Note 14 — XXII VERA CRUZ February–March, 1847
Reading edition
This seems like a foolhardy performance; but other boats had gone as near without being fired upon, and the Petrita was supposed to be out of range (Mag. Am. Hist., xiv, 567). The engineers intended of course to get as near as they could with safety, and it is possible that Scott wished to set an example of fearlessness. McCall, who was on board, wrote that this occurred on Mar. 6; other accounts place it on the seventh.