The Cruise of the Alabama and the Sumter Part 28

Governor Sir P. Wodehouse to the Duke of Newcastle. August 19, 1863.

(Extract.)

I beg to take this opportunity of making your Grace acquainted with what has occurred here in connection with the visit of the Confederate States steamer Alabama.

On Tuesday, the 4th instant, I received a letter from the Commander of that vessel, dated the 1st August at Saldanha Bay, announcing his having entered that bay with a view to effecting certain repairs, and stating that he would put to sea as soon as they were completed, and would strictly respect our neutrality.

When this intelligence was received, the United States Consul called on me to seize her, or at any rate to send her away instantly; but as the vessel which brought the news reported that the Alabama was coming immediately to Table Bay, I replied that I could not seize her, but would take care to enforce the observance of the neutral regulations.

On the next day, about noon, it was reported from the signal station that the Alabama was steering for Table Bay from the north, and that a Federal barque was coming in from the westward; and soon after, that the latter had been captured and put about. A little after 2 P.M. the United States Consul called to state that he had seen the capture effected within British waters; when I told him he must make his statement in writing, and an investigation should be made. I also, by telegram, immediately requested the Naval Commander-in-Chief to send a ship of war from Simon's Bay. The Alabama, leaving her prize outside, anch.o.r.ed in the bay 3.30 P.M., when Captain Semmes wrote to me that he wanted supplies and repairs, as well as permission to land thirty-three prisoners. After communicating with the United States Consul, I authorized the latter, and called upon him to state the nature and extent of his wants, that I might be enabled to judge of the time he ought to remain in the port. The same afternoon he promised to send the next morning a list of the stores needed, and announced his intention of proceeding with all despatch to Simon's Bay to effect his repairs there. The next morning (August 6th) the Paymaster called on me with the merchant who was to furnish the supplies, and I granted him leave to stay till noon of the 7th.

On the night of the 5th, Her Majesty's ship Valorous had come round from Simon's Bay. During the night of the 6th the weather became unfavourable; a vessel was wrecked in the bay, and a heavy sea prevented the Alabama from receiving her supplies by the time arranged. On the morning of the 8th, Captain Forsyth, of the Valorous, and the Port Captain, by my desire, pressed on Captain Semmes the necessity for his leaving the port without any unnecessary delay; when he pleaded the continued heavy sea and the absence of his cooking apparatus, which had been sent on sh.o.r.e for repairs, and had not been returned by the tradesman at the time appointed, and intimated his own anxiety to get away. Between 6 and 7 A.M., on Sunday, the 9th, he sailed, and on his way round to Simon's Bay captured another vessel; but on finding that she was in neutral waters he immediately released her.

In the meantime, the United States Consul had, on the 5th August, addressed to me a written statement that the Federal barque Sea Bride had been taken "about four miles from the nearest land," and "already in British waters;" on which I promised immediate inquiry. The next day the Consul repeated his protest, supporting it by an affidavit of the master of the prize, which he held to show that she had been taken about two miles and a half from the land; and the agent for the United States underwriters, on the same day, made a similar protest. On the 7th, the Consul represented that the prize had, on the previous day, been brought within one mile and a half of the lighthouse, which he considered as much a violation of the neutrality as if she had been there captured, and asked me to have the prize crew taken out and replaced by one from the Valorous, which I declined.

I had, during this period, been seeking for authentic information as to the real circ.u.mstances of the capture, more particularly with reference to the actual distance from the sh.o.r.e, and obtained through the Acting Attorney-General statements from the keeper of the Green Point Lighthouse (this was supported by the Collector of Customs), from the signal-man at the station at the Lion's Rump, and from an experienced boatman who was pa.s.sing between the sh.o.r.e and the vessels at the time. Captain Forsyth, of the Valorous, also made inquiries of the captain of the Alabama and of the Port Captain, and made known the result to me. And upon all these statements I came to the conclusion that the vessels were not less than four miles distant from land; and on the 8th I communicated to the United States Consul that the capture could not, in my opinion, be held to be illegal by reason of the place at which it was effected.

In his reply of the 10th, the Consul endeavoured to show how indefensible my decision must be, if, in these days of improved artillery, I rested it on the fact of the vessels having been only three miles from land. This pa.s.sage is, I think, of considerable importance, as involving an indirect admission that they were not within three miles at the time of capture. And I hope your Grace will concur in my view that it was not my duty to go beyond what I found to be the distance clearly established by past decisions under international law.

An important question has arisen in connection with the Alabama, on which it is very desirable that I should, as soon as practicable, be made acquainted with the views of Her Majesty's Government. Captain Semmes had mentioned after his arrival in port, that he had left outside one of his prizes previously taken, the Tuscaloosa, which he had equipped and fitted as a tender, and had ordered to meet him in Simon's Bay, as she also stood in need of supplies. When this became known to the naval commander-in-chief, he requested me to furnish him with a legal opinion; and whether this vessel could he held to be a ship of war before she had been formally condemned in a prize court; or whether she must not be held to be still a prize, and, as such, prohibited from entering our ports. The Acting Attorney-General, founding his opinion on Earl Russell's despatch to your Grace, of the 31st January, 1862, and on "Wheaton's International Law," states in substance that it was open to Captain Semmes to convert this vessel into a ship of war, and that she ought to be admitted into our ports on that footing.

On the 8th August the vessel entered Simon's Bay, and the Admiral wrote that she had two small rifled guns, with a crew of ten men, and that her cargo of wool was still on board. He was still doubtful of the propriety of admitting her.

On the 10th August, after further consultation with the Acting Attorney-General, I informed Sir Baldwin Walker that, if the guns had been put on board by the Alabama, or if she had a commission of war, or if she were commanded by an officer of the Confederate Navy, there must be held to be a sufficient setting forth as a vessel of war to justify her admission into port in that character.

The Admiral replied in the affirmative on the first and last points, and she was admitted.

The Tuscaloosa sailed from Simon's Bay on the morning of the 14th instant, but was becalmed in the vicinity until the following day, when she sailed about noon. The Alabama left before noon on the 15th instant. Neither of these vessels was allowed to remain in port longer than was really necessary for the completion of their repairs.

On the 16th, at noon, the Georgia, another Confederate war steamer, arrived at Simon's Bay in need of repairs, and is still there.

Before closing this despatch I wish particularly to request instructions on a point touched on in the letter from the United States Consul of the 17th instant, viz.: the steps which should be taken here in the event of the cargo of any vessel captured by one of the belligerents being taken out of the prize at sea, and brought into one of our ports in a British or other neutral vessel.

Both belligerents are strictly interdicted from bringing their prizes into British ports by Earl Russell's letter to the Lords of the Admiralty of the 1st June, 1861, and I conceive that a colonial government would be justified in enforcing compliance with that order by any means at its command, and by the exercise of force if it should be required.

But that letter refers only to "prizes;" that is, I conceive, to ships themselves, and makes no mention of the cargoes they may contain. Practically the prohibition has been taken to extend to the cargoes; and I gathered, from a conversation with Captain Semmes on the subject of our neutrality regulations, that he considered himself debarred from disposing of them, and was thus driven to the destruction of all that he took. But I confess that I am unable to discover by what legal means I could prevent the introduction into our ports of captured property purchased at sea, and tendered for entry at the custom-house in the usual form from a neutral ship. I have consulted the Acting Attorney-General on the subject, and he is not prepared to state that the customs authorities would be justified in making a seizure under such circ.u.mstances; and therefore, as there is great probability of clandestine attempts being made to introduce cargoes of this description, I shall be glad to be favoured with the earliest practicable intimation of the views of Her Majesty's Government on the subject.

Captain Semmes, C.S.N., to Sir P. Wodehouse. August 5, 1863.

I have the honour to inform your Excellency of my arrival in this bay, in the Confederate States steamer Alabama under my command. I have come in for supplies and repairs, and in the meantime I respectfully ask leave to land in Cape Town thirty-three prisoners, lately captured by me on board two of the enemy's ships destroyed at sea. The United States Consul will doubtless be glad to extend such hospitality and a.s.sistance to his distressed countrymen, as required of him by law.

Sir P. Wodehouse to Captain Semmes, C.S.N. August 5, 1863.

I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter announcing your arrival in this port, and to state that I have no objection to offer to your landing the prisoners now detained in your ship.

I have further to beg that you will be good enough to state the nature and extent of the supplies and repairs you require, that I may be enabled to form some estimate of the time for which it will be necessary for you to remain in this port.

Captain Semmes, C.S.N., to Sir P. Wodehouse. August 5, 1863.

I have had the honour to receive your letter of this day's date, giving me permission to land my prisoners, and requesting me to state the nature of the supplies and repairs which I may require. In the way of supplies I shall need some provisions for my crew, a list of which will be handed you to-morrow by the paymaster, and as for repairs my boilers need some iron work to be done, and my bends require caulking, being quite open. I propose to take on board the necessary materials here, and to proceed with all despatch to Simon's Bay for the purpose of making these repairs.

Mr. Adamson to Captain Semmes C.S.N. August 6, 1863.

I am directed by the Governor of this colony to acquaint you that he has received from the Consul for the United States at this port a representation, in which he sets forth that an American barque was yesterday captured by the ship which you command, in British waters, in violation of the neutrality of the British Government, and claims from him redress for the alleged outrage.

His Excellency will be glad, therefore, to receive from you any explanation you may wish to give as to the circ.u.mstances in which the capture was effected.

Captain Semmes, C.S.N., to Mr. Adamson. Cape Town, August 6, 1863.

I have had the honour to receive your communication of this day's date, informing me that the United States Consul at this port had presented to his Excellency the Governor a representation in which he sets forth that an American barque was yesterday captured by this ship under my command in British waters, in violation of the neutrality of the British Government, and requesting me to make to his Excellency such representation as I may have to offer on the subject.

In reply, I have the honour to state that it is not true that the barque referred to was captured in British waters, and in violation of British neutrality; she having been captured outside all headlands, and a distance from the nearest land of between five and six miles. As I approached this vessel I called the particular attention of my officers to the question of distance, and they all agreed that the capture was made from two to three miles outside the marine league.

U.S. Consul to Sir P. Wodehouse. August 4, 1863.

From reliable information received by me, and which you are also doubtless in possession of, a war steamer called the Alabama is now in Saldanha Bay, being painted, discharging prisoners of war, &c.

The vessel in question was built in England to prey upon the commerce of the United States of America, and escaped therefrom while on her trial trip, forfeiting bonds of 20,000, which the British Government exacted under the Foreign Enlistment Act.

Now, as your Government has a treaty of amity and commerce with the United States, and has not recognised the persons in revolt against the United States as a Government at all, the vessel alluded to should be at once seized and sent to England, from whence she clandestinely escaped. a.s.suming that the British Government was sincere in exacting the bonds, you have doubtless been instructed to send her home to England, where she belongs. But if, from some oversight, you have not received such instructions, and you decline the responsibility of making the seizure, I would most respectfully protest against the vessel remaining in any port of the colony another day. She has been at Saldanha Bay four [six] days already, and a week previously on the coast, and has forfeited all right to remain an hour longer by this breach of neutrality. Painting a ship does not come under the head of "necessary repairs," and is no proof that she is unseaworthy; and to allow her to visit other ports after she has set the Queen's proclamation of neutrality at defiance would not be regarded as in accordance with the spirit and purpose of that doc.u.ment.

Mr. Adamson to U.S. Consul. August 5, 1863.

I am directed by the Governor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of yesterday's date relative to the Alabama.

His Excellency has no instructions, neither has he any authority, to seize or detain that vessel; and he desires me to acquaint you that he has received a letter from the Commander, dated the 1st instant, stating that repairs were in progress, and as soon as they were completed he intended to go to sea. He further announces his intention of respecting strictly the neutrality of the British Government.

The course which Captain Semmes here proposes to take is, in the Governor's opinion, in conformity with the instructions he has himself received relative to ships of war and privateers belonging to the United States and the States calling themselves the Confederate States of America visiting British ports.

The reports received from Saldanha Bay induce the Governor to believe that the vessel will leave that harbour as soon as her repairs are completed; but he will immediately, on receiving intelligence to the contrary, take the necessary steps for enforcing the observance of the rules laid down by Her Majesty's Government.

Mr. Graham (U.S. Consul) to Sir P. Wodehouse. August 5, 1863.

The Confederate steamer Alabama has just captured an American barque off Green Point, or about four miles from the nearest land (Robben Island). I witnessed the capture with my own eyes, as did hundreds of others at the same time. This occurrence at the entrance of Table Bay, and clearly in British waters, is an insult to England and a grievous injury to a friendly Power, the United States.

Towards the Government of my country and her domestic enemies the Government of England a.s.sumes a position of neutrality; and if the neutrality can be infringed with impunity, in this bold and daring manner, the Government of the United States will no doubt consider the matter as one requiring immediate explanation.

Believing that the occurrence was without your knowledge or expectation, and hoping you will take such steps to redress the outrage as the exigency requires, I am, &c.

Mr. Rawson to Mr. Graham. August 6, 1863.

I am directed by the Governor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of yesterday's date respecting the capture of the Sea Bride by the Alabama, and to acquaint you that he will lose no time in obtaining accurate information as to the circ.u.mstances of the capture. I have, &c.,

(Signed) RAWSON W. RAWSON,

Colonial Secretary.

Mr. Graham to Sir P. Wodehouse. August 6, 1863.

I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch of this date.