Not far from the beach house where we were staying on Dauphin Island was Fort Gaines, which played a key role in the Battle of Mobile Bay during the Civil War.

The Union fleet, under the command of Admiral David Farragut fought their way into Mobile Bay, which was defended by Fort Gaines and Fort Morgan and a torpedo field between them. This would be referred to as a “mine field” in today’s terminology. The USS Tecumseh, one four Union ironclads at the battle struck a mine and sunk. The Union fleet hesitated. Up to this point, Union forces had believed ironclads to be virtually unsinkable.

Farragut then ordered his flagship, the USS Hartford and the Union fleet to press on through the torpedo field and on into Mobile Bay with his famous order, “Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead!”

The battle that followed mostly destroyed the small Confederate fleet and after a few weeks both forts fell to Union forces. The city of Mobile remained in Confederate hands, but the port of Mobile was closed to blockade running.

A replica of Christopher Columbus’s ship the Nina recently docked on the St. Croix in Hudson, Wisconsin. The ship was on a trip up the Mississippi during it’s recent tour of North American ports.

The last day in July was a beautiful sunny day, perfect for some sightseeing. Peter was a little “ho-hum” about seeing a sailing ship until he got sight of it. His excitement grew when he realized it looked like a Pirate ship.

The ship, a Caravel, is a replica of the one used by Columbus to cross the ocean on his famous voyage to the New World. The replica was built in Brazil using ship-building techniques common in the 15th century. It has been described as the most authentic replica Columbus era ship ever built.

The first thing that struck us when visiting the ship was how small it is. It’s hard to imagine three ships as small as this crossing the Atlantic 500 years ago. During that voyage the ships’ holds were packed with cargo, foodstuffs and livestock. The only place for the crew to sleep was on the open deck. The captain’s quarters were a tiny space below deck, not much larger than a crate. This was the only private space on board the ship.

We took a few pictures while we visited this Nina. The picture at left is a press photo of the replica at sail. During our visit the sails were up. I understand the Coast Guard required the Nina to travel in this area using a motor.

To learn more about the replica of the Nina, or the history of Columbus’s original ship, you can visit www.thenina.com .

Wow. As a dog, I don’t get many opportunities for blogging. I’m not tall enough to sit up on Mike’s chair and I don’t have the slightest clue as to how to use the computer.

Most of my time is spent sleeping, running around in my dog-pen, or begging for food. I can’t begin to imagine what my dog-life would be like if I used the computer more frequently than I do right now (which isn’t much…).

Maybe if I can interest Murray in using the computer, he’ll drop that rawhide chew-thing he’s eating right now, and I can take it.