Second Lieutenant R. F. Armstrong
The captain and engineers of the Ariel were sent on board the Alabama, and a number of the Alabama’s engineers took possession of the Ariel’s engines. Lieutenant Armstrong and Midshipman Sinclair, who acted as his executive officer, were not long in ingratiating themselves with the ladies, and when they finally left the prize two days later, nearly all the buttons on their coats had been given away as mementoes. They occupied respectively the head and foot of the long dining table. When champagne was brought in they proposed the health of Jefferson Davis, which they requested should be drunk standing. Their request was complied with amid considerable merriment, and then the Yankee girls retaliated by proposing the health of President Lincoln, which was drunk with a storm of hurrahs.
The next day after the capture of the Ariel the prize crew was hastily withdrawn from her, bringing away certain small fixtures from the engines, which rendered them temporarilyuseless. The reason for this move was the appearance of another steamer on the horizon, which it was hoped would prove to be the treasure steamer for which the Alabama had been waiting for a week past. Captain Semmes was doomed to another disappointment, however, for she was neutral. About eight o’clock the next evening, while in chase of a brig, which was afterward found to be from one of the German states, a valve casting broke in one of the Alabama’s engines, and the chief engineer reported that it would take at least twenty-four hours to repair the damage. Captain Semmes had been extremely loth to release the Ariel. To get her into a Confederate port was, of course, impossible, and the Alabama could not possibly accommodate such an immense number of passengers, even for the short time necessary to run into the nearest neutral port. He was debating in his own mind whether it might not be possible to get his prize into Kingston, Jamaica, long enough to get his prisoners ashore, when the accident happened to the engine, and a boat sent to board the German brig brought back theinformation that there was yellow fever at Kingston. A bond for the value of the prize and her cargo was therefore exacted from Captain Jones, and the Ariel was suffered to proceed on her voyage.
TheAlabama coasted along the secluded north shore of Jamaica for the next forty-eight hours, while the engine was undergoing repair. It was now the 12th day of December, and Captain Semmes proceeded to carry out his plan of getting into the Gulf of Mexico without being seen. On the 13th he writes in his journal:
Weather fine. Passed the west end of Jamaica about noon. Ship-cleaning day. Nothing in sight, and I desire to see nothing (unless it be a homeward bound California Steamer) at present, as it is important I should make the run I contemplate without being traced. I should like to touch at the Caymans for fruits and vegetables for the crew, but forbear on this account.
And on the 15th he makes this entry:
Fresh trade; ship running along under topsails. This running down, down, before the ever constant trade wind, to run up against it by and by under steam is not pleasant. Still, God willing, I hope to strike a blow of some importance and make my retreat safely out of the gulf.
U. S. STEAMSHIP WACHUSETT.
Have a care, Captain Semmes! Rear AdmiralWilkes, with the Wachusett and the Sonoma, is hot on your trail, and his scent is improving. He is only three days behind the Agrippina at the Grand Cayman, where thrifty Captain McQueen has touched to do a little trading on his own account.
December 17th to 19th the Alabama struggled with a three days’ gale about midway between the westerly end of Cuba and the coast of Honduras. In this gale the Wachusett burst her boiler tubes and the Sonoma rolled away her smokestack, but this fortunately did not go overboard, and when the weather cleared it was put in place again. On the 20th the Alabama’s lookout sighted the islands near the north-east point of Yucatan, and the same night Captain Semmes groped his way through the Yucatan Channel by means of the lead, finding himself next morning in the Gulf of Mexico, without having seena human being by whom the whereabouts of his vessel could be reported. On the 23d the Agrippina was overhauled, and the two vessels ran together to the Arcas Keys.
These little islands are of coral formation, and are three in number, forming a triangle. The Alabama and her consort found very good anchorage inside the triangle, with no danger from gales unless they should blow from the southeast, which Captain Semmes decided would be unlikely at this time of the year. Here he made his preparations to pounce upon the Banks transport fleet. The remainder of the coal which had been left in the Agrippina’s hold at Blanquilla, was now transferred to the Alabama’s bunkers, and Captain McQueen was directed to proceed to England for another supply. The next rendezvous was never reached by the Agrippina, however, and from this time forward Captain Semmes had to supply himself with coal as best he could. The Alabama was careened and her bottom scrubbed as well as possible under the circumstances, and various repairs were made to the sails and about decks.
The water was very transparent, and the anchor could be plainly seen at seven fathoms depth. Fish and turtles were observed swimming about, and all the wonders of coral architecture were visible below. There was no vegetation on the islands except sea kale and a few stunted bushes and cactus. Birds were in abundance, and the whole surface of the island was covered with their nests, containing eggs and young birds in all stages of growth. The older birds were very tame and usually refused to leave the nests until pushed off.
Two days after the arrival of the Alabama was Christmas day, and the crew were given shore liberty. Captain Semmes makes this entry in his journal:
Christmas day, the second Christmas since we left our homes in the Sumter. Last year we were buffetting the storms of the North Atlantic near the Azores. Now we are snugly anchored in the Arcas; and how many eventful periods have passed in the interval. Our poor people have been terribly pressed in this wicked and ruthless war, and they have borne privations and sufferings which nothing but an intense patriotism could have sustained. They will live in history as a people worthy to be free, and future generations will be astonished at the folly and fanaticism, want of principle and wickedness, developed by this war among the Puritan population of the North; and in this class nine-tenths of the native population of the northern states may be placed, to such an extent hasthe “Plymouth Rock” leaven “leavened the whole loaf.” A people so devoid of Christian charity, and wanting in so many of the essentials of honesty, cannot but be abandoned to their own folly by a just and benevolent God. Our crew is keeping Christmas by a run on shore, which they all seem to enjoy exceedingly. It is indeed very grateful to the senses to ramble about over even so confined a space as the Arcas, after tossing about at sea in a continual state of excitement for months. Yesterday was the first time I touched the shore since I left Liverpool on the 13th of August last, and I was only one week in Liverpool after a voyage of three weeks from the Bahamas, so that I have in fact been but one week on shore in five months. My thoughts naturally turn on this quiet Christmas day, in this lonely island, to my dear family. I can only hope, and trust them to the protection of a merciful Providence. The only sign of a holiday on board tonight is the usual “splicing of the main brace,”anglice, giving Jack an extra allowance of grog.
Meanwhile “Jack’s” thoughts were taking quite a different turn, if reports are to be trusted. Shore leave with no opportunity for a drunken carousal, was to him like the play of Hamlet with the principal character altogether omitted.
“Liberty on Christmas, the old pirate!” cried one of the crew, kicking up the carpet of sea kale. “Well, here goes for a quiet life. I can lick any man in the starboard watch.”
His challenge was immediately accepted, and the net result was a number of broken heads and several men nearly incapacitated for duty.
The largest island contained a salt water lake,which was connected by an outlet with the sea at high tide, and at other times had a depth of about two and one-half feet of water. This pond was alive with fish, and on one occasion a group of junior and petty officers were fishing here in one of the small boats, when a shark was discovered swimming leisurely along with a fin exposed and evidently gorged with fish. The chief engineer, Miles J. Freeman, was bathing, and had waded about a hundred yards from the shore, when his attention was called to the man eater by the party in the boat. The shark had no intention of attacking him, but the engineer did not stop to investigate the state of his sharkship’s appetite, and struck out lustily for the shore. Not feeling that he was making satisfactory progress, he got on his feet and tried to wade. The water was just at that depth where no method of locomotion seems best, and so he floundered along, sometimes swimming, sometimes trying to run, until he finally reached the shore and threw himself on the sand utterly exhausted, while the party in the boat held their sides and screamed with laughter.
An Irishman named Michael Mars pushed the boat toward the shark, and jumping into the water, plunged his sheath knife into the belly of the big fish. The shark snapped his great jaws and slapped the water with his tail, but, disregarding all orders to get into the boat and let the shark alone, Mars kept up the fight until his enemy was vanquished, and the body was towed ashore in triumph.
After some days the sojourners discovered that by driving off the birds from a certain area and breaking all the stale eggs, the nests were soon supplied with fresh ones by these prolific layers, and a palatable addition to ship fare was the result.
Meanwhile Admiral Wilkes was cruising off the westerly end of Cuba, thinking the Alabama would probably be there, trying to intercept the homeward bound California steamer. Doubtless she would have been there, had it not seemed to her commander that a more important duty called him to the gulf. Admiral Wilkes reasoned that the Agrippina could never have reached an easterly port against the heavy gale,and decided to look into the harbor of Mugeres Island in the narrowest part of Yucatan Channel, in the hope of finding her. Here he discovered a vessel which was at first thought to be the Alabama, but which proved to be the Virginia, formerly the Noe-Daquy, which was being fitted up to run the blockade. A Mexican officer had seized her, on the ground that she was engaged in the slave trade, and was not disposed to permit her being sent before a prize court at Key West. The complications arising in the case of this vessel kept Admiral Wilkes at Mugeres Island until January 18th, except that he made one trip to Havana for coal. Two days’ sail to the westward would have brought him to the Arcas Keys, but he had no means of knowing that the Alabama had passed into the gulf.
Onthe 5th of January, 1863, the Alabama left the Arcas Keys for her cruise to the northward. Full descriptions of the Banks expedition and its destination had appeared in the northern newspapers, and Captain Semmes was well supplied with information as to the character of the transport fleet and the time when it might be expected to arrive off Galveston. It was not likely that the transports would be accompanied by a great number of war vessels, as the Confederacy had no fleet in the gulf, and the northern papers had reported the Alabama as well on her way to the coast of Brazil. As there was only twelve feet of water on the bar, most of the transports would be obliged to anchor outside. A night attack—a quick dash—firebrands flung from deck to deck—and the fleet might be halfdestroyed before the gunboats could get up steam to pursue.
Semmes determined to run in by daylight far enough to get the bearings of the fleet, and then draw off and wait for darkness. He had permitted enough of his plan to leak through the ward room to the forecastle to put his people on their mettle, and the entire crew were eager for the fray. On January 11th the man at the masthead was instructed to keep a lookout for a large fleet anchored near a lighthouse. His “sail ho! land ho!” came almost simultaneously, and the captain began to feel certain of his game. But later questioning brought the answer that there was no fleet of transports—only five steamers, which looked like vessels of war. Soon after a shell thrown by one of the steamers was distinctly seen to burst over the city. It could not be that the Federals would be firing upon a city which was in their own possession, and Semmes immediately came to the correct conclusion that Galveston had been recaptured by the Confederates. That the Banks expedition had been diverted to New Orleans, and would proceedtoward Texas by way of the Red River he could not know, but that it had not reached Galveston was sufficiently apparent.
The Alabama’s prow was turned off shore again, and presently the lookout called down that one of the steamers was in pursuit. Commodore Bell, of the Federal fleet had discovered the strange actions of the sail in the offing, and had suspected an intention of running the blockade. The gunboat Hatteras was therefore signalled to go in chase of the intruder. The Alabama flew away under sail, but not so fast as to discourage her pursuer. The propeller was finally let down, and about twenty miles out she turned to meet the Hatteras. The engines on both vessels stopped at a distance of about a hundred yards, and the Federal hailed.
“What ship is that?”
“This is Her Britannic Majesty’s ship Petrel,” shouted Lieutenant Kell.
He then demanded the name of the pursuer. The first answer was not clearly heard. A second summons brought the reply:
“This is the United States ship—”
Again those on the Alabama failed to catch the name, and the people on the Hatteras seemed to be in a like predicament, for her officer shouted:
“I don’t understand you.”
“I don’t understandyou,” rejoined Kell.
After a few moments’ delay the Hatteras hailed again.
“If you please, I will send a boat on board of you.”
“Certainly,” was the reply, “we shall be happy to receive your boat.”
Word was passed to the gunners that the signal to fire would be the word “Alabama.” The creaking of the tackle as the boat was lowered was distinctly heard. Meanwhile the Alabama’s engines were started and she was deftly maneuvered to get her into position for a raking fire. But Lieutenant Blake, of the Hatteras, was not to be caught napping, and as the boat cleared her side, the engines of the Hatteras were again started, giving her headway enough so that she could again present her port broadside. Seeing that further concealment was useless, LieutenantKell, at a word from his captain, placed the trumpet to his lips and shouted with all his lungs:
“This is the Confederate States steamer Alabama!”
Almost at the same instant the whole starboard broadside was fired. At fifty yards there was little chance to miss, and the sharp clang of shot and shell against the Hatteras’ iron plates added to the din. The fire was immediately returned by the Hatteras, and both vessels sprang forward at full speed, leaving Master L. H. Partridge and his boat’s crew making vain endeavors to regain their own deck.
Although the Hatteras was built of iron, she was not iron clad. Her plates had been made merely to resist the sea, not cannon shot, and the terrific pounding which the Alabama’s guns gave her was effective from the first.
Her walking beam was shot away, and great gaps appeared in her sides. Gunners on the Alabama revelled in the chance to revenge the long suffered newspaper abuse.
“That’s from ‘the scum of England’!” “Thatstops your wind!” “That’s a British pill for you to swallow!” were some of the expressions hurled at the Hatteras along with the shot and shell.
“That’s from the ‘scum of England’!”
Meanwhile the Alabama was not escaping punishment entirely, although none of her wounds were of a serious nature. One shot through the stern passed through the lamp room, smashing everything within it. A shell striking a few feet abaft the foremast, ripped up the deck and lodged in the port bulwarks without exploding. A shot a few feet forward of the bridge tore up the deck. Two shells cut the main rigging and dropped into the coal bunkers, and one of these in exploding made a hole through the side. A shot demolished one of the boats and went completely through the smoke stack, making the iron splinters fly like hail. Another shot struck the muzzle of a 32-pounder gun and caused the truck to run back over a man’s foot. There was no damage below the water line.
The Hatteras was on fire in two places, and a shell broke the cylinder of her engine, thus making it impossible either to handle the vesselor to put out the fire. Finding his craft a helpless wreck, Lieutenant Blake ordered the magazine flooded to prevent an explosion and fired a lee gun in token of surrender.
To the inquiry from the Alabama whether he needed assistance Lieutenant Blake gave an affirmative reply, and the Alabama lowered her boats. But they were hastily hoisted again when it was reported that a steamer was coming from Galveston. In this emergency the commander of the Hatteras ordered her port battery thrown overboard, and this proceeding doubtless kept her afloat during the few minutes needed for the Alabama’s boats to be again lowered and reach her side. Every man was taken off, and ten minutes later she went down bow foremost. The action lasted less than fifteen minutes.
Partridge and his boat’s crew drew near as the battle closed, but the officer having satisfied himself that the Hatteras had been defeated, ordered his men to pull for Galveston. He was without a compass, but the night was clear and starlit, and the tired crew succeeded in reaching a Federal vessel near the city at daybreak.
Meanwhile Commodore Bell had heard the noise of the conflict, and had started out with two of his remaining ships to give assistance to the Hatteras. An all-night search revealed nothing, and returning next day, he discovered the tops of the masts of his unlucky consort projecting a few feet above the water.
Toget out of the gulf before the exits could be guarded was now the all-important thing for the Alabama. Had Captain Semmes known that the Sonoma was off the north shore of Yucatan, that the Wachusett was at Mugeres Island still keeping watch over the Virginia, and that the Santiago de Cuba, another steamer of Admiral Wilkes’ fleet, was cruising off the west end of Cuba, he might have had some hesitation in steering for the Yucatan Channel. But, luckily for the Alabama, Admiral Wilkes and his captains were as ignorant of Captain Semmes’ presence in the gulf as he was of theirs in the channel. For five days the Alabama battled with contrary winds, overhauling the Agrippina, which had not yet succeeded in getting out of the gulf,and on the 16th reached the Yucatan bank, along which she worked her way until 11:30 o’clock that night, when she slid off into the channel, and before daylight was beyond the reach of any hostile glass which might be leveled at her from the Yucatan coast or Mugeres Island. An observation on the 17th showed the Alabama’s position in the middle of the channel, where she was slowly making her way southward against wind and current. Nothing was seen of the Santiago de Cuba. The next day the R. R. Cuyler, of Admiral Farragut’s squadron, arrived in the channel in hot pursuit of the Florida, which had just made her escape from Mobile Bay. The Cuyler and the Santiago de Cuba proceeded together across the Channel to Mugeres Island in a vain search for the Florida, but by this time the Alabama was out of the channel and well on her way to Jamaica. The Florida had run into Havana.
On the afternoon of January 21st, 1863, the Alabama was off Port Royal, Jamaica, and anchored in the harbor as it grew dark. If Captain Semmes had any misgivings as to the receptionwhich would be accorded him in an English port, his fears were soon set at rest. He writes:
We were boarded by a lieutenant from the English flag-ship, immediately upon anchoring, and the news spread like wildfire through all Port Royal that the Alabama had arrived, with the officers and crew of a Federal gunboat, which she had sunk in battle, on board as prisoners. Night as it was, we were soon swarmed with visitors, come off to welcome us to the port, and tender their congratulations. The next morning I called on Commodore Dunlap, who commanded a squadron of Admiral Milne’s fleet, and was the commanding naval officer present. This was the first English port I had entered since the Alabama had been commissioned, and no question whatever as to the antecedents of my ship was raised. I had, in fact, brought in pretty substantial credentials that I was a ship of war—130 of the officers and men of one of the enemy’s sunken ships. * * * I forwarded, through Commodore Dunlap, an official report of my arrival to the governor of the island, with a request to be permitted to land my prisoners, and put some slight repairs upon my ship, both of which requests were promptly granted.
With three British men-of-war in the harbor, the Alabama was safe from any hostile movement even by the most reckless of Federal commanders, and Captain Semmes accepted the invitation of an English gentleman to visit his country home, where he took a much needed rest. His officers had their hands full in his absence. The ship’s bunkers were refilled with coal, a proceeding which barred the Alabama from again receiving the same courtesy in any British port for three months. Crowds of curiousvisitors had to be entertained, and a constant watch must be kept to prevent liquor from being smuggled to the men, at least until the arduous labor of coaling ship was over. When shore leave was finally granted, the majority of the crew celebrated the occasion as usual by getting uproarously drunk, and many of them might be seen assisting their late adversaries of the Hatteras to get into a like condition.
The Alabama’s paymaster, Clarence R. Yonge, hitherto a trusted officer, was accused of drunkenness, and also with traitorous intercourse with the United States consul. Lieutenant Kell had him arrested, and when the captain returned he was dismissed from the Confederate service.
Returning to Kingston from his tour of recreation on January 24th, Captain Semmes found himself the hero of the hour, and felt obliged to comply with the general request for a speech to the people of the town.
The task of getting the crew on board the Alabama proved to be a formidable one. Few could be persuaded to abandon their debauchby any persuasion or threat of punishment. Most of them were arrested by the police and delivered to the Alabama’s officers in all stages of intoxication. Two of them even attempted to escape after getting on board, by jumping into a shore boat. Captain Semmes gives the following account of this occurrence:
A couple of them, not liking the appearance of things on board, jumped into a dug-out alongside, and seizing the paddles from the negroes, shoved off in great haste, and put out for the shore. It was night, and there was a bright moon lighting up the bay. A cutter was manned as speedily as possible, and sent in pursuit of the fugitives. Jack had grog and Moll ahead of him, and irons and a court-martial behind him, and he paddled like a good fellow. He had gotten a good start before the cutter was well under way, but still the cutter, with her long sweeping oars, was rather too much for the dug-out, especially as there were five oars to two paddles. She gained and gained, coming nearer and nearer, when presently the officer of the cutter heard one of the sailors in the dug-out say to the other:“I’ll tell you what it is, Bill, there’s too much cargo in this here d—d craft, and I’m going to lighten ship a little.”And at the same instant he saw the two men lay in their paddles, seize one of the negroes, and pitch him head foremost overboard! They then seized their paddles again, and away darted the dug-out with renewed speed.Port Royal Bay is a large sheet of water, and is, besides, as every reader of Marryatt’s incomparable tales knows, full of ravenous sharks. It would not do, of course, for the cutter to permit the negro either to drown or to be eaten by the sharks, and so, as she came up with him, sputtering and floundering for his life, she was obliged to “back of all” and take him in. The sailor who grabbed at him first missed him, and the boat shot ahead of him, which rendered it necessary for her to turn and pull back a short distancebefore she could rescue him. This done, he was flung into the bottom of the cutter, and the pursuit renewed. By this time the dug-out had gotten even a better start than she had had at first, and the two fugitive sailors, encouraged by the prospect of escape, were paddling more vigorously than ever. Fast flew the dugout, but faster flew the cutter. Both parties now had their blood up, and a more beautiful and exciting moonlight race has not often been seen. We had watched it from the Alabama, until in the gloaming of the night it had passed out of sight. We had seen the first manœuvre of the halting, and pulling back of the cutter, but did not know what to make of it. The cutter began now to come up again with the chase. She had no musket on board, or in imitation of the Alabama, she might have “hove the chase to” with a blank cartridge or a ball. When she had gotten within a few yards of her a second time, in went the paddles again, and overboard went the other negro! and away went the dugout! A similar delay on the part of the cutter ensued as before, and a similar advantage was gained by the dug-out! But all things come to an end, and so did this race. The cutter finally captured the dug-out, and brought back Tom Bowse and Bill Bower to their admiring shipmates on board the Alabama. This was the only violation of neutrality I was guilty of in Port Royal—chasing and capturing a neutral craft in neutral waters.
A couple of them, not liking the appearance of things on board, jumped into a dug-out alongside, and seizing the paddles from the negroes, shoved off in great haste, and put out for the shore. It was night, and there was a bright moon lighting up the bay. A cutter was manned as speedily as possible, and sent in pursuit of the fugitives. Jack had grog and Moll ahead of him, and irons and a court-martial behind him, and he paddled like a good fellow. He had gotten a good start before the cutter was well under way, but still the cutter, with her long sweeping oars, was rather too much for the dug-out, especially as there were five oars to two paddles. She gained and gained, coming nearer and nearer, when presently the officer of the cutter heard one of the sailors in the dug-out say to the other:
“I’ll tell you what it is, Bill, there’s too much cargo in this here d—d craft, and I’m going to lighten ship a little.”
And at the same instant he saw the two men lay in their paddles, seize one of the negroes, and pitch him head foremost overboard! They then seized their paddles again, and away darted the dug-out with renewed speed.
Port Royal Bay is a large sheet of water, and is, besides, as every reader of Marryatt’s incomparable tales knows, full of ravenous sharks. It would not do, of course, for the cutter to permit the negro either to drown or to be eaten by the sharks, and so, as she came up with him, sputtering and floundering for his life, she was obliged to “back of all” and take him in. The sailor who grabbed at him first missed him, and the boat shot ahead of him, which rendered it necessary for her to turn and pull back a short distancebefore she could rescue him. This done, he was flung into the bottom of the cutter, and the pursuit renewed. By this time the dug-out had gotten even a better start than she had had at first, and the two fugitive sailors, encouraged by the prospect of escape, were paddling more vigorously than ever. Fast flew the dugout, but faster flew the cutter. Both parties now had their blood up, and a more beautiful and exciting moonlight race has not often been seen. We had watched it from the Alabama, until in the gloaming of the night it had passed out of sight. We had seen the first manœuvre of the halting, and pulling back of the cutter, but did not know what to make of it. The cutter began now to come up again with the chase. She had no musket on board, or in imitation of the Alabama, she might have “hove the chase to” with a blank cartridge or a ball. When she had gotten within a few yards of her a second time, in went the paddles again, and overboard went the other negro! and away went the dugout! A similar delay on the part of the cutter ensued as before, and a similar advantage was gained by the dug-out! But all things come to an end, and so did this race. The cutter finally captured the dug-out, and brought back Tom Bowse and Bill Bower to their admiring shipmates on board the Alabama. This was the only violation of neutrality I was guilty of in Port Royal—chasing and capturing a neutral craft in neutral waters.
The recalcitrant sailors protested that they had no intention of deserting the ship or of drowning the negroes; they only wanted to say goodby to their feminine acquaintances ashore—and so got off with a reprimand and a night spent in irons.
Thenext field of the Alabama’s operations was to be the great highway of commerce off the coast of Brazil, and the mid-Atlantic to the northward. Hardly a day out from Port Royal she fell in with the Golden Rule, and made a bonfire of her. This vessel had on board an outfit of masts and rigging for a United States gun boat, which had been dismantled in a gale. The flames from the bark were distinctly visible on the islands of Jamaica and San Domingo. The next night the torch was applied to the Chastelaine near the Dominican coast. The prisoners from these two vessels were landed at San Domingo.
February 2d there was an alarm of fire on board, caused by the carelessness of one of the petty officers, who had carried a lighted candle into the spirit room, producing an explosion. Nogreat damage was done, however. The Alabama shaped her course northward from San Domingo and crossed the Tropic of Cancer with a good breeze, a rather unusual experience. Early on the morning of February 3d the Alabama gave chase to the schooner Palmetto, but the latter made good use of a favorable breeze, and was not overhauled until one o’clock in the afternoon. The cargo of the prize consisted largely of provisions, of which the Alabama appropriated a goodly supply, and then the torch was applied.
The Alabama was now working her way eastward on the thirtieth parallel of latitude, and had got well into the middle of the Atlantic. The Azores, where she had begun her adventurous career, were only a few degrees to the north and east. On February 21st a light breeze was blowing from the southeast when the lookout reported a sail in sight and then another and then a third and a fourth. The Alabama gave chase to the one first announced, but she ran away before the wind, and, fearing that the others would escape, Captain Semmes gave his attentionto two which had every appearance of being Union, and which had been in close company. In order to distract the cruiser’s attention, the two ships fled in opposite directions, but, the wind continuing light, the Alabama soon overhauled the one which sailed eastward; and, putting Master’s Mate Fullam with a prize crew on board, with orders to follow, gave chase to the other, then some fifteen miles distant. The cruiser came up with the second ship about three o’clock p. m. She was the Olive Jane, of New York, homeward bound from Bordeaux with a cargo of French wines and brandies, sardines, olives and other delicacies. Her master was ordered on board the Alabama with his ship’s papers, and soon stood in the presence of Captain Semmes. No certificates of foreign ownership were found, and the verbal assurance of the master that the French owner of certain casks of wine had pointed out his property before the ship sailed, counted for nothing. Fifth Lieutenant Sinclair was ordered with a boat’s crew to proceed on board the prize and secure a quantity of the provisions, and then to set fire to her,but on no account to permit any intoxicants to be brought away. The young lieutenant assumed the task with many misgivings. To take such a susceptible boat’s crew into a hold filled with wines and brandies and forbid them to touch a drop would be to invite a riot. Having reached the deck of the prize Sinclair took his coxswain aside and explained to him the nature of the cargo and the scheme which he had in mind. The boat’s crew were invited to lunch at the cabin table on the viands prepared for New York’s aristocracy, with sundry bottles of brandy, burgundy and claret added thereto, and then appealed to not to get their officer into trouble by becoming intoxicated. The sailors being thus put upon their honor, not a single cask of wine was broken open nor a bottle conveyed to the Alabama. As the work of securing the provisions proceeded, numerous temporary adjournments to the cabin took place, but when the time came for applying the torch, the crew returned to their ship, feeling a little gay perhaps, but amply able to clamber up the cruiser’s side without assistance.
The Olive Jane, having been seen to be well on fire, the Alabama made her way back to the first prize, which, in charge of the prize crew, was doing her best to follow. This vessel was the Golden Eagle. She had sailed in ballast from San Francisco, had taken on a cargo of guano on a small island in the Pacific Ocean, rounded Cape Horn, crossed the equator and the calm belt, and was just catching the breezes which were expected to waft her to her destination at Cork, Ireland, when she fell in with the merciless destroyer, and was condemned to be burned.
The Alabama was now approaching a locality where active operation might be looked for. Says Captain Semmes:
We were now in latitude 30° and longitude 40°, and * * * on the charmed “crossing,” leading to the coast of Brazil. By “crossing” is meant the point at which the ship’s course crosses a given parallel of latitude. We must not, for instance, cross the thirtieth parallel, going southward, until we have reached a certain meridian—say that of forty degrees west. If we do, the north-east trade wind will pinch us, and perhaps prevent us from weathering Cape St. Roque. And when we reach the equator there is another crossing recommended to the mariner, as being most appropriate to his purpose. Thus it is that the roads upon the sea have been blazed out, as it were—the blazes not being exactly cut upon the forest trees, but upon parallels and meridians.
The Alabama was now kept exceedingly busy examining flags and papers of the passers by, to make sure that no Yankee should get past her unawares. February 27th the Washington fell into the Alabama’s net, but she had a cargo of guano belonging to the Peruvian government; and her master having given a ransom bond of $50,000 and taken the Alabama’s prisoners on board, was suffered to proceed on his voyage. March 1st the Bethia Thayer, with more Peruvian guano, was also released on bond. The next victim was the John A. Parks, of Hallowell, Maine, with a cargo of lumber for ports in Argentine or Uruguay. The cargo was certified in proper form to be English property, but some tell-tale letters in the mail bag showed that these certificates had been obtained for the sole purpose of preventing confiscation in case of capture, and ship and cargo were consigned to the flames.
The Alabama now ran southward to the equator. In the vicinity of the line she was seldom out of sight of vessels, and frequently there were a half dozen or more within sight at onetime. United States vessels were apt to avoid the “crossings,” however, and had taken to the fields and back alleys, as it were. In some cases they sailed hundreds of miles out of their way in order to keep out of the ordinary track of commerce, where it was suspected that a Confederate cruiser might be lying in wait.
Havoc in the South Atlantic.
About midnight on March 15th the sky being cloudy, the lookout called, “Sail ho! close aboard,” and a large ship passed by running on the opposite tack. The Alabama wheeled to follow, and succeeded in getting within range just before daybreak. A gunshot induced the chase to heave to. She proved to be the Punjaub, of Boston, on her way from Calcutta to London with a cargo of jute and linseed, which was properly certified as British property. She was released on a ransom bond, and took with her the last batch of prisoners, consisting of the crew of the John A. Parks. On the morning of March 23d the Morning Star was captured. She also was on her way from India to England with a neutral cargo, and not being able to find any flaw in her papers, Captain Semmes released heron a ransom bond. On the afternoon of the same day the Kingfisher, a whaling schooner, of Fairhaven, Massachusetts, was captured and burned. Two days later two large ships were seen approaching in close company. At the sight of the Alabama they separated and made more sail, but were both overhauled and proved to be American. The Charles Hill was bound from Liverpool to Argentine with salt. The Nora, also laden with salt, was bound from Liverpool to Calcutta. Probably both cargoes were actually owned by English citizens, but no proper proof of that fact being found among their papers, both vessels were condemned. The whole night and most of the following day were consumed in getting about forty tons of coal out of the prizes, after which they were burned. Nine men from these two ships enlisted on the Alabama.
On April 4th the Alabama chased a fine large ship all day, and, the wind having failed, sent a boarding crew in a whale boat to her at five o’clock p. m., although she was still two miles distant. Just before dark the ship was seen toturn her head toward the Alabama, and in a few hours she was alongside. The prize was the Louisa Hatch, of Rockland, Maine, with a cargo of coal, and bound from Cardiff, Wales, to the island of Ceylon. There was a certificate of foreign ownership among her papers, but not being sworn to, it was treated as so much waste paper. Coal on the coast of Brazil was worth seventeen dollars per ton. The Alabama’s supply of that necessary article was running low, but the Agrippina was expected soon, and the appointed rendezvous was close at hand. The character of the Agrippina, however, as a supply ship to the Alabama was becoming pretty well known, and it was stated that at least one Union captain had threatened to treat her as a hostile craft, notwithstanding her English flag. It was therefore quite possible that she might not be able to reach the place designated by Captain Semmes for the transfer of her cargo. On the other hand, Captain Semmes knew from experience that to transfer coal from the Louisa Hatch to the Alabama in the open sea would be a slow and difficult process in the best weather, and impossible in even a moderate wind.
Under the circumstances he determined to take the prize in tow and enter the port of Fernando de Noronha, an island belonging to Brazil, and used as a penal colony by that government, and run the risk of official interference. It was fortunate for the Alabama that the Louisa Hatch was not destroyed. The Agrippina was several weeks behind the appointed time In reaching the coast of Brazil. Besides her cargo of coal she had on board two more guns for the Alabama’s armament. Those guns were never delivered, and the Alabama went into her final combat with her original eight guns only.
Captain Semmes ran boldly into the harbor of Fernando de Noronha in the afternoon of April 10th, 1863, followed by the Louisa Hatch, and after dark began taking coal from the prize. The next day he visited the governor of the island, and found that official disposed to be very friendly. He took the Confederate captain on a tour of inspection about the island, and invited him to dine with the aristocracy of the place, consisting chiefly of gentlemanly forgers and other polite convicts, together with a fewarmy officers from the battalion under his command. To the mind of the gentleman of Southern breeding the climax of incongruity was reached when he was introduced to the governor’s mulatto wife. The opinion of Captain Semmes in regard to the black and mixed inhabitants of Brazil may be gathered from the following excerpt from his memoirs:
The effete Portuguese race has been ingrafted upon a stupid, stolid Indian stock in that country. The freed negro is, besides, the equal of the white man, and as there seems to be no repugnance on the part of the white race—so called—to mix with the black race, and with the Indian, amalgamation will go on in that country, until a mongrel set of curs will cover the whole land. This might be a suitable field enough for the New England school-ma’am and carpet-bagger, but no Southern gentleman should think of mixing his blood or casting his lot with such a race of people.
The fiery “Southern gentleman” was, however, able for the time being to accommodate his feelings to the requirements of diplomacy, and his sentiments did not prevent him from making himself agreeable to the handsome mulatto lady and patting the kinky heads of her children. From this time forward the influence of the governor’s wife was thrown on the side of an exceedingly liberal interpretation of the law of nations, wherever the Confederate captain wasconcerned, that lady little imagining the storm which was gathering about her husband’s head, as a result of too much official complaisance.
The Alabama remained at this island until April 22d. As the anchorage was nothing but an open roadstead, it was soon found that the swell of the sea was too great to permit the two vessels to lie side by side without damage; and resort was had to the tedious operation of transferring the coal in boats, thus consuming five days. Meanwhile Captain Semmes was enjoying fat turkeys, fruit and bouquets sent him by the governor and his wife, or making agreeable visits to the government house and other places on the island.
April 15th two vessels were discovered to the southward, and soon after two whale boats were seen approaching from that direction. Each was in charge of the captain of one of the vessels in the offing, and they seemed somewhat apprehensive as to the company into which they had fallen. One of them hailed the Louisa Hatch and inquired her name and the port she was from, to which questions correct answers weregiven by Master’s Mate Fullam, the prize officer in charge. The other captain broke in by asking if the steamer in the harbor was not the Alabama.
“Certainly not,” was the reply, “she is the United States steamer Iroquois.”
“Have you any news of the Alabama?”
“Yes; we have heard of her being in the West Indies, at Jamaica and Costa Rica.”
The prize master then engaged them in conversation, with the idea of detaining them until the Alabama could get up steam, which he felt sure would be done with all speed. Considerably reassured, the whaling captains accepted an invitation to go on board the prize, and had approached within a few yards when the officer in the forward boat uttered a cry of alarm.
“Give way, men; give way for your lives,” he shouted, and hastily turned the boat’s head toward the shore.
To the frantic appeals of the other captain to explain his conduct he would only point to the mizzen rigging of the ship and ejaculate:
“There! there!”
Closer inspection revealed a small Confederate flag which a puff of wind had just displayed. The fears of the excited captain were soon realized. The Alabama steamed out of the anchorage and before dark had fired the bark Lafayette (the second vessel of this name destroyed) and returned with the Kate Cory in tow. Captain Semmes says that these two ships were captured outside the three-mile limit, but the crews of the captured vessels assert that they were clearly in Brazilian waters. The easy going governor contented himself with a written statement of Captain Semmes that the captures were made outside of the marine league. Fullam wrote in his diary:
Whilst at Bahia I was shown a letter from the master of one of the whaling barks to an agent, in which he wrote that he would spare no money or time to follow to the uttermost ends of the earth, and bring to justice the man who had so cruelly deceived him. This sentence had reference to my denial of the Alabama and the substitution of the U. S. steamer Iroquois for that of C. S. steamer Alabama. The ingratitude of some people!
The prisoners were paroled and sent to Pernambuco in a Brazilian schooner. Captain Semmes waited a week longer for the Agrippina, and then steamed out into the track of commerce once more.
Asthe Alabama left the anchorage of Fernando de Noronha four whale boats were successively cast adrift, and the islanders made a grand scramble for the possession of them. The successful ones became capitalists in the eyes of their fellows, as the boats were better than any others about the place. The second night at sea, about two hours after midnight a whaling bark was sighted, and after an hour’s chase succumbed to a blank cartridge. She was the Nye, of New Bedford, and had spent thirty-one months in the Pacific Ocean. She had sent home one or two cargoes of oil, and was now homeward bound with 425 barrels more. Everything about the ship was saturated with oil, and she made a magnificent bonfire. The sailors were chiefly interested in the store of Virginia tobacco which she brought them.
April 26th the Dorcas Prince, of New York, bound for Shanghai with a cargo of coal, was overhauled. The Alabama had her bunkers full of coal, and consequently this cargo was given to the flames along with the vessel. The master of the Dorcas Prince had his wife with him, and one of the Alabama’s lieutenants was turned out of his stateroom to make room for the lady. The lookouts were kept busy reporting sails, but Evans gave little comfort as to nationality.
“Think she’s English, sir,” was his frequent answer to queries; or “Not Yankee, sir—think she’s Austrian.”
Hardly a nation with any shipping at all that was not represented in this great ocean roadway. Hanoverian and Uruguayan vessels, both of which were overhauled, were not identified until they showed their flags.
On Sunday, the third day of May, the Union Jack, of Boston, was chased and captured. The prize crew having gained her deck, away went the Alabama in chase of another ship, which was also overhauled in about an hour. She proved to be the Sea Lark, of New York. The UnionJack was bound for the coast of China, and her master was taking his family out to make a temporary home for them somewhere in the far east so long as his business should require his presence in that part of the world. Rev. Franklin Wright, just appointed United States consul at Foo Chow, was also a passenger. Captain Semmes took possession of the new consul’s official documents, intending thus to delay his entering upon his new duties. Before night both prizes were well on fire.
May 11th Captain Semmes ran into Bahia to land his prisoners. The news of the Alabama’s exploits had preceded her. Acting under orders from Rio Janeiro, the president of the province of Pernambuco had recalled the governor of Fernando de Noronha and commenced legal proceedings against him. Three war vessels had also been dispatched to the island to prevent further breaches of international law. While the case of the Alabama was undergoing investigation matters were further complicated by the arrival of the Confederate steamer Georgia, which had left British jurisdiction underthe name of the Japan, and received her armament off Ushant. News was also received that the Florida had arrived at Pernambuco, so that there was now quite a Confederate fleet in Brazilian ports. The final decision of the Brazilian government was to the effect that the Alabama had violated the neutrality of Brazilian waters, and henceforth should not be permitted to enter any of the ports of the empire. In the meantime Captain Semmes had received all the supplies he needed. He put to sea May 21st. Two weeks later the Agrippina arrived at Bahia, and was blockaded there together with another ship, the Castor, which had supplies for the Georgia, by the United States gunboat Onward. The Castor had succeeded in delivering some coal to the Georgia, but owing to the vigorous protest of the United States Consul, Thomas F. Wilson, who had received information leading him to believe that there was ammunition and also two large rifled cannon on board the Castor, the president of the province had forbidden the twovesselsto lie alongside of each other, and the Georgia was obliged to take coal from lighters sent from the shore.
The Georgia put to sea April 23d, but the next day the United States war steamer Mohican arrived, and kept the Castor in port until the arrival of the Onward. The Onward kept watch over the Castor and the Agrippina until their masters gave up the contest and sold and discharged their cargoes, after which they were released from espionage.
In the latter part of January the Vanderbilt, a large and swift side-wheel steamer carrying fifteen guns, was ordered by Secretary Welles to go in search of the Alabama. The instructions to Lieutenant Baldwin, who was in command of her, were as follows: