Selfridge ordered the firing stopped and a boat lowered to examine the object. At the same time, he directed that the right shore be bombarded and a boat sent out from his own vessel. Men in the small boats recovered one infernal machine and debris from the torpedoes exploded the day before. In the meantime, the bow of the _Cairo_ had turned toward shore. Selfridge, who seemed to have little fear of the Confederate torpedoes, backed out to proceed upstream and then ordered the _Marmora_ to move ahead slowly. The _Cairo_ took the lead and advanced into unreconnoitered waters. Her big wheel had made only a dozen revolutions when there were two explosions in quick succession, one close to her port quarter and the other under her port bow. Opinions varied as to how long it took the _Cairo_ to go down—8 to 15 minutes, the estimates ran. However long it was, the vessel was run in toward shore where she sank, leaving only her chimneys above water. The _Queen of the West_ came to the aid of the _Cairo’s_ crew, all of whom were rescued. Nothing was saved except a few hammocks and bags which floated away from the wreckage. Before moving downstream, the _Queen_ knocked down the stacks to keep the Southerners from finding the sunken ironclad. (This was an act that would have its benefits a century later, when an enterprising group of men, no longer taking sides between the North and South, sounded for the _Cairo_ until they located her and then brought her to the surface to be restored.) The _Cairo’s_ value to the Union must be estimated in terms of disappointment. At the start, she failed to function properly. In addition, she fired a few shells at the riverbank at Eastport, took her share of guard duty at Fort Pillow, and played a rather inconspicuous part in the battle at Plum Point and later that at Memphis. She added little to the North’s offensive, and the records gave her very little mention. From a practical standpoint, her major contribution lies in what she took down below the waters with her when she sank in the Yazoo, for therein was preserved for future generations first-hand information on the type of fighting boat that fought along the inland rivers in the Civil War and the sort of life lived by the crewmen on board. _V. C. J._ _Raising the _Cairo_ and Her Contents_ [Illustration: 2] [Illustration: _The _Cairo’s_ bow and casemate break the surface of the Yazoo for the first time in more than a century._ Courtesy, Vicksburg Post]