Mr. Thomas E. Taylor was agent for the blockade runner _Banshee_, and
I quote his narrative: "One very dark night (I think it was either on
the fourth or fifth trip) we made the land about twelve miles above
Fort Fisher, and were creeping quietly down as usual, when all at once
we made a cruiser out, lying on our port bow, and slowly moving about
200 yards from the shore. It was a question of going inside or outside
her; if we went outside she was certain to see us, and would chase us
into the very jaws of the fleet. As we had very little steam up we
chose the former alternative, hoping to pass unobserved between the
cruiser and the shore, aided by the dark background of the latter. It
was an exciting moment; we got almost abreast of her, as we thought,
unobserved, and success seemed within our grasp, till we saw her move
in toward us and heard her hail as we came on, 'Stop that steamer or I
will sink you!'
"Old Steele growled out that we hadn't time to stop, and shouted down
the engine-room tube to Erskine to pile on the coal, as concealment was
no longer any use. Our friend, which we afterwards found out was the
_Niphon_, opened fire as fast as she could and sheered close into us,
so close that her boarders were called away twice, and a slanging match
went on between us, like that sometimes to be heard between two penny
steamboat captains on the Thames. She closed the dispute by shooting
away our foremast, exploding a shell in our bunkers, and, when we began
to leave her astern, by treating us to grape and canister. It was a
miracle that no one was killed, but the crew were all lying flat on the
deck, except the steersman; and at one time I fear he did the same, for
as Pilot Burroughs suddenly cried, 'My God, Mr. Taylor, look there!' I
saw our boat heading right into the surf, so, jumping from the bridge,
I ran aft and found the helmsman on his stomach. I rushed at the wheel
and got two or three spokes out of it, which hauled her head off land,
but it was a close shave.
"Two miles farther we picked up another cruiser, which tried to treat
us in a similar manner, but as we had plenty of steam we soon left
her. A little farther we came across a large side-wheel boat, which
tried to run us down, missing us only by a few yards; after that we
were unmolested and arrived in safe, warmly congratulated by Lamb, who
thought from the violent cannonade that we must certainly be sunk.
"Not more than one man out of a hundred would have brought a boat
through as Steele did that night--the other ninety-nine would have run
her ashore."