them to obstruct the channel, and when Hunter took Alvarado in April, 1847, the rest were burned.[1]
Conner's only chance for offensive work, therefore, aside from capturing a merchant vessel occasionally, was to engage in shore operations; and while the officers and men felt eager to get a nearer view of the scenery, as they said, and rival the glories of the army, they found themselves embarrassed by the same difficulties that attended blockading and by others also. The want of tenders and storeships proved especially serious when hostilities were in view. Each vessel had to obtain supplies at the Pensacola navy yard; the round trip cost a month or so; and that base lacked the needed equipment. Once it spent about four weeks in supplying the Potomac with bread for a three-months cruise, and in July, 1846, the yellow fever broke out there. A point of capital importance was to reach the small harbors and cut off all trade; but until the last of September, 1846, Conner had not a vessel that could cross the bars, tow boats over, and operate in the rivers; and the first load of coal reached him two weeks later. A shortage of officers and men hampered operations; and Mason, besides failing to anticipate such a case, failed to be awake when it occurred. By December, 1846, the Home Squadron included a substantial flotilla of small craft, mounting from one to four guns each; but the difficulty of obtaining supplies and making repairs on a hostile coast in a season of storms almost paralyzed it.[2]
Another embarrassment existed. Conner was a brave, able, accomplished, excellent man, but for a generation his business had been that of a navigator. His duty had been to go his rounds in safety, and he did it well. Nobody could handle a frigate better in a storm. He looked carefully after the health of his men, too. In thoughtfulness, prudence, judgment and fidelity he left nothing to be desired. But his constitution had never been robust, and the effects of an old wound, thirty years of service in a southern climate and the torture of neuralgia had now made him a confirmed invalid, worn and wasted, and subject at intervals to almost maddening pain. His powers both of thought and of execution were impaired. Naturally such a man did not wish to risk either men or ships; and, lacking the vigor for quick decisions and powerful action, he
