THE "BROOKLYN" AT THE PASSAGE OF THE FORTS.
BY COMMANDER JOHN RUSSELL BARTLETT, U. S. N.

FROM February 2d to March 7th, 1862, the United, States steamer Brooklyn, Captain Thomas T. Craven, was engaged in blockading Pass a l'Outre, one of the mouths of the Mississippi River. It is impossible to describe the monotony of the life on board ship during this period. Most of the time there was a dense fog, so thick that we could not see the length of the ship. The fog collected in the rigging, and there was a constant dripping from aloft like rain, which kept the decks wet and made things generally uncomfortable. No news was, received from the North, and our waiting and watching seemed endless. We had our routine of drill each day, but nothi. Our only excitement was the lookout at the main-topgallant cross-tree, who was above the fog-bank, shouting "Smoke hoo!" It was a great relief to shout through the deck-trumpet, " Where away!" but the answer was always the same,--" Up the river, sir!" Days and weeks went by, and the smoke came no nearer. Once only, on February 24th; it came out of the river, and we had an exciting chase of a blockade-runner, following her for miles, with an officer aloft conning the ship by the smoke seen above the fog; we captured the chase, which proved to be the steamer Magnolia with 1200 bales of cotton.

At last the spell was broken, for on the 7th of March the Hartford and Pensacola arrived with Captain D. G. Farragut, then flag-officer commanding the West Gulf Blockading Squadron, and we learned that we were going to open the Mississippi River.

I had never met Farragut, but had heard of him from officers who were with him in the Brooklyn. on her previous cruise. He had been represented as a man of most determined will and character--a man who would assume any responsibility to accomplish necessary ends. I saw a great deal of him at the Head of the Passes and after we passed the forts. Often, when I came on board the Hartford with a message from the captain of the Brooklyn, Farragut sent me somewhere to carry an order or to do certain duty. I was much impressed with his energy and activity and his promptness of decision and action. He had a winning smile and a most charming manner and was jovial and talkative. He prided himself on his agility, and I remember his telling

ASPECT OF FORT JACKSON IN 1885. FROM THE SUMMIT OF THE LEVEE LOOKING SOUTH FROM THE RIVER.