Though supposed to be renamed the _Virginia_, she never lost her old name of _Merrimac_. Against the wooden ships in Hampton Roads she was invulnerable. Even at point-blank range their broadsides did not suffice to stop her. This was her trial trip, and her engines, patched up after their experiences in the fire and at the bottom of the harbour, could only get her along at about four miles an hour, and her crew had never been afloat in her before. Nevertheless her commander, Franklin Buchanan, combined the trial trip with active service, and attacked the northern ships with a determination which carried consternation to the North. The wooden _Cumberland_ was blown up and the _Congress_ sunk, the latter as the result of an application of the ram, which, however, injured the ramming vessel so much that the future effectiveness of her ram was greatly reduced. Buchanan was so badly wounded in this engagement that he was unable to command the _Merrimac_ in her duel the next day with the _Monitor_. The _Monitor_, designed by Ericsson, was built under very arbitrary conditions. When it became known that the _Merrimac_ was under construction, President Lincoln advertised for something to meet her on equal terms, and Ericsson tendered. He pointed out that the armour plates of the _Gloire_ or _Warrior_ would be useless against the heavy 12-inch wrought-iron gun he had brought out in 1840, in connection with Colonel Robert Stockton, and as he pledged himself that he could complete in a hundred days a steam vessel carrying two of such guns placed in a turret which should be armour-plated and proof against the heaviest guns the Confederates could place in the _Merrimac_, his tender was accepted. Ericsson was hampered in his work by the interference of the government officials, hardly any of whom understood his plans, but all of whom thought themselves competent to improve upon them. Considering the limitations under which his undertaking had to be accomplished, the _Monitor_ was a remarkable vessel in every respect. He had to draw out his plans to scale, have all the parts designed, see that everything was made as he designed it, and supervise the construction of the ship and engines, and the whole of this work had to be done within a stated time. The adventure, for such it unquestionably was, was hailed throughout the length and breadth of America as the work of a madman. Like all innovations destined to play an important part in the world’s history, it was greeted with derision and abuse. There were a few people on both sides of the Atlantic who recognised the importance of the change in naval construction which Ericsson’s ship inaugurated. These were they who had profited by the lessons of the armoured gunboats or floating batteries employed by the French and English in the Crimean War. They saw that if small but powerfully armed ships could effectively attack powerful shore batteries, and