Cruise And Captures Of The Alabama Part 4

We're homeward bound, we're homeward bound, We soon shall stand on English ground; But ere that English land we see, We first must lick the Kersar-gee.

At the Cape of Good Hope fourteen of the Alabama's crew deserted. Captain Semmes records in his journal the fact that the Irish fiddler was one of the number, and calls this "one of our greatest losses." When the desirability of keeping the crew in a state of subordination and contentment was taken into consideration, there is no doubt that a petty officer or two could have been better spared.

The engineer now reported only four days' coal in the bunkers, and Captain Semmes determined to shape his course for Martinique, in the West Indies, to which point Captain Bulloch had arranged to dispatch a fresh supply in a sailing vessel.

Early on the morning of Nov. 2d, a sail was discovered and the Alabama immediately gave chase. The master of the fleeing stranger was not even rea.s.sured by the United States flag which flew from his pursuers' mast head, and made all haste to get out of the dangerous vicinity. He was overhauled about noon and a hint from the "Persuader," as the Blakely rifle had come to be called, induced him to heave to. The boarding officer found himself on the deck of the Levi Starbuck, a whaler expecting to spend two and a half years in the Pacific, and consequently supplied with an abundance of provisions, considerable quant.i.ties of which were transferred to the Alabama. New Bedford papers on board were only four days old, and contained the latest war news.

On the morning of November 8th two sails were in sight, one of them a very large vessel. Master's Mate Evans, the oracle of the ship in the matter of the nationality of vessels, p.r.o.nounced both of them Yankee. In this dilemma the chase of the smaller vessel, which had gone on during the greater part of the night, was abandoned, and attention concentrated upon the big ship. She made no effort to escape, evidently placing all faith in the lying United States flag which the Alabama showed her. Her master was dumbfounded when on nearer approach the stars and stripes dropped to the deck and were replaced by the colors of the Confederacy.

The prize was an East India trader, the T. B. Wales, of Boston, homeward bound from Calcutta, with a cargo consisting princ.i.p.ally of jute, linseed and 1,700 bags of saltpetre, the latter destined for the Northern powder mills. The ship had been five months on her voyage and her master had never heard of the Alabama. He had his wife on board and also an ex-United States consul returning homeward with his family consisting of his wife and three little daughters.

The Wales was one of the most useful of the Alabama's captures. She yielded spars and rigging of the best quality. Her main yard proved to be of almost the exact length of the one which the cruiser had broken in the cyclone, and was taken aboard and afterward transferred to the place of the old one, which had been temporarily repaired. Eight able seamen were secured from her for the Alabama's crew, bringing the number up to 110 within half a score of a full complement.

Semmes was on his good behavior, and evidently anxious to disprove the appellation of "pirate" which had been so constantly flung at him of late.

Southern chivalry was at its best in the polite consideration with which he treated the ladies. Several of the officers were turned out of their staterooms to make room for them, a proceeding to which they submitted with apparent good grace. The Wales was burned.

The Alabama now entered the calm belt about the tropic of Cancer, across which she proceeded by slow stages and dropped anchor in the harbor of Fort de France, in the French island of Martinique, on November 18th, 1862.

CHAPTER IX.

DODGING THE SAN JACINTO.

To his surprise Captain Semmes found the whole town expecting him, although this was the first port he had entered since leaving Terceira two months previous. The Agrippina had been in this port a week, and her master, Captain McQueen, had not been able to resist the temptation to boast of his connection with the Alabama, and aver that his cargo of coal was intended for her bunkers. It had, moreover, been whispered about that the Agrippina had guns and ammunition under the coal, which were intended for the Confederate cruiser, and also that Captain McQueen had stated that he expected to receive some further instructions as to his movements from the British consul, Mr. Lawless. Diplomatic relations between Great Britain and the United States were very much strained at this time, and the consul was much incensed because his name had been connected with the Alabama in this public manner. When cross-questioned by the consul, McQueen became frightened and denied that his cargo was for the Alabama, but admitted that he had said that he took a cargo to Terceira for her, and also that he expected to receive a letter from the owners of the Agrippina in care of the consul. Mr. Lawless warned him against engaging in such illegal traffic under the British flag, and having satisfied himself that the Agrippina's cargo was really intended for the Confederate cruiser and that the Alabama might soon be expected in port, he laid the whole matter before the governor of the island. That official did not seem at all surprised, took the matter very coolly, and stated that if the Alabama came in she would receive the ordinary courtesies accorded to belligerent cruisers in French ports.

When the Alabama did come in and Captain Semmes became acquainted with the real state of affairs, Captain McQueen spent a bad quarter of an hour in his presence, and the same day the Agrippina hastily got up her anchor and went to sea. Seven days was long enough for McQueen's chatter to be wafted many a league even without the aid of the telegraph, and the United States consul, Mr. John Campbell, had not been idle.

Captain Semmes applied to the governor for permission to land his prisoners, consisting of Captain Lincoln and family, of the T. B. Wales, ex-Consul Fairfield and family, Captain Mellen, of the Levi Starbuck, and forty-three seamen belonging to the two vessels. No objection being offered, the prisoners went ash.o.r.e and sought the friendly offices of the United States consul to a.s.sist them in reaching their own country.

It was just a year since Captain Semmes, then in command of the Sumter, had been blockaded in this very port by the United States gunboat Iroquois, and had adroitly given the latter the slip. Now, in a much better vessel than the Sumter, he felt able to defy foes like the Iroquois.

But a surprise was brewing for him between decks.

After dark George Forrest swam ash.o.r.e and bribed a boatman to put him aboard his vessel again with five gallons of a vile brand of whisky. His fellow conspirators pulled him and his purchase in through a berth deck port, and the crew proceeded to hold high carnival. When the watch below was called the boatswain was knocked down with a belaying pin and an officer who tried to quell the disturbance was saluted with oaths and every kind of missile within reach.

The captain was immediately notified, and ordered a beat to quarters. The officers appeared armed and charged forward, a.s.sisted by the sober portion of the crew, and after a sharp fight succeeded in securing the worst of the mutineers. Captain Semmes had the drunken sailors drenched with buckets of cold water until they begged for mercy. Forrest was identified by a guard from the sh.o.r.e as the man who bought the liquor, and he was placed in double irons and under guard.

Captain Semmes had said to people on sh.o.r.e that the Alabama would go to sea during the night. But she did not go, and early the next morning the stars and stripes were floating outside the harbor at the masthead of the steam sloop San Jacinto, mounting fourteen guns.

"We paid no sort of attention to the arrival of this old wagon of a ship,"

writes Semmes in his memoirs. Nevertheless, it must be recorded that he beat to quarters and kept the Alabama close under the guns of the French fort in the harbor.[2] He might be able to outsail the San Jacinto, but he knew very well that one or two of her broadsides would be very apt to send the Alabama to the bottom, in case Captain Ronckendorff should take it into his head to violate the neutrality of a French port. Moreover, his crew were hardly in a condition either of mind or body to meet a determined enemy.

The captain of the San Jacinto refused to receive a pilot or come to an anchor, because his vessel would then come within the twenty-four hour rule, and the Alabama would be permitted that length of time to get out of reach when she chose to depart, before the San Jacinto, according to international law governing neutral ports, would be permitted to follow her. During the day Governor Cande sent a letter to Captain Ronckendorff warning him that he must either come to anchor and submit to the twenty-four hour rule, or keep three miles outside the points which formed the entrance to the harbor. Being well aware that the governor had correctly stated the law governing the case, Captain Ronckendorff readily promised acquiescence.

Public sentiment in Martinique among the white population was almost unanimously favorable to the South, and while the law was thus enforced to the letter as against the Federals, practically every white person in the port stood ready to give Captain Semmes any a.s.sistance which might enable him to escape from his ponderous adversary. The crew of the Alabama spent the 19th of November in various stages of recovery from the debauch and fight of the previous night, and repairing and painting occupied the time of some of them. In the afternoon a French naval officer went on board and furnished Captain Semmes with an accurate chart of the harbor. Towards night the captain of the Hampden, an American merchant ship lying in the harbor near the Alabama, in company with Captain Mellen, were rowed out to the San Jacinto, bearing a letter from the United States consul to Captain Ronckendorff, informing him in regard to the situation ash.o.r.e. The news of their departure was not long in reaching the Alabama. Suspecting that some code of signals was being arranged, Captain Semmes determined to take time by the forelock. He asked for a government pilot, who was promptly furnished, and just at dusk the Alabama hoisted anchor and steamed toward the inner harbor. The evening was cloudy. Darkness came on early, and rain began to fall. All lights on board were extinguished or covered, and having pa.s.sed out of sight of the Hampden, the course was altered and the Alabama ran out through the most southerly channel.

When the captain of the Hampden returned to his vessel a little after eight o'clock he immediately sent up three rockets in the direction in which the Alabama was supposed to have gone. The San Jacinto at once ran under a full head of steam to the south side of the harbor, and searched up and down with her crew at quarters until after midnight. At daybreak two of her boats were taken on board, one of which had spent the night in the southern side of the harbor and the other in the northern side. n.o.body had seen anything of the Alabama.

People on sh.o.r.e solemnly a.s.sured the San Jacinto's officers that the Alabama had not escaped, but was hiding in some obscure part of the bay, to await the departure of her enemy. The whole harbor was therefore explored by the San Jacinto's boats, establishing the fact that beyond a doubt the Alabama was gone.

In a postscript to his report to the navy department Captain Ronckendorff says: "I could find out nothing of the future movements of the Alabama."

Nor could anybody else. That was a secret which was kept locked in the breast of her commander. It was very rarely that the lieutenants in her own ward room knew where the vessel would be twenty-four hours ahead.

CHAPTER X.

CAPTURE OF THE ARIEL.

The next afternoon the Alabama ran down to the solitary little island of Blanquilla, near the coast of Venezuela, whither the Agrippina had preceded her. At the anchorage Captain Semmes was somewhat surprised to find an American whaling schooner. Some boilers had been set up on the island, and her crew were busily engaged in trying out oil from the carca.s.s of a whale which had recently been captured. As the Alabama floated the United States flag, the captain of the whaler rowed out to her and volunteered to pilot the new comer in, and expressed much satisfaction that the United States navy department had shown such a commendable determination to protect commerce in the Carribean Sea. After an inspection of the Alabama's armament, he expressed the opinion that she was "just the ship to give the pirate Semmes fits." When he was finally informed into whose hands he had fallen, his consternation was really pitiable. Semmes, however, was not disposed to stir up a quarrel with even so weak a government as that of Venezuela, and magnanimously informed the young skipper that he should consider the island as a Venezuelan possession, notwithstanding the slight evidences of occupation, and that the marine league surrounding the island would be respected as Venezuelan waters. The Yankee master was detained on board the Alabama during her stay as a precautionary measure. Some of the junior officers took delight in tantalizing the enforced guest in the interim. A midshipman asked him with great earnestness if "the old man" told him that he would not burn his ship.

"Why to be sure he did," was the response.

And then followed doleful waggings of the head and the comforting remark that it all looked very much like one of Semmes' grim jokes.

In the end the whaler was released and her master warned to get into a Federal port at the earliest opportunity, and not permit himself to be caught on the high seas, as he might not fare so well a second time.

The Alabama spent five days here coaling from the Agrippina. The crew were allowed sh.o.r.e liberty in quarter watches, but as there were no rum shops or dance houses on the island, the privilege was not greatly appreciated by a large part of the rough sailors. Several of the boats were rigged with sails and the officers went fishing. Gunning for pelicans, plovers, gulls and sand-snipes was also a favorite pastime. Flocks of flamingoes waded in the lagoons around the island in search of food, or stood in line like soldiers on the beach.

A few settlers from the main land had taken up their residence on the island, and were cultivating bananas. The sailors helped themselves bountifully to this fruit, and complaint having been made to Captain Semmes, he squared the account with ship's rations.

A court martial was appointed to consider the case of the incorrigible George Forrest, and he was condemned to be put ash.o.r.e and left on this island.

November 26th the Alabama left her anchorage at Blanquilla, and on the 29th was coasting along the sh.o.r.e of Porto Rico. It was the hope of Captain Semmes that he might capture a treasure steamer on her way north with gold from California. In the Mona pa.s.sage a Spanish schooner was boarded, which contained late Boston papers giving long accounts of the extensive preparations which were being made for a campaign in Texas, the conduct of which was to be placed in the hands of General Banks. Captain Semmes had already heard of this proposed transfer of a northern army to the Texan coast, and had laid his plans to be in the Gulf of Mexico about the time it should arrive, which it was expected would be early in January. In the meantime he had something over a month to devote to other matters. The Spaniards were told that the Alabama was the United States steamer Iroquois. A few hours later another sail was sighted, and the Alabama having drawn nearer, it needed not the skill of Evans to p.r.o.nounce her "Yankee." The stamp of New England was in her tapering royal and sky-sail masts and her snowy canvas. Newspapers were hastily put aside and attention concentrated on the chase. Almost within sight of her destination the bark was overhauled and proved to be the Parker Cooke, of Boston, bound for San Domingo with provisions. Large quant.i.ties of b.u.t.ter, salt meats, crackers and dried fruits were transferred to the Alabama, and at dusk the torch was applied to the prize.

That night the Alabama's officers had a bad scare, and the men were ordered to their guns. A large ship of war came suddenly upon them, and as the cruiser had her propeller up and no steam in her boilers, she would have been completely at the mercy of so powerful an adversary. The stranger, however, was evidently not Federal, and pa.s.sed quickly by without paying the slightest attention to the Alabama, which was in plain view. Next day three vessels were boarded, but one showed Dutch papers and the others Spanish.

December 2d the Alabama chased and overhauled a French bark, and her master's ignorance of international law came near costing him dearly. He paid no attention to a blank cartridge, and it was not until a solid shot was thrown between his masts and at no great distance above his people's heads, that he consented to round to. When asked by the boarding officer why he had not stopped at the first summons, he replied that he was a Frenchman, and that France was not at war with anybody!

On the 5th the Union, of Baltimore, was captured, but she had a neutral cargo, and her captain having given a ransom bond and consented to receive on board the prisoners from the Parker Cooke, she was suffered to proceed on her voyage.

A sharp lookout was now kept for a steamer which it was expected would be on her way from the Isthmus of Panama to New York with a million dollars or upward of California gold. This money, if captured, would be lawful prize, and the portion of it which would go to officers and crew would be a welcome addition to the pay received from the Confederate government.

The Alabama held her post in the pa.s.sage between Cuba and San Domingo from December 3d to December 7th, but no steamer approached from the south. Many vessels were overhauled, but all were neutrals except the Union, which ran into the Alabama's arms without the necessity of a chase.

The 7th was Sunday, and while the Captain was at breakfast and the crew preparing for the usual Sunday muster, the lookout raised his shout of "Sail-ho!"

"Where-away?" demanded the officer of the deck.

"Broad on the port bow, sir!" was the reply.

"What does she look like?"

"She is a large steamer, brig-rigged, sir."

Here was a steamer at last, but not in the expected quarter. This one was south bound, and visions of California gold vanished into air.