When within about four miles of the vessel, I observed that she had ceased to steam, and was lying broadside and awaiting us.  It was nearly seven o’clock, and quite dark; but notwithstanding the obscurity of the night, I felt assured, from the general character of the vessel and her manoeuvres, that I should soon encounter the rebel steamer Alabama.  Being able to work but four guns on the side of the Hatteras—­two short 32 pounders, one 30 pounder rifled Parrot gun, and one 20 pounder rifled gun,—­I concluded to close with her that my guns might be effective, if necessary.

I came within easy speaking range—­about seventy-five yards—­and upon asking “What steamer is that?” received the answer, “Her Britannic Majesty’s ship Petrel.”  I replied that I would send a boat aboard, and immediately gave the order.  In the meantime the vessels were changing positions, the stranger endeavouring to gain a desirable position for a raking fire.  Almost simultaneously with the piping away of the boat the strange craft again replied, “We are the Confederate steamer Alabama,” which was accompanied with a broadside.  I at the same moment returned the fire.  Being well aware of the many vulnerable points of the Hatteras, I hoped, by closing with the Alabama, to be able to board her, and thus rid the seas of the piratical craft.  I steamed directly for the Alabama, but she was enabled by her great speed and the foulness of the bottom of the Hatteras, and consequently her diminished speed, to thwart my attempt when I had gained a distance of but thirty yards from her.  At this range musket and pistol shots were exchanged.  The firing continued with great vigour on both sides.  At length a shell entered amidships in the hold, setting fire to it, and at the same instant —­as I can hardly divide the time—­a shell passed through the sick bay, exploding in an adjoining compartment, also producing fire.  Another entered the cylinder, filling the engine-room and deck with steam, and depriving me of my power to manoeuvre the vessel, or to work the pumps, upon which the reduction of the fire depended.

With the vessel on fire in two places, and beyond human power, a hopeless wreck upon the waters, with her walking-beam shot away, and her engine rendered useless, I still maintained an active five, with the double hope of disabling the Alabama and attracting the attention of the fleet off Galveston, which was only twenty-eight miles distant.

It was soon reported to me that the shells had entered the Hatteras at the water-line, tearing off entire sheets of iron, and that the water was rushing in, utterly defying every attempt to remedy the evil, and that she was rapidly sinking.  Learning the melancholy truth, and observing that the Alabama was on my port bow, entirely beyond the range of my guns, doubtless preparing for a raking fire of the deck, I felt I had no light to sacrifice uselessly, and without any desirable result, the lives of all under my command.