He could batter down the masonry of the works at his leisure, if he chose to waste his time and ammunition in that way; but the Confederates proposed to abandon the fort, and it would not pay to destroy it.
"Fourteen and a half feet!" shouted the leadsman.
"That will do, Mr.Flint; stop her, and let go the anchor.

Get out a spring astern and make it fast to that buoy," said the commander.
In ten minutes more the Bronx quivered under the discharge of the great midship gun, and a cloud of smoke rose above her deck.
"Good for you, Mr.Ambleton!" exclaimed Christy, a few seconds later, when he saw the wreck of one of the twenty-four pounders on the fort.
This result was followed by emphatic cheers from the forty-five men on deck.
"I can do that again, Captain Passford," replied the gunner, who was in charge of the piece.
"Do it, then," added Christy.
He did not do quite as well every time, but in two hours there was not a gun in place on the barbette of the fort..