Note 3 — Chapter XXIV · NORFOLK AND ITS NEIGHBORHOOD

The Merrimac, originally a Federal vessel of wooden construction, was sunk by the Union forces when they abandoned Norfolk. A Confederate captain, John M. Brooke, raised her, equipped her with a ram, and covered her with boiler plate and railroad rails. She is called the first ironclad. While she was being reconstructed John Ericsson was building his Monitor in New York. The turret was first used on this vessel. It is worth noting that at the time of the engagement between these two ships the Monitor was not the property of the Federal Government, but belonged to C. S. Bushnell, of New Haven, who built her at his own expense, in spite of the opposition of the Navy Department of that day. The Government paid for her long after the fight. It should also be noted that the Merrimac did not fight under that name, but as a Confederate ship had been rechristened Virginia. The patriotic action of Mr. Bushnell is recalled by the fact that, only recently, Mr. Godfrey L. Cabot, of Boston, has agreed to furnish funds to build the torpedoplane designed by Admiral Fiske as a weapon wherewith to attack the German fleet within its defenses at Kiel.