The negroes on the whole were very faithful to their old masters, for many of them had been treated with all justice and kindness. Of course, some of them gave themselves airs on becoming free and independent voters. One old negro said to his master: “When you all had de power you was good to me, and I’ll protect you now, massa. No niggers nor nobody shall tech you. If you want anything, call for Sambo. Ahem! I mean call for Mr. Samuel: dat my name now.” From “Running the Blockade,” by T. E. Taylor. By kind permission of Mr. John Murray. CHAPTER XIV THE FIRST IRONCLADS (1862) Will they sink or swim?--Captain Ericsson, the Swede--The _Merrimac_ raised and armoured--The _Monitor_ built by private venture--_Merrimac_ surprises Fort Monroe--The _Cumberland_ attacked--The silent monster comes on--Her ram makes an impression--Morris refuses to strike his flag--The _Cumberland_ goes down--The _Congress_ is next for attention--On fire and forced to surrender--Blows up at midnight--The _Minnesota_ aground shows she can bite--General panic--Was it Providence?--A light at sea--Only a cheese-box on a raft--Sunday’s fight between two monsters--The _Merrimac_ finds she is deeply hurt, wounded to death--The four long hours--Worden and Buchanan both do their best--Signals for help--The fiery end of the _Whitehall_ gunboat. The War of Secession between the Federals and Confederate States gave rise to a new kind of warship--the ironclad. The _Merrimac_ was converted into such a vessel by the South, and the _Monitor_ was built by the North, or Federals, in the space of 100 days. Most people, experts and others, predicted a watery grave for a ship cased in iron. Very few ventured on board at the launching of the _Monitor_, and even the builders provided a steam-tug to save the passengers in case she went to the bottom. But the _Monitor_, after the first graceful dip, sat like a wild duck on a mere, being flat-bottomed, having a turret 9 feet high, capable of revolving, with two circular portholes to fire from. Captain Ericsson, a Swede, was her architect. The South had seized all the forts and dockyards below Chesapeake Bay, and had struck great consternation into the Federal hearts. When the Federals burnt and evacuated the Norfolk Navy Yard they scuttled the steam frigate _Merrimac_; but the Confederates raised her, plated her with railroad iron, and fitted her with a slanting roof to serve as a shield. The _Merrimac_, when finished, did not take the water so gracefully as the _Monitor_, for her weight was so enormous that she nearly broke her back in launching. It was known that both sides were at work upon some monster of the deep, but which would be ready first no one could predict.