Memoirs of Service Afloat, During the War Between the States Part 32

KELLY, PIET & CO. PUBLISHERS.----LITH. BY A. HOEN & CO. BALTO.]

Our broadside was returned instantly; the enemy, like ourselves, having been on his guard, with his men standing at their guns. The two ships, when the action commenced, had swerved in such a way, that they were now heading in the same direction--the _Alabama_ fighting her starboard-broadside, and her antagonist her port-broadside. Each ship, as she delivered her broadside, put herself under steam, and the action became a running fight, in parallel lines, or nearly so, the ships now nearing, and now separating a little from each other. My men handled their pieces with great spirit and commendable coolness, and the action was sharp and exciting while it lasted; which, however, was not very long, for in just _thirteen minutes_ after firing the first gun, the enemy hoisted a light, and fired an off-gun, as a signal that he had been beaten. We at once withheld our fire, and such a cheer went up from the brazen throats of my fellows, as must have astonished even a Texan, if he had heard it.

We now steamed up quite close to the beaten steamer, and asked her captain, formally, if he had surrendered. He replied that he had. I then inquired if he was in want of a.s.sistance, to which he responded promptly that he was, that his ship was sinking rapidly, and that he needed all our boats. There appeared to be much confusion on board the enemy's ship; officers and crew seemed to be apprehensive that we would permit them to drown, and several voices cried aloud to us for a.s.sistance, at the same time. When the captain of the beaten ship came on board to surrender his sword to me, I learned that I had been engaged with the United States steamer _Hatteras_, Captain Blake. I will now let Captain Blake tell his own story. The following is his official report to the Secretary of the Federal Navy:--

UNITED STATES' CONSULATE, KINGSTON, JAMAICA, JAN. 21, 1863.

SIR:--It is my painful duty to inform the Department of the destruction of the United States steamer _Hatteras_, recently under my command, by the rebel steamer _Alabama_, on the night of the 11th inst., off the coast of Texas. The circ.u.mstances of the disaster are as follows:--

Upon the afternoon of the 11th inst., at half-past two o'clock, while at anchor in company with the fleet under Commodore Bell, off Galveston, Texas, I was ordered by signal from the United States flag-ship _Brooklyn_, to chase a sail to the southward and eastward.

I got under way immediately, and steamed with all speed in the direction indicated. After some time the strange sail could be seen from the _Hatteras_, and was ascertained to be a steamer, which fact I communicated to the flag-ship by signal. I continued the chase and rapidly gained upon the suspicious vessel. Knowing the slow rate of speed of the _Hatteras_, I at once suspected that deception was being practised, and hence ordered the ship to be cleared for action, with everything in readiness for a determined attack and a vigorous defence.

When within about four miles of the vessel, I observed that she had ceased to steam, and was lying broadside and awaiting us. It was nearly seven o'clock, and quite dark; but, notwithstanding the obscurity of the night, I felt a.s.sured, from the general character of the vessel and her manoeuvres, that I should soon encounter the rebel steamer _Alabama_. Being able to work but four guns on the side of the _Hatteras_--two short 32-pounders, one 30-pounder rifled Parrott gun, and one 20-pounder rifled gun--I concluded to close with her, that my guns might be effective, if necessary.

I came within easy speaking range--about seventy-five yards--and upon asking, "What steamer is that?" received the answer, "Her Britannic Majesty's ship _Vixen_." I replied that I would send a boat aboard, and immediately gave the order. In the meantime, the vessels were changing positions, the stranger endeavoring to gain a desirable position for a raking fire. Almost simultaneously with the piping away of the boat, the strange craft again replied, "We are the Confederate steamer _Alabama_," which was accompanied with a broadside. I, at the same moment, returned the fire. Being well aware of the many vulnerable points of the _Hatteras_, I hoped, by closing with the _Alabama_, to be able to board her, and thus rid the seas of the piratical craft. I steamed directly for the _Alabama_, but she was enabled by her great speed, and the foulness of the bottom of the _Hatteras_, and, consequently, her diminished speed, to thwart my attempt when I had gained a distance of but thirty yards from her. At this range, musket and pistol shots were exchanged. The firing continued with great vigor on both sides. At length a sh.e.l.l entered amidships in the hold, setting fire to it, and, at the same instant--as I can hardly divide the time--a sh.e.l.l pa.s.sed through the sick bay, exploding in an adjoining compartment, also producing fire. Another entered the cylinder, filling the engine-room and deck with steam, and depriving me of my power to manoeuvre the vessel, or to work the pumps, upon which the reduction of the fire depended.

With the vessel on fire in two places, and beyond human power, a hopeless wreck upon the waters, with her walking-beam shot away, and her engine rendered useless, I still maintained an active fire, with the double hope of disabling the _Alabama_ and attracting the attention of the fleet off Galveston, which was only twenty-eight miles distant.

It was soon reported to me that the sh.e.l.ls had entered the _Hatteras_ at the water-line, tearing off entire sheets of iron, and that the water was rushing in, utterly defying every attempt to remedy the evil, and that she was rapidly sinking. Learning the melancholy truth, and observing that the _Alabama_ was on my port bow, entirely beyond the range of my guns, doubtless preparing for a raking fire of the deck, I felt I had no right to sacrifice uselessly, and without any desirable result, the lives of all under my command.

To prevent the blowing up of the _Hatteras_ from the fire, which was making much progress, I ordered the magazine to be flooded, and afterward a lee gun was fired. The _Alabama_ then asked if a.s.sistance was desired, to which an affirmative answer was given.

The _Hatteras_ was then going down, and in order to save the lives of my officers and men, I caused the armament on the port side to be thrown overboard. Had I not done so, I am confident the vessel would have gone down with many brave hearts and valuable lives. After considerable delay, caused by the report that a steamer was seen coming from Galveston, the _Alabama_ sent us a.s.sistance, and I have the pleasure of informing the Department that every living being was conveyed safely from the _Hatteras_ to the _Alabama_.

Two minutes after leaving the _Hatteras_ she went down, bow first, with her pennant at the mast-head, with all her muskets and stores of every description, the enemy not being able, owing to her rapid sinking, to obtain a single weapon.

The battery upon the _Alabama_ brought into action against the _Hatteras_ numbered seven guns, consisting of four long 32-pounders, one 100-pounder, one 68-pounder, and one 24-pounder rifled gun. The great superiority of the _Alabama_, with her powerful battery and her machinery under the water-line, must be at once recognized by the Department, who are familiar with the construction of the _Hatteras_, and her total unfitness for a conflict with a regular built vessel of war.

The distance between the _Hatteras_ and the _Alabama_ during the action varied from twenty-five to one hundred yards. Nearly fifty shots were fired from the _Hatteras_, and I presume a greater number from the _Alabama_.

I desire to refer to the efficient and active manner in which Acting Master Porter, executive officer, performed his duty. The conduct of a.s.sistant Surgeon Edward S. Matthews, both during the action and afterward, in attending to the wounded, demands my unqualified commendation. I would also bring to the favorable notice of the Department Acting Master's Mate McGrath, temporarily performing duty as gunner. Owing to the darkness of the night, and the peculiar construction of the _Hatteras_, I am only able to refer to the conduct of those officers who came under my especial attention; but from the character of the contest, and the amount of damage done to the _Alabama_, I have personally no reason to believe that any officer failed in his duty.

To the men of the _Hatteras_ I cannot give too much praise. Their enthusiasm and bravery was of the highest order.

I enclose the report of a.s.sistant Surgeon E. S. Matthews, by which you will observe that five men were wounded and two killed. The missing, it is hoped, reached the fleet at Galveston.

I shall communicate to the Department, in a separate report, the movements of myself and my command, from the time of our transfer to the _Alabama_ until the departure of the earliest mail from this place to the United States.

I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

H. C. BLAKE, _Lieutenant Commanding_.

_Hon._ GIDEON WELLES, _Secretary of the Navy, Washington_.

Setting aside all the discourteous stuff and nonsense about "a _rebel_ steamer," and a "piratical craft," of which Captain Blake, who had been bred in the old service, should have been ashamed, especially after enjoying the hospitalities of my cabin for a couple of weeks, the above is a pretty fair report of the engagement. I am a little puzzled, however, by the Captain's statement, that he could use but four guns on a side. We certainly understood from all the officers and men of the _Hatteras_, at the time, that she carried eight guns; six in broadside, and two pivots, just like the _Alabama_,--the only difference between the two ships being, that the _Alabama's_ pivot guns were the heaviest.

There is another remark in the report that is quite new to me. I am informed, for the first time, that Captain Blake desired to board me. I cannot, of course, know what his intentions were, but I saw no evidence of such an intention, in the handling of his ship; and Captain Blake must himself have known that, in the terribly demoralized condition of his crew, when they found that they had really fallen in with the _Alabama_, he could not have depended upon a single boarder. What Captain Blake means by saying that his ship went down, with her pennant flying, I am at a loss, as every seaman must be, to understand. Did he not surrender his ship to me? And if so, what business had his pennant, any more than his ensign, to be flying? But this, I suppose, was a little clap-trap, like his expressions, "rebel," and "pirate," thrown in to suit the Yankee taste of the day. Indeed, nothing was more lamentable to me, during the whole war, than to observe how readily the officers of the old Navy, many of whom belonged to the gentle families of the land, and all of whom had been bred in a school of honor, took to the slang expressions of the day, and fell, pell-mell, into the ranks of the vulgar and fanatical rabble that was hounding on the war.

The officers of the Confederate States Navy, to say the least, were as much ent.i.tled to be regarded as fighting for a principle as themselves, and one would have thought that there would have been a chivalrous rivalry between the two services, as to which should show the other the most courtesy. This was the case, a thousand years ago, between the Christian and the Saracen. Did it result from their forms of government, and must democrats necessarily be vulgarians? Must the howling Demos devour everything gentle in the land, and reduce us all to the common level of the pot-house politician, and compel us to use his slang? Radicalism seemed to be now, just what it had been in the great French Revolution, a sort of mad-dog virus; every one who was inoculated with it, becoming rabid. The bitten dog howled incessantly with rage, and underwent a total transformation of nature. But our figure does not fit the case exactly.

There was more method in this madness, than in that of the canine animal, for the human dog howled as much to please his master, as from rage. The size of the sop which he was to receive depended, in a great measure, upon the vigor of his howling.

But to return to the _Alabama_ and the _Hatteras_. As soon as the action was over, and I had seen the latter sink, I caused all lights to be extinguished on board my ship, and shaped my course again for the pa.s.sage of Yucatan. In the meantime, the enemy's boat, which had been lowered for the purpose of boarding me, pulled in vigorously for the sh.o.r.e, as soon as it saw the action commence, and landed safely; and Admiral Bell, with his three steamers, pa.s.sed on either side of the scene of action--the steamers having been scattered in the pursuit, to cover as much s.p.a.ce as possible, and thus increase their chances of falling in with me. They did not find the _Alabama_, or indeed anything else during the night, but as one of the steamers was returning to her anchorage off Galveston, the next morning, in the dejected mood of a baffled scout, she fell in with the sunken _Hatteras_, the tops of whose royal masts were just above water, and from the main of which, the pennant--the _night_ pennant, for the action was fought at night--spoken of by Captain Blake, was observed to be flying. It told the only tale of the sunken ship which her consort had to take back to the Admiral. The missing boat turned up soon afterward, however, and the mystery was then solved. There was now as hurried a saddling of steeds for the pursuit as there had been in the chase of the young Lochinvar, and with as little effect, for by the time the steeds were given the spur, the _Alabama_ was distant a hundred miles or more.

There was very little said by the enemy, about this engagement, between the _Alabama_ and the _Hatteras_, as was usual with him when he met with a disaster; and what was said was all false. My own ship was represented to be a monster of speed and strength, and the _Hatteras_, on the other hand, to be a tug, or river steamer, or some such craft, with two or three small guns at the most. The facts are as follows: The _Hatteras_ was a larger ship than the _Alabama_, by one hundred tons. Her armament, as reported to us by her own people, was as follows: Four 32-pounders; two Parrot 30-pounder rifles; one 20-pounder rifle; and one 12-pounder howitzer--making a total of eight guns. The armament of the _Alabama_ was as follows: Six 32-pounders; one 8-inch sh.e.l.l gun; one Blakeley rifle of 100 pounds--total, eight guns. There was, besides, a little toy-rifle--a 9-pounder--on the quarter-deck of the _Alabama_, which had been captured from a merchant-ship, and which, I believe, was fired once during the action. The crew of the _Hatteras_ was 108 strong; that of the _Alabama_ 110. There was thus, as the reader sees, a considerable disparity between the two ships, in the weight of their pivot-guns, and the _Alabama_ ought to have won the fight; and she did win it, in _thirteen minutes_--taking care, too, though she sank her enemy at night, to see that none of his men were drowned--a fact which I shall have occasion to contrast, by-and-by, with another sinking. The only casualty we had on board the _Alabama_ was one man wounded. The damages to our hull were so slight, that there was not a shot-hole which it was necessary to plug, to enable us to continue our cruise; nor was there a rope to be spliced. Blake behaved like a man of courage, and made the best fight he could, ill supported as he was by the "volunteer" officers by whom he was surrounded, but he fell into disgrace with the Demos, and had but little opportunity shown him during the remainder of the war, to retrieve his disaster.

CHAPTER XL.

THE ALABAMA PROCEEDS TO JAMAICA, AND LANDS HER PRISONERS--THE CAPTAIN VISITS THE COUNTRY--INTERCOURSE WITH THE ENGLISH NAVAL OFFICERS--EARL RUSSELL'S LETTER--PREPARATIONS FOR SEA--A BOAT-RACE BY MOONLIGHT--CAPTAIN BLAKE COMPLAINS OF "DIXIE"--HOW THE MATTER IS SETTLED.

The little by-play, in the Gulf of Mexico, related in the last chapter, being over, I determined to make the best of my way to the island of Jamaica, there land my prisoners, on _parole_, patch up the two or three shot-holes the enemy had made above the water-line, re-coal, and proceed on my eastern cruise, against the enemy's commerce, as originally contemplated. We had a long pa.s.sage to Jamaica, as we took a succession of southerly gales, that greatly r.e.t.a.r.ded our speed. My first intention was to make the whole run under steam, but after struggling against these gales for three or four days, I found my fuel diminishing so rapidly, that it became prudent to let the fires go down, and put the ship under sail.

This delay was very vexatious, as our little ship was greatly inconvenienced by the number of prisoners we had on board.

_Friday, the 16th of January_, is noted on my journal as follows:--The gale continued all day, moderating toward night. The sky is overcast with a dull canopy of leaden clouds, the sun barely showing himself to us, for a moment at a time, through an occasional rift, during the entire day.

Observing the water to be discolored, at one P. M. we sounded on the Yucatan Bank. The soundings on this bank being an excellent guide, I continued to run along the edge of it until eleven P. M., when we pa.s.sed off it, into the deep waters of the Yucatan Pa.s.sage. We now put the ship under steam again, and aiding the steam by reefed trysails, we battled with an adverse sea and current during the rest of the night. We found the current setting into the pa.s.sage, to be as much as two and a half knots per hour, which was greater than I had ever known it before.

I may take this occasion to remind the reader, that the old theory of Dr.

Franklin and others, was, that the Gulf Stream, which flows out of the Gulf of Mexico, between the north coast of Cuba, and the Florida Reefs and Keys, flows _into_ the Gulf, through the channel between the west end of Cuba, and the coast of Yucatan, in which the _Alabama_ now was. But the effectual disproof of this theory is, that we know positively, from the strength of the current, and its volume, or cross section, in the two pa.s.sages, that more than twice the quant.i.ty of water flows out of the Gulf of Mexico, than flows into it through this pa.s.sage. Upon Dr. Franklin's theory, the Gulf of Mexico in a very short time would become dry ground.

Nor can the Mississippi River, which is the only stream worth noticing, in this connection, that flows into the Gulf of Mexico, come to his relief, as we have seen that that river only empties into the Gulf of Mexico, about _one three thousandth_ part as much water, as the Gulf Stream takes out. We must resort, of necessity, to an under-current from the north, pa.s.sing into the Gulf of Mexico, under the Gulf Stream, rising to the surface when heated, and thus swelling the volume of the outflowing water.

I refer my readers, curious in this matter, to the work of Captain Maury, ent.i.tled the "Physical Geography of the Sea." It is full of profound philosophy, on the subjects of which it treats, and is written in so pleasing a style, and is so strewn with flowers, as to make the reader forget that he is travelling the th.o.r.n.y paths of science.

The 18th of January was Sunday, and we were obliged to intermit the usual Sunday muster, on account of the bad weather, which continued without intermission--the wind still blowing a gale, and the pa.s.sing clouds deluging us with rain. Two days afterward, viz., on the 20th, we made the west end of the island of Jamaica, a little after midnight, and as we crawled under the lee of the coast, we broke, for the first time, the force of the wind with which we had been so long struggling. We had been thus nine days making the pa.s.sage from Galveston to the west end of Jamaica, and were the greater part of another day, in coasting the island up to Port Royal. We had shown first one, and then another neutral flag to several neutral ships that we had pa.s.sed, but the enemy's flag was nowhere to be seen. Giving chase to a bark, whilst we were still in the Gulf of Mexico, we were quite amazed, as we came up with her, to find that she was our old consort, the _Agrippina_! This bluff-bowed old Scotch ship had been all the time since she left us at the Arcas Islands--eight days--battling with adverse winds, and was still only a couple of hundred miles or so advanced on her voyage.

We made the Plum Point lighthouse, at half-past four P. M., and were off the mouth of the harbor of Port Royal just as the evening began to deepen into twilight. We hoisted the French flag, and firing a gun, and making the usual signal for a pilot, one came promptly on board of us. Day was fading into night so fast, that we had scarcely light enough left to enable us to grope our way through the tortuous and narrow channel, and it was quite dark when our anchor was let go. Of course, we did not permit the pilot to anchor us as a _Frenchman_, and when we told him that it was the _Alabama_ he was taking in, he did not appear at all surprised, but remarked very coolly, "I knew all the while that you were no Frenchman." I felt much relieved, when at length I heard the plunge of the anchor into the water, followed by the rattling of the chain-cable through the hawse-hole. On the high seas, with the enemy all the time in full chase of me, constant vigilance was required to guard against surprise; and my battle with the elements was almost as constant, as that with the enemy.

When I reached the friendly shelter, therefore, of a neutral port, belonging to such of the powers of the earth as were strong enough to prevent themselves from being kicked by the enemy, my over-taxed nervous system relaxed in a moment, and I enjoyed the luxury of a little gentlemanly idleness. Kell was of wonderful a.s.sistance to me, in this respect. I always left the ship in his hands, with the utmost confidence, and my confidence was never misplaced. He was, as the reader has seen, an excellent disciplinarian, and being, besides, a thorough master of his profession, I had in him all that I could desire.

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. Great Britain had had the good sense not to listen to the frantic appeals, either of Mr.

Seward or Minister Adams, both of whom claimed, as the reader has seen, that it was her duty to stultify herself, and ignore the commission of my ship. Nor did Commodore Dunlap say anything to me of my destruction of British property, or of the three ships of war, which that adept in international law, the "Commercial Advertiser," of New York, had a.s.serted Admiral Milne had sent after me. These questions, indeed, had all been authoritatively settled, I found, by Earl Russell, the British Foreign Secretary, by the following letter to the Liverpool Chamber of Commerce, which had applied to him for information. It is copied from the New York "World":

"SIR: I am directed by Earl Russell to reply to your letters of the 6th inst., respecting the destruction by the Confederate steamer _Alabama_ of British property embarked in American vessels and burned by that steamer. Earl Russell desires me to state to you that British property on board a vessel belonging to one of the belligerents must be subject to all the risks and contingencies of war, so far as the capture of the vessel is concerned. The owners of any British property, not being contraband of war, on board a Federal vessel captured and destroyed by a Confederate vessel of war, may claim in a Confederate Prize Court compensation for the destruction of such property."

The "World" said lachrymosely of the above, that "it was but one of a crowd of eloquent indications which constantly multiply upon us to prove that Earl Russell, like Mr. Gladstone, whatever his sympathies may be, really regards the 'nation of Jefferson Davis' as substantially created, and looks upon recognition as simply a question of time."

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. Governor Eyre was then in authority. He behaved with great spirit and firmness, afterward, in nipping in the bud a widespread negro insurrection, which had for its object, the ma.s.sacre of the whites and the plunder of their property. A few negroes were killed by the troops, and I have been sorry to learn since, that his Excellency has been much hara.s.sed, in consequence, by both English and American fanatics.

The English squadron at anchor consisted of the _Jason_, the _Challenger_, and _Greyhound_. The most cordial relations were at once established between the officers of all these ships, and those of the _Alabama_.

Indeed, many of them were our old acquaintances.

An English friend having come on board, to invite me to pa.s.s a few days with him, in the mountains, while my ship was being prepared for sea, I accepted his invitation, and turning over all the unfinished business of the ship to Kell, we pulled up to Kingston in my gig. Here I found my friend's carriage in waiting, and entering it, we were soon whirled out of the limits of the dusty city, into the most charming of tropical scenery.

Except landing, occasionally, for a few hours at a time, at the desert little islands I had visited in the Caribbean Sea, and the Gulf of Mexico, I had not had a holiday on sh.o.r.e, since leaving the _Mersey_, on my way to commission the _Alabama_, five months before. I needed a little rest, and recreation, to restore my wasted energies, and I found both with my excellent friend, Mr. Fyfe.

For the first ten miles, we rode over a beautiful macadamized road, or rather avenue, lined with the gigantic cactus, growing frequently to the height of twenty and thirty feet, and several specimens of the palm; chief among which was the cocoanut-tree, shooting its trunk with the straightness of an arrow to a great height, and waving gracefully in the breeze, its superb, feather-like foliage. The way was lined with many picturesque country houses, each surrounded by its extensive and well-kept grounds, on which were growing crops, chiefly of fruits and vegetables, but interspersed occasionally with a field of Indian corn, or sugar-cane.

Hedgerows and shade-trees adorned the front yards, and protected the residences from the sun, giving them an air of seclusion, coolness, and quiet that was very inviting. We occasionally obtained glimpses of beautiful valleys, on the right hand, and on the left, in which fairy cottages were nestled. The scenery was continually changing, as the road wound along, now skirting the base of abrupt hills, now running over a stream, and now plunging into the recesses of a wood, with the trees arching overhead, like the groined work of a cathedral.

At the end of our ten miles of carriage-drive, we found ourselves at the foot of the mountains. Here we alighted at a large hostelry, which was a sort of combination of the inn, caravansary, and country store, and after some refreshment, mounted saddle-horses which we found in waiting. The roads soon became mere bridle-paths. As we ascended the slopes of the mountains, we changed rapidly the character of the vegetation; every hundred feet of elevation being equivalent to a change of a degree or more of lat.i.tude, and bringing us in the presence of new forest-trees and new plants, until we dismounted on the lawn of my friend, the immediate surroundings of which were all English; the cedar, and other well-known trees and shrubs of the temperate lat.i.tudes, supplanting the tropical vegetation we had left in the _tierra caliente_ below us. The air, too, was so delightfully changed, from the sultry heats of the coast, that we found a fire lighted of the dry and fragrant branches of the cedar-tree, quite pleasant as the night set in.

The reader may imagine how magical the change was, from the cramped quarters, and other _desagremens_ of a small ship, to the ample halls, and elegant leisure of an English home, perched on the mountain-side, and overlooking a perfect wilderness of tropical vegetation. The sea was in plain sight to the eastward of us, and Kingston and Port Royal lay, as it were, at our feet. With the aid of a fine telescope which my friend had mounted in his piazza, I could distinguish my own ship from the other vessels in the harbor, though they all appeared as diminutive as so many sea-gulls, nestling upon the water. I need not say how soundly I slept that night, far away from war's alarms, fanned by the gentlest of sea-breezes, in the sweetest of sheets, and lullabied by the distant breaker, as it stranded itself at regular intervals upon the beach.