: Fortress Monroe and its Vicinity. 1. Old Point Comfort, 2. Fortress Monroe. 3. Water battery. 4. Hampton Roads. 5. Rip Raps. 6. Chesapeake Bay. 7. Sewell’s Point. 8. Craney Island. 9. Elizabeth River. 10. Norfolk. 11. Portsmouth. 12. Dismal Swamp. 13. Atlantic Ocean. 14. Cape Hatteras, N. C. 15. Nansemond River. 16 James River. 17. Newport News. 18. Hampton. 19. Mill Creek. 20. Land approach to Fortress. ] Capt. John Marston, who was senior officer and commanded the _Roanoke_, reports that he had already seen the enemy coming. At 12.45 o’clock they passed Sewell’s Point, over on the south shore, and on getting out into deep water they headed away to the west toward Newport News.