About noon
I should n't think that we had begun with red hot shot , yet . It takes three hours to get them hot enough . As far as I can see , whenever the wind blows the smoke away a little , our shot and shell roll off the roofs and sides , without doing any damage to speak of . '' About noon the enemy 's mortar boats and ketches attempted to come across , and assist their battering ships ; but the wind had changed and had worked round to the southwest , blowing a smart breeze and bringing in a heavy swell , so that they were prevented from taking part in the action . Our own gunboats were hindered , by the same cause , from putting out and opening a flanking fire upon the battering ships . The northern batteries , by the water , suffered heavily from the fire of the Spanish lines ; which took them in flank and , indeed , some of the batteries in reverse , causing many casualties . The Artillery , however , refused to let their attention be diverted from the battering ships .