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23 christmas, 1862 The McBlairs were watching the mail. virginia was sending a turkey for christmas , and the commander had promised to let Willie’s mess have it for christmas dinner. The Atlanta’s captain had been invited to dine with the Pelots.1 Two days before christmas Dabney scales went to town to shop for his mess. it was warm for December, the temperature in the low sixties.2 scales dined with William van comstock (now first luff aboard Pelot’s flag boat Savannah), then enjoyed an evening with friends who introduced him to several young ladies. around eleven thirty he checked in at the Pulaski house, leaving word for a wake-up call at 5:00 A.m. a night watchman rapped on his door at five, bringing him out of a deep sleep. “after seriously debating in my mind the propriety of turning out at this early hour i gave one or two yawns, turned over, and was about sinking once more into the land of Dreams, when visions of christmas Dinners flitted across my clouded imagination. . . . i arose, dressed quickly, and hurried down to market, resolved that if it were in my power, the mess should realize my visions.” By mid-morning he had two fine turkeys, several dozen eggs, “and other indispensibles [sic].” he intended to take the Ida back to the Atlanta, but ran across Dr. T. Bartow ford, who lured him aboard the Savannah “to help do the agreeable to a party of ladies that were invited to a ‘hop’” aboard ship that afternoon. We all kicked up our heels to our hearts content, and at 3:30 p.m. sat down to an excellent dinner provided by the officers of the steamer. after dinner we took the ladies out on a boat excursion up the river. had one or two christmas, 1862 / 177 races, and all hands seemed to enjoy themselves very much. returned about dark, and tried our hand on the egg nog, after which we took another tilt at the dances, which closed the action for the day. But the action was closed only aboard the Savannah, and scales went looking for another engagement in town. he called on some lady friends, stayed the evening , and returned late to the Pulaski house “in a very good humor.”3 While partying in the city, scales missed important duty aboard the Atlanta. captain McBlair had planned a christmas eve trial run. “if the yankees do not have a spontaneous combustion,” he told his wife, “i hope in the course of a month or six weeks to give some of them a black eye.” While the Tifts had paid no attention to accommodations for officers, they’d paid considerable attention to the ship’s combat capabilities. one of the most serious problems steamers faced in battle was damage to the smokestack. if a ship’s funnel were holed by shot, or sieved by fragments of exploding shell, the furnace draft—and the ship’s steam power—decreased significantly. if a smokestack were shot away, the power loss was crippling. Knowledgeable builders had begun installing blowers to force the fireboxes’ draft. The Tifts included blowers in the Atlanta ’s build, and even rigged the smokestack so it could be unshipped before combat and laid over on the spar deck. captain McBlair’s christmas eve trial was to test the vessel combat ready, stack unshipped, and blowers on. lieutenant alexander gave the system a shakedown test beforehand. it worked—not well, but it worked. on the morning of December 24 captain McBlair came aboard and put the vessel through the blower trials. four times the ironclad ran between fort Jackson and Mackey’s Point, twice with the current, twice against it. With the smokestack in place, her average speed was 5 ½ knots. With the stack unshipped and the blowers running, she averaged 3 ½ knots. McBlair pronounced the trial a success: 3 ½ knots was not far off normal speed for an ironclad, and much better than dead in the water. The worst fault the captain noted was the continued leakage through the sponsons. But that was “of no great importance,” he said, “except as to comfort.”4 on christmas morning Midshipman scales, sound asleep in the Pulaski house, was again summoned by the knock of “the never-failing guardian of the night.” he arose “with about the same effort as on the preceding morning and went to Market to make some additional purchases for the mess...

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