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Chronology of the Sinking of the Monitor
The following
narrative detailing the loss of the Monitor was created
using eyewitness accounts gathered from archival material.
December 30, 1862
5:00 A.M. The Monitor, under tow by the USS Rhode
Island, approaches the coast of North Carolina. The calm
seas of the previous evening give way to rising swells.
1:00 P.M. The Cape Hatteras light is sighted bearing
"WSW, fourteen miles distant." The increasingly heavy seas begin
rolling over the ironclad's deck. Surgeon Grenville Weeks later
noted, "The little vessel plunged through the rising waves instead
of riding on them as they increased in violence... so that,
even when we considered ourselves safe, the appearance was of
a vessel sinking." Weeks heard one sailor lament, "Give me an
oyster scow!-anything!-only let it be wood, and something that
will float over, instead of under the water."
4:30 P.M. The seas begin to calm, but waves continue
to roll across the ship. The Cape Hatteras Lighthouse is northwest
by west 16 miles distant.
6:30 P.M. The Monitor and Rhode Island
enter the warm waters of the Gulf Stream. Paymaster William
Keeler later noted that the wind began "...blowing violently;
the heavy seas rolled over our bows dashing against the pilot
house and surging aft, would strike against the solid turret
with such a force to make it tremble..." Just before dark, Commander
Bankhead pulls alongside the Rhode Island and informs
the captain that if the Monitor runs into trouble during
the night, he will hoist a red signal lantern from the turret
mast.
7:00 P.M. One of the tow lines snaps and the Monitor
begins to yaw and roll severely. The increased motion forces
out portions of the oakum seal that had been forced under the
turret, leaving large gaps through which water begins to pour.
The water level in the bilge begins to rise.
7:30 P.M. Ship's Surgeon Grenville Weeks, who was positioned
on the turret, later noted, "At this time the gale increased;
black heavy clouds covered the sky, through which the moon glimmered
fitfully, allowing us to see in the distance a long line of
white plunging foam rushing towards us, - sure indication, to
a sailor's eye, of a stormy time." "A gloom hung over everything...the
moan of the ocean grew louder and more fearful."
8:00 P.M. The situation below deck becomes more serious.
Engineer W.F. Watters later noted that, as he passed under the
turret, water was pouring in through the areas where the oakum
was displaced. "When the ship rose to the swell, the flat under
surface of the projecting armor would come down with great force,
causing a considerable shock to the vessel and turret, thereby
loosening still more of the packing around its base." One sailor
notices water pouring in through the coal bunkers. The water
level has risen so high that Bankhead orders Engineer Watters
to put the Worthington pump to work. When Watters returns to
the engine room, he finds an inch of water on the engine room
floor. The sea water also dampens coal stored in the bunkers.
Seaman Francis Butts notices the acidic smell of the wet, burning
coal. Assistant Engineer R.W. Hands reports to Commander Bankhead,
"...the coal was too wet to keep up steam..." The pressure,
which normally ran at 80 pounds, has dropped dangerously low
to 20 pounds.
The Monitor is still under tow with its bow into the
waves. As the storm increases in strength, mountainous waves
crash across her decks. The pilot house is almost continuously
under water. Paymaster Keeler and some of the other officers
are still on the turret: "...we were going ?head on,' or in
other words were crossing them [waves] at right angles. Now
her bow would rise on a huge billow and before she could sink
in the intervening hollow, the succeeding wave would strike
her under the heavy armor with a report like thunder and a violence
that threatened to tear apart the thin sheet of iron bottom
and heavy armor which it supported." "Then she would slide down
a watery mountain into a hollow beyond and plunging her bow
into the black rolling billow would go down, down, down, under
the surging wave till naught could be seen but the top of the
black ?cheese box' isolated in a sea of hissing, seething foam,
extending as far as we could see around us." The pumps are working
at full efficiency, but water below is still gaining. Bankhead
gives orders to start the centrifugal pump, which has a capacity
of 3,000 gallons per minute. Seaman Butts later remembered seeing
"...a stream of water eight inches in diameter spouting up from
beneath the waves," as the pump began working. Keeler reported,
"...the water diminished, but it was of short duration."
8:45 P.M. The quartermaster on the Rhode Island
records the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse bearing "N _ W, twenty
miles distant." The situation is growing even more serious.
The centrifugal pump is working, but the water continues to
rise within the ironclad. The Rhode Island slows its speed and
attempts to bring the ironclad into the wind. For a brief while
the Monitor seems to ride more easily.
9:30 P.M. The wind continues to increase in intensity,
forcing the waves higher, "...burying [the Monitor] completely
for an instant, while for a few seconds nothing could be seen
of her from the Rhode Island but the upper part of her
turret surrounded by foam."
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Go to Main Category:
The Monitor from the James River to Cape Hatteras:
May-December, 1862
Go to other documents in this category:
Battle at Drewery's Bluff
Loss of the Monitor - Francis Butts
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