CAPTAIN LONLEY OF THE STEAMER HAVANA
The two twelve-pounders in each boat were believed to weigh about six
hundred pounds each, while the ordinary bronze boat gun of the same
calibre weighs seven hundred and sixty pounds. The four guns, therefore,
were rather too heavy a burden for the size of the cutters. But Christy
was unwilling to throw the two without carriages overboard, for the
water in this locality was so clear that they could have been seen at a
depth of two or three fathoms. They were useless for the duty in which
the expedition was engaged, and the commander of the expedition decided
to land them on the Seahorse Key till he had completed his operations in
the bay, when they could be taken off and transported to the Bronx as
trophies, if for nothing better.
Mr. Flint was disposed to object to this plan, on account of the time it
would require; but he yielded the point when Christy informed him that
it was only half past two, as he learned from the repeater he carried
for its usefulness on just such duty as the present expedition.
The guns and all that belonged to them were landed on the Key, and the
boats shoved off, the lieutenants happy in the thought that they were no
longer embarrassed by their weight, while they could not be brought to
bear upon them.
The boats had hardly left the little island behind them when the noise
of paddle wheels ahead was reported by one of the trio in the bow of the
first cutter. Christy listened with all his ears, and immediately heard
the peculiar sounds caused by the slapping of the paddle wheels of a
steamer upon the water.
"We are in for something," said he to the pilot, as he listened to the
sounds. "What might that be?"
"It is a steamer without any doubt coming around the point, and she will
be in sight in a moment or two," replied Mr. Amblen. "It may be a river
steamer that has brought a load of cotton down the Suwanee, and is going
out on this tide."
"Then we may need those guns we have left on the key," suggested
Christy.
"If she is a river steamer, there is not much of a force on board of
her," replied the pilot.
"We might return to the island, and use the two guns with carriages
there."
"If she is a river steamer, we shall not need great guns to capture
her."
Christy had ordered the men to cease rowing, and the two cutters lay
motionless on the full sea, for the tide was at its height by this time.
Even in the darkness they could make out whether the approaching vessel
was a river or a sea steamer as soon as she could be seen.
"Whatever she is, we must capture her," said Christy, very decidedly.
"If she is a river steamer, she will be of no use to the government,"
added Mr. Amblen.
"Of none at all." replied Christy. "In that case I shall burn her, for
it would not be safe to send good men in such a craft to a port where
she could be condemned. The next question is, shall we take her here,
or nearer to the shore."
"The farther from the shore the better, I should say, Mr. Passford.
After she passes the Seahorse Key, she will be in deep water for a
vessel coming out of that port; and until she gets to the Key, she will
move very slowly, and we can board her better than when she is going at
full speed," said Mr. Amblen.
"You are doubtless quite right, Mr. Amblen, and I shall adopt your
suggestion," replied Christy. "There she comes, and she is no river
steamer."
She had not the two tall funnels carried by river steamers, and that
point was enough to settle her character. There could be no doubt she
would have been a blockade runner, if there had been any blockade to
run at the entrance to the port. Christy decided to board the steamer
between the two keys, the channel passing between Snake and Seahorse.
The first cutter fell back so that Christy could communicate with Mr.
Flint, and he instructed him to take a position off the Snake Key, where
his boat could not be discovered too soon, and board the steamer on the
port side, though he did not expect any resistance. Each cutter took its
position and awaited in silence the approach of the blockade runner. The
only thing Christy feared was that she would come about and run back to
the port, though this could only delay her capture.
The steamer, as well as the officers could judge her in the distance,
was hardly larger than the Bronx. They concluded that she must be loaded
with cotton, and at this time it was about as valuable a cargo as could
be put on board of her. She would be a rich prize, and the masts of the
schooners were still to be seen over the tops of the buildings. She must
have chosen this hour of the night to go out, not only on account of the
tide, but because the darkness would enable her to get off the coast
where a blockader occasionally wandered before the blockade was fully
established. Her paddle wheels indicated that she had not been built
very recently, for very nearly all sea steamers, including those of the
United States, were propelled by the screw.
As Mr. Amblen had predicted the steamer moved very slowly, and it was
all of a quarter of an hour before she came to the Seahorse Key. At the
right time Christy gave the word to the crew to "Give way lively!" and
the first cutter shot out from the concealment of the little island,
while Flint did the same on the other side of the channel. Almost in the
twinkling of an eye the two boats had made fast to her, and seven men
from each boat leaped on the deck of the steamer, cutlass in hand. No
guns were to be seen, and the watch of not more than half a dozen men
were on the forecastle; and perhaps this was the entire force of the
sailing department.
"What does all this mean?" demanded a man coming from the after part of
the vessel, in a voice which Christy recognized as soon as he had heard
half of the sentence.
"Good morning, Captain Lonley," said Christy, in the pleasantest of
tones. "You are up early, my friend, but I think we are a little ahead
of you on this occasion."
"Who are you, sir?" demanded Lonley; and Christy had at once jumped to
the conclusion that he was the captain of the steamer. "I have heard
your voice before, but I cannot place you, sir."
"Fortunately for me, it is not necessary that you should place me this
time," replied Christy. "It is equally fortunate that I am not compelled
to place you again, as I felt obliged to do, on board of the Judith in
Mobile Bay."
"Passford!" exclaimed Captain Lonley, stepping back a pace in his
astonishment.
"Passford, late of the Bellevite, and now executive officer of the
United States steamer Bronx, formerly the Teaser, privateer," answered
Christy, in his usual cheerful tones. "May I inquire the name of this
steamer?"
"This steamer is the Havana," replied Captain Lonley. "May I ask you,
Mr. Passford, in regard to your business on board of her?"
"I have a little affair on board of her, and my duty compels me to
demand her surrender as a prize to the Bronx."
"Caught again!" exclaimed Captain Lonley, stamping violently on the deck
in his disgust at his misfortune, and it was the third time that Christy
had thrown him "out of a job."
"The way of the transgressor is hard, Captain Lonley," added the
commander of the expedition.
"Transgressor, sir!" ejaculated the captain of the Havana. "What do you
mean by that, Mr. Passford?"
"Well, captain, you are in arms against the best government that the
good God ever permitted to exist for eighty odd years; and that is the
greatest transgression of which one can be guilty in a patriotic sense."
"I hold no allegiance to that government."
"So much the worse for you, Captain Lonley; but we will not talk
politics. Do you surrender?"
"This is not an armed steamer, and I have no force to resist; I am
compelled to surrender," replied the captain as he glanced at the
cutlasses of the men from the Bronx.
"That is a correct, though not a cheerful view of the question on
your part. I am very happy to relieve you from any further care of the
Havana, and you may retire to your cabin, where I shall have the honor
to wait upon you later."
"One word, Mr. Passford, if you please," said Captain Lonley, taking
Christy by the arm and leading him away from the rest of the boarding
party. "This steamer and the cotton with which she is loaded are the
property of your uncle, Homer Passford."
"Indeed?" was all that Christy thought it necessary to say in reply.
"You have already taken from him one valuable cargo of cotton; and it
would be magnanimous in you, as well as very kind of a near relative,
to allow me to pass on my way with the property of your uncle."
"Would it have been kind on the part of a near relative to allow his own
brother to pass out of Mobile Bay in the Bellevite?"
"That would have been quite another thing, for the Bellevite was
intended for the Federal navy," protested the Confederate captain. "It
would have been sacrificing his country to his fraternal feelings. This
is not a Confederate vessel, and is not intended as a war steamer,"
argued Lonley.
"Every pound of cotton my uncle sells is so much strength added to the
cause he advocates; and I hope, with no unkind thoughts or feelings in
regard to him, I shall be able to capture every vessel he sends out.
That is my view of the matter, and I am just as strong on my side of the
question as Uncle Homer is on his side. I would cut off my right hand
before I would allow your vessel or any other to escape, for I have
sworn allegiance to my government, and when I fail to do my duty at any
sacrifice of personal feeling, it will be when I have lost my mind; and
my uncle would do as much for his fractional government. We need not
discuss such a subject as you suggest, captain."
Captain Lonley said no more, and retired to his cabin. Christy was ready
for the next question in order. Accompanied by Mr. Flint, he looked the
steamer over. The mate had lighted his pipe and seated himself on a
water cask; and he seemed to be the only officer besides the captain on
board. The engineers were next visited. There were two of them, but they
were red hot for the Confederacy, and nothing was said to them except to
order them on deck, where they were placed with the crew, and a guard of
seamen set over them. The firemen were negroes, and they were willing to
serve under the new master, and doubtless were pleased with the change.
The crew of the Bronx on board of the Havana were canvassed to find a
man who had run an engine, but not one of them had any experience.
"That's bad," said Flint, when they had finished the inquiry. "We have
not an engineer on board, and we shall have to send off to the Bronx for
one."
"Not so bad as that, Mr. Flint," replied Christy. "There is one loyal
engineer on board, and I am the one. You will take the deck, and Mr.
Amblen will go into the pilot house. I am not quite ready to go off to
the Bronx yet, for there are two or three cotton schooners in this port,
and we are so fortunate as to have a steamer now to tow them out."
"Very likely those soldiers have waked up by this time," said Flint.
"Let them fire those guns at us, if they can find them," laughed
Christy.
Then he took Mr. Amblen into the engine room with him.