Albert M. Goodrich

“ The weather was fine, the air slightly hazy and a light westerly breeze rippled the harbor. Sunday was esteemed the Alabama’s lucky day. On Sunday Captain Semmes had assumed the command of her and the Confederate ensign first appeared at her mast head. On Sunday many of her most important captures had been made. On Sunday she halted the mighty Ariel, and on Sunday she sunk the Hatteras. It was inevitable that there should grow up between decks a belief that any important enterprise begun on Sunday had the best chance of success. ”

“ 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 carcass 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. ”

“ Excitement grew apace as a nearer approach justified the opinion that the motionless stranger was a Yankee whaler. The English flag was hoisted on the Alabama, and all doubt was set at rest when the ship responded with the stars and stripes. The chase of the brig was forthwith abandoned. The master of the whaler made no effort to get under way. He had struck a fine large sperm whale, which was now alongside and partly hoisted out of the water by the yard tackles, and his crew were hard at work, cutting it up and getting the blubber aboard. ”

“ To take such a susceptible boat’s crew into a hold filled with wines and brandies and forbid them to touch a drop would be to invite a riot. Having reached the deck of the prize Sinclair took his coxswain aside and explained to him the nature of the cargo and the scheme which he had in mind. The boat’s crew were invited to lunch at the cabin table on the viands prepared for New York’s aristocracy, with sundry bottles of brandy, burgundy and claret added thereto, and then appealed to not to get their officer into trouble by becoming intoxicated. ”

“ The hot sun of the Azores had opened seams in the deck and upper works, and the clank of the pumps, so familiar to those who had been in the Sumter during the latter part of her cruise, once more disturbed their dreams.
It was the purpose of Captain Semmes to strike at the American whaling vessels which he knew would be at work in the vicinity of the Azores. The season would close about the first of October, after which time the whales would seek other feeding waters. The following week was spent in getting the pivot guns mounted and in putting the ship in order. ”

“ Our crew is keeping Christmas by a run on shore, which they all seem to enjoy exceedingly. It is indeed very grateful to the senses to ramble about over even so confined a space as the Arcas, after tossing about at sea in a continual state of excitement for months. Yesterday was the first time I touched the shore since I left Liverpool on the 13th of August last, and I was only one week in Liverpool after a voyage of three weeks from the Bahamas, so that I have in fact been but one week on shore in five months. ”

“ It is evident that Captain Semmes entered the fight expecting to win. On leaving the harbor the crew were called aft, and, mounting a gun carriage, he addressed them as follows:
Officers and seamen of the Alabama: You have at length another opportunity of meeting the enemy—the first that has been presented to you since you sunk the Hatteras. In the meantime you have been all over the world, and it is not too much to say that you have destroyed and driven for protection under neutral flags one-half of the enemy’s commerce, which, at the beginning of the war, covered every sea. ”

“ New York, the United States flag now began to be a rarity. From the 16th to the 20th of October nine vessels were chased and boarded and their papers examined, but all of them were neutrals. The reason is not far to seek. The captain of the Emily Farnum had promised Captain Semmes as one of the conditions of his release, that he would continue his voyage to Liverpool; but the moment he was out of sight, he put his ship about and ran into Boston and gave the alarm. The American shipping interests throughout the seaboard were thrown into an uproar of terror. ”

“ The inhabitants of unprotected or but slightly protected towns along the coast already saw in imagination the Alabama steaming in upon them, demanding ransom, and leaving their homes in ashes. Captain Semmes loved to threaten New York, and one of the masters last released seems to have gone ashore with the belief that the Alabama’s next move would be to throw a few shells into that city. ”

“ A run of less than a mile convinced Captain Semmes that the stranger had the speed of him, and that if he wished to capture her he must resort to heroic measures. The “Persuader,” was cleared away. The Alabama was yawed a little to enable the gunner to take accurate aim, and a hundred-pound shell splintered the foremast of the fugitive ten feet above the deck. Her master declined to expose his passengers to a second shot, and the stranger’s engines were stopped, and she soon lay motionless awaiting the approach of her captor. ”

“ The Alabama spent five days here coaling from the Agrippina. The crew were allowed shore 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. ”

“ We cannot, of course, think of arming her in a British port, this must be done at some concerted rendezvous, to which her battery, and a large portion of her crew must be sent in a neutral merchant vessel. The Alabama will be a fine ship, quite equal to encounter any of the enemy’s steam sloops, of the class of the Iroquois, Tuscarora and Dakotah, and I shall feel much more independent in her upon the high seas than I did in the little Sumter. ”

“ Two days after the arrival of the Alabama was Christmas day, and the crew were given shore liberty. Captain Semmes makes this entry in his journal:
Christmas day, the second Christmas since we left our homes in the Sumter. Last year we were buffetting the storms of the North Atlantic near the Azores. Now we are snugly anchored in the Arcas; and how many eventful periods have passed in the interval. Our poor people have been terribly pressed in this wicked and ruthless war, and they have borne privations and sufferings which nothing but an intense patriotism could have sustained. ”

“ On October 7th the bark Wave Crest, with grain for Cardiff, Wales, ran into the Alabama’s net. She was used as a target, and in the evening was burned. The deceptive glare proved a decoy for the brigantine Dunkirk, also grain laden, bound for Lisbon, and she, too, was fired. One of the crew of the Dunkirk was recognized as George Forest, who had deserted from the Sumter when she lay at Cadiz some ten months previously. He was duly tried by court-martial and sentenced to serve without pay. ”

“ November 11th the magnificent clipper Contest led the Alabama a desperate chase in the Sea of Java, and although the latter was under both sail and steam, came very near escaping. Captain Semmes ordered some of the forward guns trundled aft and the crew assembled on the quarter deck, by which means the bow of the cruiser was lifted higher in the water; and, the wind dying down, the Alabama got near enough to reach the chase with her guns and compel her to heave to. Her master brought his papers on board the Alabama, which showed both ship and cargo to be American. ”

“ I think well of your suggestion of the East Indies as a cruising ground, and I hope to be in the track of the enemy’s commerce in those seas as early as October or November next: when I shall, doubtless, be able to lay other rich “burnt offerings” upon the altar of our country’s liberties.
John McIntosh Kell, the first lieutenant of the Alabama, had occupied the same position in the Sumter. He had served twenty years in the United States navy, had been in the war with Mexico, and had seen a great deal of active service. ”

“ A boat was sent from the Alabama, and as the boarding officer gained the whaler’s deck, the cruiser dropped her false colors, and ran up the Confederate flag.
The astonishment and consternation of Captain Abraham Osborn when he realized that he was a prisoner and that his ship and cargo were subject to confiscation, can only be imagined. International law, which is so careful [Pg 40] of property rights on land, affords no protection whatever at sea in the presence of a hostile force. The ship was the Ocmulgee, of Edgartown, Massachusetts. ”

“ CHAPTER XV. ADMIRAL WILKES IS MISTAKEN. As the Alabama left the anchorage of Fernando de Noronha four whale boats were successively cast adrift, and the islanders made a grand scramble for the possession of them. The successful ones became capitalists in the eyes of their fellows, as the boats were better than any others about the place. The second night at sea, about two hours after midnight a whaling bark was sighted, and after an hour’s chase succumbed to a blank cartridge. She was the Nye, of New Bedford, and had spent thirty-one months in the Pacific Ocean. ”

“ The ship’s bunkers were refilled with coal, a proceeding which barred the Alabama from again receiving the same courtesy in any British port for three months. Crowds of curious [Pg 120] visitors had to be entertained, and a constant watch must be kept to prevent liquor from being smuggled to the men, at least until the arduous labor of coaling ship was over. When shore leave was finally granted, the majority of the crew celebrated the occasion as usual by getting uproarously drunk, and many of them might be seen assisting their late adversaries of the Hatteras to get into a like condition. ”

“ The flag that floats over you is that of a young Republic, who bids defiance to her enemies, whenever and wherever found. Show the world that you know how to uphold it. Go to your quarters.
As before stated, the “Persuader” began to speak at long range-more than a mile. But it was no peaceful merchantman that she had now to accost; no fleeing Ariel, vomiting black smoke in a vain effort to get beyond her range—no white winged Starlight or Sea Bride, piling sail on sail to reach the shelter of a neutral [Pg 198] harbor. The Kearsarge only raced toward her with still greater speed. ”

“ The officers and crew were almost universally referred to as pirates. Indeed, the newspapers had some official warrant for this appellation. In his proclamation calling for 75,000 volunteers after the capture of Fort Sumter, President Lincoln had declared “that if any person, under the pretended authority of said states or under any other pretence shall molest a vessel of the United States, or the persons or cargo on board of her, such persons will be held amenable to the laws of the United States for the prevention and punishment of piracy.” ”

“ Captain Semmes’ cruelty to prisoners seems to have consisted chiefly of confining many of them in irons, an occasional display of his fiery temper, and certain outbursts of profanity. What the prisoners complained of most was the burning of their ships. But all southern ports being closed by the blockade, this is manifestly the only disposition he could make of them. ”

“ Water was scarce, and meat had to be brought from Angra, on the other side of the island. On the 13th a United States whaling schooner arrived, and one of the crew of the “Enrica” was indiscreet enough to make known the real character of his vessel, whereupon the whaler hastily departed.
At last, on the 18th of August, the anxiety of Captain Butcher was relieved by the arrival of the bark Agrippina from London, under command of Captain McQueen, with a cargo of ammunition, coal, stores of various kinds, and the necessary guns for the steamer’s armament. ”

“ Earl Russell desires me to state to you that British property on board a vessel belonging to one of the belligerants 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. ”

“ As the cruiser stood away from the blazing ship at 9 p. m. she fired a bow gun to bring to a large ship speeding northward. The stranger answered also with a gun. Aha! a man-of-war. But why this haste? Why carry royals in such a gale, unless safety depends upon it. The stranger must be a “Yankee” gun boat and one afraid to meet us, judging from the heels he shows. Or perhaps a valuable merchant ship playing man-of-war in order to deceive. So [Pg 156] reasoned Captain Semmes, and pressed on both steam and sail to overhaul the fleeing stranger. At midnight the Alabama was near enough to hail. ”

“ When you are perfectly satisfied that the Alabama has left the Gulf or the West Indies and gone to some other locality, you will proceed along the coast of [Pg 144] Brazil to Fernando de Noronha and Rio de Janeiro, making enquiry at such places as you may think advisable. From Rio continue your course to the Cape of Good Hope, thence back to St. Helena, Cape Verde, the Canaries, Madeira, Lisbon, Western Islands, and New York. ”

“ CRUISE AND CAPTURES OF THE ALABAMA.
CHAPTER I. ENGLAND AND THE BLOCKADE. In the decade preceding the Civil War in America the carrying trade of the United States had grown into a vast industry. The hardy seamen of New England had flung out the stars and stripes to every breeze, and cast anchor in the most remote regions where a paying cargo might be found. Up to October, 1862, they hardly felt that they had more at stake in the war of the Rebellion than any other loyal citizens. ”

“ The opinion of Captain Semmes in regard to the black and mixed inhabitants of Brazil may be gathered from the following excerpt from his memoirs:
The effete Portuguese race has been ingrafted upon a stupid, stolid Indian stock in that country. The freed negro is, besides, the equal of the white man, and as there seems to be no repugnance on the part of the white race—so called—to mix with the black race, and with the Indian, amalgamation will go on in that country, until a mongrel set of curs will cover the whole land. ”

“ Groups of soldiers were also seen and several officers in uniform. Many passengers with opera glasses could be seen curiously studying the construction and appointments of the false Union war ship. As the Alabama passed the wake of the packet, she wheeled in pursuit, ran up the Confederate flag, and fired a blank cartridge. Instantly the state of amused curiosity on the stranger’s deck gave way to panic. Ladies ran screaming below, and male passengers were by no means slow in keeping them company. ”