3-008-420 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Civil War in America: the Picket leading the ships of the Burnside Expedition over Hatteras Bar - from a sketch by our special artist, 1862. 'My vessel was the Picket, a screw, the smallest in the fleet, on which General Burnside had established his head-quarters, much against the wish of every one, for, although she was perfectly new, her proportions were scarcely those of a ship fitted to cope with a heavy sea...From our hurricane-deck fourteen steamers could be seen labouring to weather this storm-point...Bravely we breasted on, staggering beneath the giant blows of each successive sea, our decks swept fore and aft, and all on board reefing from side to side like drunken men. One figure stood immovable...scanning the horizon for traces of ships as we rose on each glittering mass of foam. It was the square, manly form of General Burnside, whose anxiety for the fate of his army was intense...oh, good fortune! by 11 a.m. we had weathered the cape and were hove to off Hatteras Bar...so certain our destruction should we yaw off but a point or two either way, that this was probably the most hazardous period of our tempestuous voyage. The Sketch I send...will better illustrate our position than anything I can express in writing'. From "Illustrated London News", 1862.