Memoirs of Service Afloat, During the War Between the States Part 44

Perhaps this latter spectacle was something for a Yankee to gloat upon.

The _Alabama_ had been a scourge and a terror to them for two years. She had destroyed their _property_! _Yankee_ property! Curse upon the "pirates," let them drown! At least this was the sentiment uttered by that humane and Christian gentleman, to whom I have before had occasion to allude in these pages--Mr. William H. Seward--one of the chief Vandals, who found themselves in the possession and control of the once glorious "Government of the States," during the war. This gentleman, in one of his despatches to Mr. Adams, prompting him as to what he should say to the English Government, on the subject of the rescue of my men by the _Deerhound_, remarks: "I have to observe, upon these remarks of Earl Russell, that it was the right of the _Kearsarge that the pirates should drown_, unless saved by humane exertions of the officers and crew of that vessel, or by their own efforts, _without the aid of the Deerhound_. The men were either already actually prisoners, or they were desperately pursued by the _Kearsarge_. If they had _perished_ [by being permitted to be drowned, in cold blood after the action], the _Kearsarge would have had the advantage of a lawful destruction of so many enemies_; if they had been recovered by the _Kearsarge_, with or without the aid of the _Deerhound_, then the voluntary surrender of those persons would have been perfected, and they would have been prisoners. In neither case would they have remained hostile Confederates."

No one who is not a seaman can realize the blow which falls upon the heart of a commander, upon the sinking of his ship. It is not merely the loss of a battle--it is the overwhelming of his household, as it were, in a great catastrophe. The _Alabama_ had not only been my battle-field, but my home, in which I had lived two long years, and in which I had experienced many vicissitudes of pain and pleasure, sickness and health. My officers and crew formed a great military family, every face of which was familiar to me; and when I looked upon my gory deck, toward the close of the action, and saw so many manly forms stretched upon it, with the glazed eye of death, or agonizing with terrible wounds, I felt as a father feels who has lost his children--his children who had followed him to the uttermost ends of the earth, in sunshine and storm, and been always true to him.

A remarkable spectacle presented itself on the deck of the sinking ship, after the firing had ceased, and the boats containing the wounded had been shoved off. Under the order, which had been given, "Every man save himself who can!" all occupations had been suspended, and all discipline relaxed.

One man was then as good as another. The _Kearsarge_ stood sullenly at a distance, making no motion, that we could see, to send us a boat. The _Deerhound_ and the French pilot-boats were also at a considerable distance. Meantime, the water was rushing and roaring into the ship's side, through her ghastly death-wound, and she was visibly settling--lower and lower. There was no panic, no confusion, among the men. Each stood, waiting his doom, with the most perfect calmness. The respect and affection manifested for their officers was touching in the extreme.

Several gathered around me, and seemed anxious for my safety. One tendered me this little office of kindness, and another, that. Kell was near me, and my faithful steward, Bartelli, also, was at my side. Poor Bartelli! he could not swim a stroke--which I did not know at the time, or I should have saved him in the boats--and yet he was calm and cheerful; seeming to think that no harm could befall him, so long as he was at my side. He asked me if there were not some papers I wanted, in the cabin. I told him there were, and sent him to bring them. He had to wade to my state-room to get them. He brought me the two small packages I had indicated; and, with tears in his eyes, told me how the cabin had been shattered by the enemy's shot--our fine painting of the _Alabama_, in particular, being destroyed.

Poor fellow! he was drowned in ten minutes afterward.

Two of the members of my boat's crew being around me, when the papers were brought, insisted that I should give them to them to take care of. They were good swimmers, they said, and would be sure to preserve them for me.

I gave each a package--put up tightly between small slats--and they thrust them in the bosoms of their shirts. One of them then helped me off with my coat, which was too well laden with b.u.t.tons, to think of retaining, and I sat down whilst the other pulled off my boots. Kell stripped himself in like manner. The men with the papers were both saved. One swam to a French pilot-boat, and the other to the _Deerhound_. I got both packages of papers. The seaman who landed on the French coast sought out Captain Sinclair, who was still at Cherbourg, and delivered them to him. A writer in the London "Times" thus describes how I got the other package: "When the men came on board the _Deerhound_, they had nothing on but their drawers and shirts, having been stripped to fight; and one of them, with a sailor's devotedness, insisted on seeing his Captain, who was then lying in Mr. Lancaster's cabin, in a very exhausted state, as he had been intrusted by Captain Semmes with the ship's papers, and to no one else would he give them up. The men were all very anxious about their Captain, and were rejoiced to find that he had been saved. They appeared to be a set of first-rate fellows, and to act well together, in perfect union, under the most trying circ.u.mstances."

[Ill.u.s.tration: The Combat between the Alabama and the Kearsarge, off Cherbourg, on the 19th of June, 1864.

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

The ship settled by the stern, and as the taffarel was about to be submerged, Kell and myself threw ourselves into the sea, and swam out far enough from the sinking ship to avoid being drawn down into the vortex of waters. We then turned to get a last look at her, and see her go down.

Just before she disappeared, her main-topmast, which had been wounded, went by the board; and, like a living thing in agony, she threw her bow high out of the water, and then descended rapidly, stern foremost, to her last resting-place. A n.o.ble Roman once stabbed his daughter, rather than she should be polluted by the foul embrace of a tyrant. It was with a similar feeling that Kell and I saw the _Alabama_ go down. We had buried her as we had christened her, and she was safe from the polluting touch of the hated Yankee!

Great rejoicing was had in Yankeedom, when it was known that the _Alabama_ had been beaten. Shouts of triumph rent the air, and bonfires lighted every hill. But along with the rejoicing there went up a howl of disappointed rage, that I had escaped being made a prisoner. The splendid victory of their iron-clad over a wooden ship was shorn of half its brilliancy. Mr. Seward was in a furor of excitement; and as for poor Mr.

Adams, he lost his head entirely. He even conceived the brilliant idea of demanding that I should be delivered up to him by the British Government.

Two days after the action, he wrote to his chief from London as follows:--

"The popular excitement attending the action between the _Alabama_ and the _Kearsarge_ has been considerable. I transmit a copy of the "Times," of this morning, containing a report made to Mr. Mason, by Captain Semmes. It is evidently intended for this meridian. The more I reflect upon the conduct of the _Deerhound_, the more grave do the questions to be raised with this Government appear to be. I do not feel it my duty to a.s.sume the responsibility of demanding, without instructions, the surrender of the prisoners. Neither have I yet obtained directly from Captain Winslow, any authentic evidence of the facts attending the conflict. I have some reason to suspect, that the subject has already been under the consideration of the authorities here."

Mr. Seward and Mr. Adams were both eminently civilians. The heads of both of them were muddled, the moment they stepped from the Forum to the Campus Martius. Mr. Adams was now busy preparing another humiliation for the great American statesman. Some men learn wisdom by experience, and others do not. Mr. Adams seems to have been of the latter cla.s.s. He had made a great many _demands_ about the _Alabama_, which had been refused, and was now about to make another which was more absurd even than those that had gone before. The "instructions" coming from Mr. Seward in due time, the demand was made, and here is the reply of Lord Russell:--

"Secondly,"--[his lordship had been considering another point, which Mr. Adams had introduced into his despatch, not material to the present question,]--"I have to state, that it appears to her Majesty's Government, that the commander of the private British yacht, the _Deerhound_, in saving from drowning some of the officers and crew of the _Alabama_, after that vessel had sunk, performed a praiseworthy act of humanity, to which, moreover, he had been exhorted by the officer commanding the _Kearsarge_, to which vessel the _Deerhound_ had, in the first instance, gone, in order to offer to the _Kearsarge_ any a.s.sistance which, after her action with the _Alabama_, she might stand in need of; and it appears further, to her Majesty's Government, that, under all the circ.u.mstances of the case, Mr. Lancaster was not under any obligation to deliver to the captain of the _Kearsarge_ the officers and men whom he had rescued from the waves. But however that may be, with regard to the demand made by you, by instructions from your Government, that those officers and men should now be delivered up to the Government of the United States, as being escaped prisoners of war, her Majesty's Government would beg to observe, that there is no obligation by international law, which can bind the government of a neutral State, to deliver up to a belligerent prisoners of war, who may have escaped from the power of such belligerent, and may have taken refuge within the territory of such neutral. Therefore, even if her Majesty's Government had any power, by law, to comply with the above-mentioned demand, her Majesty's Government could not do so, without being guilty of a violation of the duties of hospitality. In point of fact, however, her Majesty's Government have no lawful power to arrest, and deliver up the persons in question. They have been guilty of no offence against the laws of England, and they have committed no act, which would bring them within the provisions of a treaty between Great Britain and the United States, for the mutual surrender of offenders, and her Majesty's Government are, therefore, entirely without any legal means by which, even if they wished to do so, they could comply with your above-mentioned demand."

This reasoning is unanswerable, and adds to the many humiliations the Federal Government received from England during the war in connection with the _Alabama_, through the bungling of its diplomatists. The _Deerhound_, a neutral vessel, was not only under no obligation, in fact, to deliver up the prisoners she had rescued from the water, but she could not, lawfully, have put herself under such obligation. The prisoners had rights in the premises as well as the _Deerhound_. The moment they reached the deck of the neutral ship, _by whatever means_, they were ent.i.tled to the protection of the neutral flag, and any attempt on the part of the neutral master, whether by agreement with the opposite belligerent or not, to hand them over to the latter, would have been an exercise of force by him, and tantamount to an act of hostility against the prisoners. It would have been our right and our duty to resist any such attempt; and we would a.s.suredly have done so if it had been made. It will be observed that Lord Russell does not discuss the question whether we were prisoners. It was not necessary to his argument; for even admitting that we were prisoners, hospitality forbade him to deliver us up.

But we were not prisoners. A person, to become a prisoner, must be brought within the power of his captor. There must be a manucaption, a possession, if even for a moment. I never was at any time, during the engagement, or after, in the power of the enemy. I had struck my flag, it is true, but that did not make me a prisoner. It was merely an _offer_ of surrender. It was equivalent to saying to my enemy, "I am beaten, if you will take possession of me, I will not resist." Suppose my ship had not been fatally injured, and a sudden gale had sprung up, and prevented the enemy from completing his capture, by taking possession of her, and I had escaped with her, will it be pretended that she was his prize? There have been numerous instances of this kind in naval history, and no one has ever supposed that a ship under such circ.u.mstances would be a prize, or that any person on board of her would be a prisoner. Nor can the _cause_ which prevents the captor from taking possession of his prize, make any difference. If from _any_ cause, he is unable to take possession, he loses her. If she takes fire, and burns up, or sinks, she is equally lost to him, and if any one escapes from the burning or sinking ship to the sh.o.r.e, can it be pretended that he is a prisoner? And is there any difference between escaping to the sh.o.r.e, and to a neutral flag? The folly of the thing is too apparent for argument, and yet the question was pressed seriously upon the British Government; and the head of Mr. Gideon Welles, the Secretary of the Federal Navy, was, for a long time, addled on the subject. I question, indeed, whether the head of the old gentleman has recovered from the shock it received, to this day. He afterward had me arrested, as the reader will see in due time, and conveyed to Washington a prisoner, and did all in his power to have me tried by a military commission, _in time of peace_, because I did not insist upon Mr.

Lancaster's delivering me up to Captain Winslow! Will any one believe that this is the same Mr. Welles who approved of Captain Stellwagen's running off with the _Mercedita_, after he had been _paroled_?

But here is another little incident in point, which, perhaps, Mr. Welles had forgotten when he ordered my arrest. It arose out of Buchanan's gallant fight with the enemy's fleet in Hampton Roads, before alluded to in these pages. I will let the Admiral relate it, in his own words. He is writing to Mr. Mallory, the Secretary of the Navy, and after having described the ramming and sinking of the _c.u.mberland_, proceeds:--

"Having sunk the _c.u.mberland_, I turned our attention to the _Congress_. We were some time in getting our proper position, in consequence of the shoalness of the water, and the great difficulty of manoeuvring the ship, when in or near the mud. To succeed in my object, I was obliged to run the ship a short distance above the batteries on James River, in order to wind her. During all this time her keel was in the mud; of course she moved but slowly. Thus we were subjected twice to the heavy guns of all the batteries, in pa.s.sing up and down the river, but it could not be avoided. We silenced several of the batteries, and did much injury on the sh.o.r.e. A large transport steamer, alongside of the wharf, was blown up, one schooner sunk, and another captured and sent to Norfolk. The loss of life on sh.o.r.e we have no means of ascertaining. While the _Virginia_ was thus engaged in getting her position for attacking the _Congress_, the prisoners state it was believed on board that ship, we had hauled off; the men left their guns, and gave three cheers. They were sadly undeceived, for, a few minutes after, we opened upon her again, she having run on sh.o.r.e, in shoal water. The carnage, havoc, and dismay, caused by our fire, compelled them to haul down their colors, and hoist a white flag at their gaff, and half-mast another at the main. The crew instantly _took to their boats and landed_. Our fire immediately ceased, and a signal was made for the _Beaufort_ to come within hail.

I then ordered Lieutenant-Commanding Parker to take possession of the _Congress_, secure the officers as prisoners, allow the men to land, and burn the ship. He ran alongside, received her flag and surrender from Commander William Smith, and Lieutenant Pendergrast, with the side-arms of these officers. They delivered themselves as prisoners of war, on board the _Beaufort_, and afterward were permitted, _at their own request_, to return to the _Congress_, to a.s.sist in removing the wounded to the _Beaufort_. _They never returned_, and I submit to the decision of the Department, whether they are not our prisoners?"

Aye, these _paroled_ gentlemen escaped, and Mr. Welles _forgot_ to send them back. There was some excuse for Mr. Seward and Mr. Adams making the blunder they did, of supposing that the rescued officers and men of the _Alabama_ were prisoners to the _Kearsarge_, but there was none whatever for Mr. Welles. He was the head of the enemy's Navy Department, and it was his business to know better; and if he did not know better, himself, he should have called to his a.s.sistance some of the clever naval men around him. Nay, if he had taken down from its shelf almost any naval history in the library of his department, he could have set himself right in half an hour. James' "English Naval History" is full of precedents, where ships which have struck their flags, have afterward escaped--the enemy failing to take possession of them--and no question has been raised as to the propriety of their conduct. So many contingencies occur in naval battles, that it has become a sort of common law of the sea, that a ship is never a prize, or the persons on board of her prisoners, _until she has actually been taken possession of by the enemy_. A few of these cases will doubtless interest the reader, especially as they have an interest of their own, independently of their application.

THE REVOLUTIONNAIRE AND THE AUDACIOUS.

Lord Hood fought his famous action with the French fleet in 1794. In that action, the French ship _Revolutionnaire_ struck her colors to the English ship _Audacious_, but the latter failing to take possession of her, she escaped. The following is the historian's relation of the facts:--

"The _Audacious_, having placed herself on the _Revolutionnaire's_ lee quarter, poured in a heavy fire, and, until recalled by signal, the _Russell_, who was at some distance to leeward, also fired on her. The _Audacious_ and _Revolutionnaire_ now became so closely engaged, and the latter so disabled in her masts and rigging, that it was with difficulty the former could prevent her huge opponent from falling on board of her. Toward ten P. M., the _Revolutionnaire_, having, besides the loss of her mizzen-mast, had her fore and main yards, and main-topsail yard shot away, dropped across the hawse of the _Audacious_; but the latter quickly extricating herself, and the French ship, with her fore-topsail full, but owing to the sheets being shot away, still flying, directed her course to leeward. The men forward, in the _Audacious_, declared that the _Revolutionnaire_ struck her colors, just as she got clear of them, and the ship's company cheered in consequence. The people of the _Russell_ declared, also, that the _Revolutionnaire_, as she pa.s.sed under their stern, had no colors hoisted. That the latter was a beaten ship, may be inferred from her having returned but three shots to the last broadside of the _Audacious_; moreover, her loss in killed and wounded, if the French accounts are to be believed, amounted to nearly 400 men. Still _the Revolutionnaire became no prize to the British_; owing partly to the disabled state of the _Audacious_, but chiefly because the _Thunderer_, on approaching the latter, and being hailed to take possession of the French ship, made sail after her own fleet." 1 _James_, 132, 133.

It is observable in the above extract, that the historian does not complain that the French ship escaped; does not deny her right to do so, but remarks, as a matter of course, that she did not become a prize, _because she was not taken possession of_.

THE ACHILLE AND THE BRUNSWICK.

In the same action, the French ship _Achille_, struck to the British ship _Brunswick_, and _not being taken possession of_, endeavored to escape.

The relation of this engagement is as follows:--

"At eleven A. M., a ship was discovered through the smoke, bearing down on the _Brunswick's_ larboard quarter, having her gangways and rigging crowded with men, as if with the intention of releasing the _Vengeur_, [a prize made by the _Brunswick_,] by boarding the _Brunswick_. Instantly the men stationed at the five aftermost lower-deck guns, on the starboard side, were turned over on the larboard side; and to each of the latter guns, already loaded with a single 32-pounder, was added a double-headed shot. Presently, the _Achille_, for that was the ship, advanced to within musket-shot; when five or six rounds from the _Brunswick's_ after-guns, on each deck, brought down by the board the former's only remaining mast, the foremast. The wreck of this mast, falling where the wreck of the main and mizzen-masts already lay, on the starboard side, prevented the _Achille_ from making the slightest resistance; and, after a few unreturned broadsides from the _Brunswick_, the French ship struck her colors. It was, however, wholly out of the _Brunswick's_ power _to take possession_, and the _Achille_ very soon rehoisted her colors, and setting her sprit-sail endeavored to escape."

The escape, however, was prevented by the appearance of a new ship upon the scene, the _Ramilles_. This ship, after dispatching an antagonist with which she had been engaged, perceiving the attempt of the _Achille_, made sail in pursuit, and coming up with her, took possession of her, and thus, for the first time, made her a _prize_. 1 _James_, 162-4.

THE BELLONA AND THE MILLBROOK.

In the year 1800, the French ship _Bellona_ struck to the British ship _Millbrook_, and afterward escaped. The following is the account of the engagement. The battle having continued some little time, the historian proceeds:--

"The carronades of the _Millbrook_ were seemingly fired with as much precision, as quickness; for the _Bellona_, from broadsides, fell to single guns, and showed by her sails and rigging, how much she had been cut up by the schooner's shot. At about ten A. M., the ship's colors came down, and Lieutenant Smith used immediate endeavors to take possession of her. Not having a rope wherewith to hoist out a boat, he launched one over the gunwale, but having been pierced with shot in various directions, the boat soon filled with water. About this time, the _Millbrook_, having had two of her guns disabled, her masts, yards, sails, and rigging shot through, and all her sweeps shot to pieces, lay quite unmanageable, with her broadside to the _Bellona's_ stern. In a little while, a light breeze sprung up, and the _Bellona_ hoisted all the canvas she could, and sought safety in flight." 3 _James_, 57.

THE SAN JOSe AND THE GRa.s.sHOPPER.

In 1807, off the coast of Spain, the Spanish brig _San Jose_ struck to the British brig _Gra.s.shopper_--having first run on sh.o.r.e--when the greater part of her crew escaped _before she could be taken possession of_. The affair is thus related:--

"At about half an hour after noon, having got within range, the _Gra.s.shopper_ opened a heavy fire of round and grape upon the brig.

A running fight was maintained--about fifteen minutes of its close--until two P. M., when the latter, which was the Spanish brig-of-war _San Jose_, of ten 24-pounder carronades, and two long sixes, commanded by Lieutenant Don Antonio de Torres, ran on sh.o.r.e under Cape Negrete, and struck her colors. The greater part of her crew, which, upon leaving Carthagena, on the preceding evening, numbered 99 men, then swam on sh.o.r.e, and effected their escape." 4 _James_, 374.

THE VAR AND THE BELLE POULE.

In 1809, in the Gulf of Velona, the French ship-of-war _Var_, struck to the British frigate _Belle Poule_, but _before she could be taken possession of_, the officers, and a greater part of the crew escaped. The action is described as follows:--

"On the 15th, at daybreak, the _Var_ was discovered moored with cables to the fortress of Velona, mounting fourteen long 18 and 24-pounders, and upon an eminence above the ship, and apparently commanding the whole anchorage, was another strong fort. A breeze at length favoring, the _Belle Poule_, at one P. M., anch.o.r.ed in a position to take, or destroy the _Var_, and, at the same time, to keep in check the formidable force, prepared, apparently, to defend the French ship. The _Belle Poule_ immediately opened upon the latter an animated and well-directed fire, and, as the forts made no efforts to protect her, the _Var_ discharged a few random shots, that hurt no one, and then hauled down her colors. _Before she could be taken possession of_, her officers, and a greater part of her crew escaped to the sh.o.r.e." 5 _James_, 154.

THE VIRGINIA AND THE CONGRESS.

In the year 1862, one Gideon Welles being Secretary of the Federal Navy, Admiral Buchanan, of the Confederate States Navy, in the engagement in Hampton Roads, already referred to, for another purpose, sunk the frigate _Congress_, and, _before she could be taken possession of, the crew took to their boats and escaped_. Buchanan did not claim that the crew of the _Congress_, that had thus escaped, were his prisoners; he only claimed that Commander Smith, and Lieutenant Pendergrast were his prisoners, _he having taken possession of them_, and they having escaped, in violation of the _special parole_, under which he had permitted them to return to their ship.

It thus appears, that, so far from its being the exception, it is the rule, in naval combats, for both ship and officers, and crew, to escape, after surrender, if possible. The enemy may prevent it by force, if he can, but if the escape be successful, it is a valid escape. I have thus far been considering the case, as though it were an escape with, or from a ship, which had not been fatally injured, and on board which the officers and crew might have remained, if they had thought proper. If the escape be proper in such a case as this, how much more must it be proper when, as was the case with the _Alabama_, the officers and crew of the ship are compelled to throw themselves into the sea, and struggle for their lives?

Take my own individual case. The Federal Government complained of me because I threw my sword into the sea, which, as the Federal Secretary of the Navy said, no longer belonged to me. But what was I to do with it?

Where was Mr. Welles' officer, that he did not come to demand it? It had been tendered to him, and _would_ have belonged to him, if he had had the ability, or the inclination to come and take it. But he did not come. I did not betake myself to a boat, and seek refuge in flight. I waited for him, or _his_ boat, on the deck of my sinking ship, until the sea was ready to engulf me. I was ready and willing to complete the surrender which had been tendered, but as far as was then apparent, the enemy intended to permit me to drown. Was I, under these circ.u.mstances, to plunge into the water with my sword in my hand and endeavor to swim to the _Kearsarge_? Was it not more natural, that I should hurl it into the depths of the ocean in defiance, and in hatred of the Yankee and his accursed flag? When my ship went down, I was a waif upon the waters.

Battles and swords, and all other things, except the attempt to save life, were at an end. I ceased from that moment to be the enemy of any brave man. A true sailor, and above all, one who had been bred to arms, when he found that he could not himself save me, as his prisoner, should have been glad to have me escape from him, with life, whether by my own exertions, or those of a neutral. I believe this was the feeling, which, at that moment, was in the heart of Captain Winslow. It was reserved for William H. Seward to utter the atrocious sentiment which has been recorded against him, in these pages. Mr. Seward is now an old man, and he has the satisfaction of reflecting that he is responsible for more of the woes which have fallen upon the American people, than any other citizen of the once proud republic. He has worked, from first to last, for self, and he has met with the usual reward of the selfish--the contempt and neglect of all parties. He has need to utter the prayer of Cardinal Wolsey, and to add thereto, "Forgive, O Lord! him who never did forgive."

With the permission of the reader, I will make another brief reference to Naval History, to show how gallant men regard the saving of life, from such disasters during battle, as befell the _Alabama_; how, in other words, they cease to be the enemies of disarmed men, struggling against the elements for their lives.

DESTRUCTION OF L'ORIENT AT THE BATTLE OF THE NILE.