Mobile Siege

FEBRUARY 13, 1864.]

HARPER'S WEEKLY.

101

GUARD-BOAT ON PICKET DUTY OFF MOBILE.

OFF MOBILE.

OUR correspondent transmits some interesting sketches of the BLOCKADE OFF MOBILE, which we present before our readers on pages 97, 101, 104, and 105. The large picture on pages 104 and 105 represents

THE UNITED STATES SLOOP OF WAR "RICHMOND"

on blockading duty, rolling and pitching about in a heavy sea. She is a first-class sloop of war, mounting

22 guns. The Hartford, Brooklyn, and Pensacola belong to the same class.

Another picture, which we give above, represents

A GUARD-BOAT ON PICKET DUTY.

Says our correspondent:

"The poor fellows manning these boats often suffer very severely from cold and rain; when the weather is moderate they divert themselves with fishing, but at best their duty is a hard one."

A third sketch, given below, represents the

"KENNEBEC" CHASING THE "GREY JACKET."

On the night of December 30 the fleet was alarmed by the usual signal notifying them that a vessel was coming out. It was dark and boisterous, but from the Richmond the rebel steamer was easily seen. It is the duty of the smaller vessels to give chase while the larger ones protect. In this case the pursuit devolved upon the Kennebec, who chased the steamer during the greater part of the next day, and celebrated

New Year's eve by her capture. The prize was a valuable one, containing five hundred bales of cotton and four hundred barrels of turpentine and resin. Accompanying these sketches is another, which we print on the first page, with the title,

"OUR FLAG IS THERE!"

Representing the stars and stripes as being hoisted by the officers and sailors on one of our gun-boats at sunrise.

THE UNITED STATES STEAMER "KENNEBEC" CHASING THE REBEL STEAMER "GREY JACKET."