Cruise And Captures Of The Alabama Part 5

Nevertheless, she might prove a good prize.

"All hands work s.h.i.+p," called the boatswain, and Lieutenant Kell, seizing his trumpet, directed the furling of sails and the lowering of the propeller. The firemen worked like beavers, and in twenty minutes a sailing vessel had been transformed into a steamer. At a distance of three or four miles the United States flag was run up, and the stranger responded with the same ensign. The rapidity with which the latter approached showed that she was swift, but it was soon ascertained that she carried no guns. The Alabama ran down across her path as if to speak her, but the stranger kept away a little and swept by within a stone's throw.

The great packet-steamer had all her awnings set, and under these was a crowd of pa.s.sengers of both s.e.xes. Groups of soldiers were also seen and several officers in uniform. Many pa.s.sengers with opera gla.s.ses could be seen curiously studying the construction and appointments of the false Union war s.h.i.+p. As the Alabama pa.s.sed 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 pa.s.sengers were by no means slow in keeping them company. Great clouds of black smoke poured from the smoke stacks of the fleeing monster, and her huge walking beam responded still more rapidly to the strain of her engines. 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 sh.e.l.l splintered the foremast of the fugitive ten feet above the deck. Her master declined to expose his pa.s.sengers to a second shot, and the stranger's engines were stopped, and she soon lay motionless awaiting the approach of her captor.

The prize proved to be the California mail-steamer Ariel, Captain Jones, bound to the Isthmus of Panama with five hundred and thirty-two pa.s.sengers, mostly women and children, on board, a battallion of one hundred and forty-five United States marines, and a number of naval officers, including Commander Sartori, who was on his way to the Pacific to take command of the United States sailing sloop St. Marys. The boarding officer reported great consternation among the pa.s.sengers. Many of them were hastily secreting articles of value, and the ladies were inclined to hysterics, not knowing to what indignities they might be subjected by the "pirates." At this juncture Lieutenant Armstrong was ordered to take the captain's gig and a boat's crew rigged out in white duck, and proceed on board arrayed in his best uniform and brightest smile, and endeavor to restore a feeling of security. The young lieutenant found the most serious obstacle to the success of his mission in the person of the commander of the marines, who strenuously objected to having his men considered as prisoners of war and put on parole. But the lieutenant had a clinching argument in the muzzles of the Alabama's guns, then distant but a few yards, and the marines finally stacked their arms and took the oath not to bear arms against the Confederacy until exchanged. $8,000 in United States treasury notes and $1,500 in silver were found in the safe, which Captain Jones admitted to be the property of the vessel's owner, and this was turned over to Captain Semmes. The boats' crews behaved very well, and none of the personal effects of the prisoners were seized.

[Ill.u.s.tration: SECOND LIEUTENANT R. F. ARMSTRONG]

The captain and engineers of the Ariel were sent on board the Alabama, and a number of the Alabama's engineers took possession of the Ariel's engines. Lieutenant Armstrong and Mids.h.i.+pman Sinclair, who acted as his executive officer, were not long in ingratiating themselves with the ladies, and when they finally left the prize two days later, nearly all the b.u.t.tons on their coats had been given away as mementoes. They occupied respectively the head and foot of the long dining table. When champagne was brought in they proposed the health of Jefferson Davis, which they requested should be drunk standing. Their request was complied with amid considerable merriment, and then the Yankee girls retaliated by proposing the health of President Lincoln, which was drunk with a storm of hurrahs.

The next day after the capture of the Ariel the prize crew was hastily withdrawn from her, bringing away certain small fixtures from the engines, which rendered them temporarily useless. The reason for this move was the appearance of another steamer on the horizon, which it was hoped would prove to be the treasure steamer for which the Alabama had been waiting for a week past. Captain Semmes was doomed to another disappointment, however, for she was neutral. About eight o'clock the next evening, while in chase of a brig, which was afterward found to be from one of the German states, a valve casting broke in one of the Alabama's engines, and the chief engineer reported that it would take at least twenty-four hours to repair the damage. Captain Semmes had been extremely loth to release the Ariel. To get her into a Confederate port was, of course, impossible, and the Alabama could not possibly accommodate such an immense number of pa.s.sengers, even for the short time necessary to run into the nearest neutral port. He was debating in his own mind whether it might not be possible to get his prize into Kingston, Jamaica, long enough to get his prisoners ash.o.r.e, when the accident happened to the engine, and a boat sent to board the German brig brought back the information that there was yellow fever at Kingston. A bond for the value of the prize and her cargo was therefore exacted from Captain Jones, and the Ariel was suffered to proceed on her voyage.

CHAPTER XI.

RECREATION AT ARCAS KEYS.

The Alabama coasted along the secluded north sh.o.r.e of Jamaica for the next forty-eight hours, while the engine was undergoing repair. It was now the 12th day of December, and Captain Semmes proceeded to carry out his plan of getting into the Gulf of Mexico without being seen. On the 13th he writes in his journal:

Weather fine. Pa.s.sed the west end of Jamaica about noon.

s.h.i.+p-cleaning day. Nothing in sight, and I desire to see nothing (unless it be a homeward bound California Steamer) at present, as it is important I should make the run I contemplate without being traced. I should like to touch at the Caymans for fruits and vegetables for the crew, but forbear on this account.

And on the 15th he makes this entry:

Fresh trade; s.h.i.+p running along under topsails. This running down, down, before the ever constant trade wind, to run up against it by and by under steam is not pleasant. Still, G.o.d willing, I hope to strike a blow of some importance and make my retreat safely out of the gulf.

Have a care, Captain Semmes! Rear Admiral Wilkes, with the Wachusett and the Sonoma, is hot on your trail, and his scent is improving. He is only three days behind the Agrippina at the Grand Cayman, where thrifty Captain McQueen has touched to do a little trading on his own account.

[Ill.u.s.tration: U. S. STEAMs.h.i.+P WACHUSETT.]

December 17th to 19th the Alabama struggled with a three days' gale about midway between the westerly end of Cuba and the coast of Honduras. In this gale the Wachusett burst her boiler tubes and the Sonoma rolled away her smokestack, but this fortunately did not go overboard, and when the weather cleared it was put in place again. On the 20th the Alabama's lookout sighted the islands near the north-east point of Yucatan, and the same night Captain Semmes groped his way through the Yucatan Channel by means of the lead, finding himself next morning in the Gulf of Mexico, without having seen a human being by whom the whereabouts of his vessel could be reported. On the 23d the Agrippina was overhauled, and the two vessels ran together to the Arcas Keys.

These little islands are of coral formation, and are three in number, forming a triangle. The Alabama and her consort found very good anchorage inside the triangle, with no danger from gales unless they should blow from the southeast, which Captain Semmes decided would be unlikely at this time of the year. Here he made his preparations to pounce upon the Banks transport fleet. The remainder of the coal which had been left in the Agrippina's hold at Blanquilla, was now transferred to the Alabama's bunkers, and Captain McQueen was directed to proceed to England for another supply. The next rendezvous was never reached by the Agrippina, however, and from this time forward Captain Semmes had to supply himself with coal as best he could. The Alabama was careened and her bottom scrubbed as well as possible under the circ.u.mstances, and various repairs were made to the sails and about decks.

The water was very transparent, and the anchor could be plainly seen at seven fathoms depth. Fish and turtles were observed swimming about, and all the wonders of coral architecture were visible below. There was no vegetation on the islands except sea kale and a few stunted bushes and cactus. Birds were in abundance, and the whole surface of the island was covered with their nests, containing eggs and young birds in all stages of growth. The older birds were very tame and usually refused to leave the nests until pushed off.

Two days after the arrival of the Alabama was Christmas day, and the crew were given sh.o.r.e 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 anch.o.r.ed in the Arcas; and how many eventful periods have pa.s.sed 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. They will live in history as a people worthy to be free, and future generations will be astonished at the folly and fanaticism, want of principle and wickedness, developed by this war among the Puritan population of the North; and in this cla.s.s nine-tenths of the native population of the northern states may be placed, to such an extent has the "Plymouth Rock"

leaven "leavened the whole loaf." A people so devoid of Christian charity, and wanting in so many of the essentials of honesty, cannot but be abandoned to their own folly by a just and benevolent G.o.d. Our crew is keeping Christmas by a run on sh.o.r.e, which they all seem to enjoy exceedingly. It is indeed very grateful to the senses to ramble about over even so confined a s.p.a.ce as the Arcas, after tossing about at sea in a continual state of excitement for months. Yesterday was the first time I touched the sh.o.r.e 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 sh.o.r.e in five months. My thoughts naturally turn on this quiet Christmas day, in this lonely island, to my dear family. I can only hope, and trust them to the protection of a merciful Providence.

The only sign of a holiday on board tonight is the usual "splicing of the main brace," _anglice_, giving Jack an extra allowance of grog.

Meanwhile "Jack's" thoughts were taking quite a different turn, if reports are to be trusted. Sh.o.r.e leave with no opportunity for a drunken carousal, was to him like the play of Hamlet with the princ.i.p.al character altogether omitted.

"Liberty on Christmas, the old pirate!" cried one of the crew, kicking up the carpet of sea kale. "Well, here goes for a quiet life. I can lick any man in the starboard watch."

His challenge was immediately accepted, and the net result was a number of broken heads and several men nearly incapacitated for duty.

The largest island contained a salt water lake, which was connected by an outlet with the sea at high tide, and at other times had a depth of about two and one-half feet of water. This pond was alive with fish, and on one occasion a group of junior and petty officers were fis.h.i.+ng here in one of the small boats, when a shark was discovered swimming leisurely along with a fin exposed and evidently gorged with fish. The chief engineer, Miles J.

Freeman, was bathing, and had waded about a hundred yards from the sh.o.r.e, when his attention was called to the man eater by the party in the boat.

The shark had no intention of attacking him, but the engineer did not stop to investigate the state of his sharks.h.i.+p's appet.i.te, and struck out l.u.s.tily for the sh.o.r.e. Not feeling that he was making satisfactory progress, he got on his feet and tried to wade. The water was just at that depth where no method of locomotion seems best, and so he floundered along, sometimes swimming, sometimes trying to run, until he finally reached the sh.o.r.e and threw himself on the sand utterly exhausted, while the party in the boat held their sides and screamed with laughter.

An Irishman named Michael Mars pushed the boat toward the shark, and jumping into the water, plunged his sheath knife into the belly of the big fish. The shark snapped his great jaws and slapped the water with his tail, but, disregarding all orders to get into the boat and let the shark alone, Mars kept up the fight until his enemy was vanquished, and the body was towed ash.o.r.e in triumph.

After some days the sojourners discovered that by driving off the birds from a certain area and breaking all the stale eggs, the nests were soon supplied with fresh ones by these prolific layers, and a palatable addition to s.h.i.+p fare was the result.

Meanwhile Admiral Wilkes was cruising off the westerly end of Cuba, thinking the Alabama would probably be there, trying to intercept the homeward bound California steamer. Doubtless she would have been there, had it not seemed to her commander that a more important duty called him to the gulf. Admiral Wilkes reasoned that the Agrippina could never have reached an easterly port against the heavy gale, and decided to look into the harbor of Mugeres Island in the narrowest part of Yucatan Channel, in the hope of finding her. Here he discovered a vessel which was at first thought to be the Alabama, but which proved to be the Virginia, formerly the Noe-Daquy, which was being fitted up to run the blockade. A Mexican officer had seized her, on the ground that she was engaged in the slave trade, and was not disposed to permit her being sent before a prize court at Key West. The complications arising in the case of this vessel kept Admiral Wilkes at Mugeres Island until January 18th, except that he made one trip to Havana for coal. Two days' sail to the westward would have brought him to the Arcas Keys, but he had no means of knowing that the Alabama had pa.s.sed into the gulf.

CHAPTER XII.

FIGHT WITH THE HATTERAS.

On the 5th of January, 1863, the Alabama left the Arcas Keys for her cruise to the northward. Full descriptions of the Banks expedition and its destination had appeared in the northern newspapers, and Captain Semmes was well supplied with information as to the character of the transport fleet and the time when it might be expected to arrive off Galveston. It was not likely that the transports would be accompanied by a great number of war vessels, as the Confederacy had no fleet in the gulf, and the northern papers had reported the Alabama as well on her way to the coast of Brazil. As there was only twelve feet of water on the bar, most of the transports would be obliged to anchor outside. A night attack--a quick dash--firebrands flung from deck to deck--and the fleet might be half destroyed before the gunboats could get up steam to pursue.

Semmes determined to run in by daylight far enough to get the bearings of the fleet, and then draw off and wait for darkness. He had permitted enough of his plan to leak through the ward room to the forecastle to put his people on their mettle, and the entire crew were eager for the fray.

On January 11th the man at the masthead was instructed to keep a lookout for a large fleet anch.o.r.ed near a lighthouse. His "sail ho! land ho!" came almost simultaneously, and the captain began to feel certain of his game.

But later questioning brought the answer that there was no fleet of transports--only five steamers, which looked like vessels of war. Soon after a sh.e.l.l thrown by one of the steamers was distinctly seen to burst over the city. It could not be that the Federals would be firing upon a city which was in their own possession, and Semmes immediately came to the correct conclusion that Galveston had been recaptured by the Confederates.

That the Banks expedition had been diverted to New Orleans, and would proceed toward Texas by way of the Red River he could not know, but that it had not reached Galveston was sufficiently apparent.

The Alabama's prow was turned off sh.o.r.e again, and presently the lookout called down that one of the steamers was in pursuit. Commodore Bell, of the Federal fleet had discovered the strange actions of the sail in the offing, and had suspected an intention of running the blockade. The gunboat Hatteras was therefore signalled to go in chase of the intruder.

The Alabama flew away under sail, but not so fast as to discourage her pursuer. The propeller was finally let down, and about twenty miles out she turned to meet the Hatteras. The engines on both vessels stopped at a distance of about a hundred yards, and the Federal hailed.

"What s.h.i.+p is that?"

"This is Her Britannic Majesty's s.h.i.+p Petrel," shouted Lieutenant Kell.

He then demanded the name of the pursuer. The first answer was not clearly heard. A second summons brought the reply:

"This is the United States s.h.i.+p--"

Again those on the Alabama failed to catch the name, and the people on the Hatteras seemed to be in a like predicament, for her officer shouted:

"I don't understand you."

"I don't understand _you_," rejoined Kell.

After a few moments' delay the Hatteras hailed again.