ON THE WAY TO MARANHAM--THE WEATHER AND THE WINDS--THE SUMTER RUNS SHORT
OF COAL, AND IS OBLIGED TO "BEAR UP"--CAYENNE AND PARAMARIBO, IN FRENCH
AND DUTCH GUIANA--SAILS AGAIN, AND ARRIVES IN MARANHAM, BRAZIL.
We passed out of the Gulf of Paria, through the eastern, or Mona passage,
a deep strait, not more than a third of a mile in width, with the land
rising, on both sides, to a great height, almost perpendicularly. The
water of the Orinoco here begins to mix with the sea-water, and the two
waters, as they come into unwilling contact, carry on a perpetual
struggle, whirling about in small circles, and writhing and twisting like
a serpent in pain.
We met the first heave of the sea at about two o'clock in the afternoon,
and turning our head again to the eastward, we continued to run along the
mountainous and picturesque coast of Trinidad, until an hour or two after
nightfall. The coast is quite precipitous, but, steep as it is, a number
of negro cabins had climbed the hill-sides, and now revealed their
presence to us by the twinkle of their lights, as the shades of evening
fell over the scene. These cabins were quite invisible, by daylight, so
dense was the foliage of the trees amid which they nestled. This must,
indeed, be the very paradise of the negro. The climate is so genial, that
he requires little or no clothing, and bountiful Nature supplies him with
food, all the year round, almost unasked. In this land of the sun, a
constant succession of fruits is pendent from the trees, and the dwellers
in the huts beneath their sheltering arms, have only to reach out their
hands when hunger presses. I was reminded, by this scene, of a visit I had
once made to the island of St. Domingo, and of the indolence in which the
negro lives in that soft and voluptuous climate. I landed at the bay of
Samana, from the ship of war to which I was attached, and taking a stroll,
one evening, I came upon the hut of an American negress. Some years
before, Boyer, the President of the island, had invited the immigration of
free negroes, from the United States. A colony from the city of Baltimore
had accepted his invitation, and settled at Samana. In the course of a
very few years, all the men of the colony had run off, and found their way
back, in various capacities, on board of trading vessels, to the land of
their birth; leaving their wives and daughters behind to shift for
themselves. The negro woman, whose hut I had stumbled upon, was one of
these grass widows. She had become quite old, but was living without
apparent effort. The cocoanut waved its feathery branches over her humble
domicil, and the juicy mango and fragrant banana hung within tempting
reach. A little plot of ground had been picketed in with crooked sticks,
and in this primitive garden were growing some squashes and watermelons,
barely visible under the rank weeds. I said to her, "My good woman, you
don't seem to have much use for the plough or the hoe in your garden."
"La! master," said she, "no need of much work in this country--we have
only to put in the seed, and the Lord, _he_ gives the increase."
In time, no doubt, all the West India islands will lapse into just such
luxuriant wildernesses, as we were now coasting along, in the _Sumter_.
Amalgamation, by slow, but sure processes, will corrupt what little of
European blood remains in them, until every trace of the white man shall
disappear. The first process will be the mulatto; but the mulatto, as the
name imports, is a mule, and must finally die out; and the mass of the
population will become pure African. This is the fate which England has
prepared, for some of her own blood, in her colonies. I will not stop here
to moralize on it. If we are beaten in this war, what will be our fate in
the Southern States? Shall we, too, become mongrelized, and disappear from
the face of the earth? Can this be the ultimate design of the Yankee? The
night was quite light, and taking a fresh departure, at about ten P. M.,
from the east end of Trinidad, we passed through the strait between it and
the island of Tobago, and soon afterward emerged from the Caribbean Sea,
upon the broad bosom of the South Atlantic. Judging by the tide rips, that
were quite visible in the moonlight there must have been considerable
current setting through this strait, to the westward. The next day the
weather was still fine, and the wind light from about E. N. E., and the
_Sumter_ made good speed through the smooth sea. At about ten A. M. a sail
was descried, some twelve or fourteen miles distant. She was away off on
our port beam, running before the trade-wind, and I forbore to chase. As
before remarked, I was not now cruising, but anxious to make a passage,
and could not afford the fuel to chase, away from the track I was
pursuing, the few straggling sail I might discover in this lonely sea.
Once in the track of commerce, where the sails would come fast and thick,
I could make up for lost time. At noon, we observed in latitude 9 deg.
14'; the longitude, by chronometer, being 59 deg. 10'.
_Wednesday, August 7th._--Weather clear, and delightful, and the sea
smooth. Nothing but the broad expanse of the ocean visible, except,
indeed, numerous flocks of flying-fish, which we are flushing, now and
then like so many flocks of partridges, as we disturb the still waters.
These little creatures have about the flight of the partridge, and it is a
pretty sight to see them skim away over the billows with their transparent
finny wings glistening in the sun, until they drop again into their
"cover," as suddenly as they rose. Our crew having been somewhat broken in
upon, by the sending away of so many prize crews, the first lieutenant is
re-arranging his watch and quarter-bills, and the men are being exercised
at the guns, to accustom them to the changes which have become necessary,
in their stations. Officers and men are enjoying, alike, the fine weather.
With the fore-castle, and quarter-deck awnings spread, we do not feel the
heat, though the sun is nearly perpendicular at noon. Jack is
"overhauling" his clothes'-bag, and busy with his needle and thread,
stopping, now and then, to have a "lark" with his monkey, or to listen to
the prattle of his parrot. The boys of the ship are taking lessons, in
knotting, and splicing, and listening to the "yarn" of some old salt, as
he indoctrinates them in these mysteries. The midshipmen have their books
of navigation spread out before them, and slate in hand, are discussing
sine and tangent, base, and hypothenuse. The only place in which a lounger
is not seen is the quarter-deck. This precinct is always sacred to duty,
and etiquette. No one ever presumes to seat himself upon it, not even the
Commander. Here the officer of the deck is pacing to and fro, swinging his
trumpet idly about, for the want of something to do. But hold a moment! he
has at last found a job. It is seven bells (half-past eleven) and the
ship's cook has come to the mast, to report dinner. The cook is a darkey,
and see how he grins, as the officer of the deck, having tasted of the fat
pork, in his tin pan, and mashed some of his beans, with a spoon, to see
if they are done, tells him, "that will do." The Commander now comes on
deck, with his sextant, having been informed that it is time to "look out
for the sun." See, he gathers the midshipmen around him, each also with
his instrument, and, from time to time, asks them what "altitude they have
on," and compares the altitude which they give him with his own, to see if
they are making satisfactory progress as observers. The latitude being
obtained, and reported to the officer of the deck, that officer now comes
up to the Commander, and touching his hat, reports twelve o'clock, as
though the Commander didn't know it already. The Commander says to him,
sententiously, "make it so," as though the sun could not make it so,
without the Commander's leave. See, now what a stir there is about the
hitherto silent decks. Since we last cast a glance at them, Jack has put
up his clothes'-bag, and the sweepers have "swept down," fore and aft, and
the boatswain having piped to dinner, the cooks of the different messes
are spreading their "mess-cloths" on the deck, and arranging their viands.
The drum has rolled, "to grog," and the master's mate of the spirit-room,
muster-book in hand, is calling over the names of the crew, each man as
his name is called, waddling up to the tub, and taking the "tot" that is
handed to him, by the "Jack-of-the-dust," who is the master-mate's
assistant. Dinner now proceeds with somewhat noisy jest and joke, and the
hands are not "turned to," that is, set to work again, until one o'clock.
We have averaged, in the last twenty-four hours, eight knots and a half,
and have not, as yet, experienced any adverse current, though we are daily
on the lookout for this enemy; latitude 8 deg. 31'; longitude 56 deg. 12'.
In the course of the afternoon, a brigantine passing near us, we hove her
to, with a blank cartridge, when she showed us the Dutch colors. She was
from Dutch Surinam, bound for Europe. Toward nightfall, it became quite
calm, and naught was heard but the thumping of the ship's propeller, as
she urged her ceaseless way through the vast expanse of waters.
_August 8th._--Weather still beautifully clear, with an occasional rain
squall enclosing us as in a gauze veil, and shutting out from view for a
few minutes, at a time, the distant horizon. The wind is light, and
variable, but always from the Eastern board; following the sun as the
chariot follows the steed. We are making good speed through the water, but
we have at length encountered our dreaded enemy, the great equatorial
current, which sets, with such regularity, along this coast. Its set is
about W. N. W., and its drift about one knot per hour. Nothing has been
seen to-day. The water has changed its deep blue color, to green,
indicating that we are on soundings. We are about ninety miles from the
coast of Guiana. The sun went down behind banks, or rather cumuli of pink
and lilac clouds. We are fast sinking the north polar star, and new
constellations arise, nightly, above the southern horizon. Amid other
starry wonders, we had a fine view this evening, of the southern cross;
latitude 7 deg. 19'; longitude 53 deg. 04'.
The next day was cloudy, and the direction of the current was somewhat
changed, for its set was now N. W., half N. This current is proving a
serious drawback, and I begin to fear, that I shall not be able to make
the run to Maranham, as I had hoped. Not only are the elements adverse,
but my engineer tells me, that we were badly cheated, in our coal measure,
at Trinidad, the sharp coal-dealer having failed to put on board of us as
many tons as he had been paid for; for which the said engineer got a
rowing. We observed, to-day, in latitude 6 deg. 01' and longitude
50 deg. 48'.
_August 10th._--Weather clear, with a deep blue sea, and a fresh breeze,
from the south-east. The south-east trade-winds have thus crossed the
equator, and reached us in latitude 5 deg. north, which is our latitude
to-day. I was apprehensive of this, for we are in the middle of August,
and in this month these winds frequently drive back the north-east trades,
and usurp their place, to a considerable extent, until the sun crosses
back into the southern hemisphere. We thus have both wind, and current
ahead; the current alone has retarded us fifty miles, or a fraction over
two knots an hour; which is about equal to the drift of the Gulf Stream
off Cape Hatteras.
Things were beginning now to look decidedly serious. I had but three days
of fuel on board, and, upon consulting my chart, I found that I was still
550 miles from my port, current taken into account. It was not possible
for the dull little _Sumter_ to make this distance, in the given time, if
the wind, and current should continue of the same strength. I resolved to
try her, however, another night, hoping that some change for the better
might take place. My journal tells the tale of that night as follows:--
_August 11th._--"The morning has dawned with a fresh breeze, and rather
rough sea, into which we have been plunging all night, making but little
headway. The genius of the east wind refuses to permit even steam to
invade his domain, and drives us back, with disdain. His ally, the
current, has retarded us sixty miles in the last twenty-four hours!" I now
no longer hesitated, but directing the engineer to let his fires go down,
turned my ship's head, to the westward, and made sail; it being my
intention to run down the coast to Cayenne in French Guiana, with the hope
of obtaining a fresh supply of fuel at that place. We soon had the
studding sails on the ship, and were rolling along to the northward and
westward, with more grace than speed, our rate of sailing being only four
knots. The afternoon proved to be remarkably fine, and we should have
enjoyed this _far niente_ change, but for our disappointment. Our chief
regret was that we were losing so much valuable time, in the midst of the
stirring events of the war.
Hauling in for the coast, in the vicinity of Cape Orange, we struck
soundings about nightfall. The sea now became quite smooth, and the wind
fell very light during the night--the current, however, is hurrying us
on, though its set is not exactly in the right direction. Its tendency is
to drive us too far from the coast. The next day, it became perfectly
calm, and so continued all day. We were in twenty-three fathoms of water,
and could see by the lead line that we were drifting over the bottom at
the rate of about two knots an hour. We got out our fishing-lines, and
caught some deep sea-fish, of the grouper species. The sea was alive with
the nautilus, and the curious sea-nettle, with its warps and hawsers
thrown out, and its semi-transparent, gelatinous disc contracting and
expanding, as the little animal extracted its food from the water. Schools
of fish, large and small, were playing about in every direction, and
flocks of sea-gulls, and other marine birds of prey, were hovering over
them, and making occasional forays in their midst. During the day, a sail
was descried, far in shore, but we were unable to make it out; indeed
sails were of the least importance to us now, as we were unable to chase.
Just before sunset, we had a fine view of the Silver Mountains, some forty
or fifty miles distant, in the south-west.
_August 15th._--During the past night, we made the "Great Constable," a
small island, off the coast, and one of the landmarks for Cayenne. The
night was fine, and moonlit, and we ran in, and anchored about midnight,
in fourteen fathoms of water. At daylight, the next morning, after waiting
for the passage of a rain-squall, we got under way, and proceeding along
the coast, came up with the Remize Islands, in the course of the
afternoon, where we found a French pilot-lugger lying to, waiting for us.
We were off Cayenne, and the lugger had come out to show us the way into
the anchorage. A pilot jumping on board, we ran in, and anchored to the
north-west of the "Child"--a small island--in three and a quarter fathoms
of water. I could scarcely realize, that this was the famous penal
settlement of Cayenne, painted in French history, as the very abode of
death, and fraught with all other human horrors, so beautiful, and
picturesque did it appear. The outlying islands are high, rising,
generally, in a conical form, and are densely wooded, to their very
summits. Sweet little nooks and coves, overhung by the waving foliage of
strange-looking tropical trees, indent their shores, and invite the
fisherman, or pleasure-seeker to explore their recesses. The main land is
equally rich in vegetation, and though the sea-coast is low, distant
ranges of mountains, inland, break in, agreeably, upon the monotony. A
perennial summer prevails, and storms, and hurricanes are unknown. It was
here that some of the most desperate and bloodthirsty of the French
revolutionists of 1790, were banished. Many of them died of yellow fever;
others escaped, and wandered off to find inhospitable graves, in other
countries; few of them ever returned to France. Shortly after we came to
anchor, the batteries of the town, and some small French steamers of war,
that lay in the harbor, fired salutes in honor of the birthday of Louis
Napoleon--this being the 15th of August.
The next morning, at daylight, I dispatched Lieutenant Evans, and
Paymaster Myers, to the town--the former to call on the Governor, and the
latter to see if any coal could be had. Their errand was fruitless. Not
only was there no coal to be purchased, but my officers thought that they
had been received rather ungraciously. The fact is, we found here, as in
Curacoa, that the enemy was in possession of the neutral territory. There
was a Federal Consul resident in the place, who was the principal
contractor, for supplying the French garrison with fresh beef! and there
were three, or four Yankee schooners in the harbor, whose skippers had a
monopoly of the trade in flour and notions. What could the _Sumter_ effect
against such odds?
In the course of an hour after my boat returned, we were again under way,
running down the coast, in the direction of Surinam, to see if the
Dutchmen would prove more propitious, than the Frenchmen had done. About
six P. M., we passed the "Salut" Islands, three in number, on the summit
of one of which shone the white walls of a French military hospital,
contrasting prettily with the deep-green foliage of the shade-trees around
it. It was surrounded by low walls, on which were mounted some small guns
_en barbette_. Hither are sent all the sick sailors, and soldiers from
Cayenne.
_August 17th._--Morning clear, and beautiful, as usual, in this delightful
climate, with a fresh breeze from the south-east. We are now in latitude
6 deg. north, and still the south-east trade-wind is following us--the
calm belt having been pushed farther and farther to the northward. We are
running along in ten fathoms of water, at an average distance of seven, or
eight miles, from the land, with the soundings surprisingly regular.
Passed the mouth of the small river Maroni, at noon. At four P. M., ran
across a bank, in very muddy water, some fifteen miles to the northward
and eastward, of the entrance of this river, with only three fathoms of
water on it; rather close shaving on a strange coast, having but six feet
of water under our keel. Becoming a little nervous, we "hauled out," and
soon deepened into five fathoms. There is little danger of shipwreck, on
this coast, however, owing to the regularity of the soundings, and the
almost perpetual smoothness of the sea. The bars off the mouths of the
rivers, too, are, for the most part, of mud, where a ship _sticks_, rather
than _thumps_. Hence, the temerity with which we ran into shallow waters.
_Sunday, August 18th._--The south-east wind came to us, as softly, and
almost as sweetly, this morning, as if it were "breathing o'er a bed of
violets;" but it freshened as the day advanced, in obedience to the
mandate of its master, the sun, and we had a fresh breeze, toward
nightfall. After passing Post Orange, we ran over another three-fathom
bank, the water deepening beyond, and enabling us to haul in toward the
coast, as we approached Bram's Point, at the mouth of the Surinam River,
off which we anchored, (near the buoy on the bar,) at twenty minutes past
five P. M., in four fathoms of water. This being Sunday, as we were
running along the coast, we had mustered and inspected the crew, and
caused the clerk to read the articles "for the better government of the
Navy" to them--the same old articles, though not read under the same old
flag, as formerly. This was my invariable practice on the Sabbath. It
broke in, pleasantly, and agreeably, upon the routine duties of the week,
pretty much as church-going does, on shore, and had a capital effect,
besides, upon discipline, reminding the sailor of his responsibility to
the laws, and that there were such merciless tribunals, as Courts-Martial,
for their enforcement. The very shaving, and washing, and dressing, of a
Sunday morning, contributed to the sailor's self-respect. The "muster"
gratified, too, one of his passions, as it gave him the opportunity of
displaying all those anchors, and stars, which he had so industriously
embroidered, in floss silk, on his ample shirt-collar, and on the sleeve
of his jacket. We had some dandies on board the _Sumter_, and it was
amusing to witness the self-complacent air, with which these gentlemen
would move around the capstan, with the blackest, and most carefully
polished of pumps, and the whitest, and finest of sinnott hats, from which
would be streaming yards enough of ribbon, to make the ship a pennant.
I had had considerable difficulty in identifying the mouth of the Surinam
River, so low and uniform in appearance was the coast, as seen from the
distance at which we had been compelled to run along it, by the
shallowness of the water. There is great similarity between these shelving
banks, running off to a great distance, at sea, and the banks on the coast
of West Florida. The rule of soundings, on some parts of the latter coast,
is a foot to the mile, so that, when the navigator is in ten feet of
water, he is ten miles from the land. This is not quite the case, on the
coast of Guiana, but on some parts of it, a large ship can scarcely come
within sight of the land. A small craft, drawing but a few feet of water,
has no need of making a harbor, on either coast, for the whole coast is a
harbor--the sea, in bad weather, breaking in from three to five fathoms of
water, miles outside of her, leaving all smooth and calm within. There is
a difference, however, between the two coasts--the Florida coast is
scourged by the hurricane, whilst the Guiana coast is entirely free from
storms.
Soon after we came to anchor, as related, we descried a steamer in the
west, steering for the mouth of the river. Nothing was more likely than
that, by this time, the enemy should have sent some of his fast gun-boats
in pursuit of us, and the smoke of a steamer on the horizon, therefore,
caused me some uneasiness. I knew that I had not a chivalrous enemy to
deal with, who would be likely to give me a fair fight. The captures made
by the _Sumter_ had not only touched the Yankee in a very tender spot--his
pocket--they had administered, also, a well-merited rebuke to his
ridiculous self-conceit. It was monstrous, indeed, in his estimation, that
any one should have the audacity, in the face of Mr. Lincoln's
proclamation of prompt vengeance, to molest one of his ships. A malignant
press, from Maine to Maryland, had denounced the _Sumter_ as a pirate, and
no quarter was to be shown her. The steamer, now approaching, having been
descried, at a great distance, by the curling of her black smoke high into
the still air, night set in before she was near enough to be made out. We
could see her form indistinctly, in the darkness, but no certain
conclusion could be arrived at as to her size or nationality. I, at once,
caused my fires to be lighted, and, beating to quarters, prepared my ship
for action. We stood at our guns for some time, but seeing, about ten P.
M., that the strange steamer came to anchor, some three or four miles
outside of us, I permitted the men to leave their quarters, cautioning the
officer of the watch, however, to keep a bright lookout, during the night,
for the approach of boats, and to call me if there should be any cause for
alarm. As I turned in, I thought things looked a little squally. If the
strange vessel were a mail-steamer, she would, of course, be familiar with
the waters in which she plied, and, instead of anchoring outside, would
have run boldly into the river without waiting for daylight. Besides, she
had no lights about her, as she approached, and packet steamers always go
well lighted up. That she was a steamer of war, therefore, appeared quite
certain; but, of course, it was of no use to speculate upon the chances of
her being an enemy; daylight only could reveal that. In the meantime, the
best thing we could do would be to get a good night's rest, so as to rise
refreshed for the morning's work, if work there should be.
At daylight, all hands were again summoned to their quarters; and pretty
soon the strange steamer was observed to be under way, and standing toward
us. We got up our own anchor in a trice--the men running around the
capstan in "double-quick,"--and putting the ship under steam, started to
meet her. Neither of us had, as yet, any colors hoisted. We soon perceived
that the stranger was no heavier than ourselves. This greatly encouraged
me, and I could see a corresponding lighting up of the faces of my crew,
all standing silently at their guns. Desiring to make the stranger reveal
her nationality to me first, I now hoisted the French colors--a fine new
flag, that I had had made in New Orleans. To my astonishment, and no
little perplexity, up went the same colors, on board the stranger! I was
alongside of a French ship of war, pretending to be a Frenchman myself! Of
course, there was but one thing to be done, and that was, to haul down the
French flag and hoist my own, which was done in an instant, when we
mutually hailed. A colloquy ensued, when the names of the two ships were
interchanged, and we ascertained that the stranger was bound into the
Surinam, like ourselves. We now both ran in for the light-ship, and the
Frenchman receiving a pilot on board from her, I permitted him to take the
lead, and we followed him up the long and narrow channel, having sometimes
scarcely a foot of water to spare under our keel.
After we had passed inside of Bram's Point, the tide being out, both ships
anchored to wait for the returning flood. I took advantage of the
opportunity, and sent a lieutenant to visit the French ship. The
_Vulture_, for such was her name, was one of the old-fashioned, side-wheel
steamers, mounting only carronades, and was last from Martinique, with
convicts on board, for Cayenne. Running short of coal, she was putting
into Paramaribo, for a supply. Getting under way again, soon after
mid-day, we continued our course up the river. We were much reminded, by
the scenery of the Surinam, of that of some of our Southern rivers--the
Mississippi, for instance, after the voyager from the Gulf has left the
marshes behind him, and is approaching New Orleans. The bottom lands, near
the river, are cleared, and occupied by sugar, and other plantations, the
back-ground of the picture presenting a dense, and unbroken forest. As we
passed the well-known sugar-house, with its tall chimney, emitting volumes
of black smoke, and saw gangs of slaves, cutting, and hauling in the cane,
the illusion was quite perfect. Nothing can exceed the fertility of these
alluvial lands. They are absolutely inexhaustible, yielding crop after
crop, in continual succession, without rest or interval; there being no
frosts to interfere with vegetation, in this genial climate. Some of the
planters' dwellings were tasteful, and even elegant, surrounded by
galleries whose green Venetian blinds gave promise of coolness within, and
sheltered besides by the umbrageous arms of giant forest-trees. Cattle
wandered over the pasture lands, the negroes were well clothed, and there
was a general air of abundance, and contentment. Slavery is held by a very
precarious tenure, here, and will doubtless soon disappear, there being a
strong party, in Holland, in favor of its abolition. Our consort, the
_Vulture_, and ourselves anchored almost at the same moment, off the town
of Paramaribo, in the middle of the afternoon. There were two, or three
American brigantines in the harbor, and a couple of Dutch ships of war. I
sent a lieutenant to call on the Governor, and to request permission to
coal, and refit; both of which requests were granted, with the usual
conditions, viz.: that I should not increase my crew or armament, or
receive ammunition on board. The Captain of the _Vulture_ now came on
board, to return the visit I had made him, through my lieutenant, and the
commanding Dutch naval officer also called. But, what was more important,
several coal merchants came off to negotiate with my paymaster, about
supplying the ship with the very necessary article in which they dealt.
The successful bidder for our contract was a "_gentleman of color_," that
is to say, a quadroon, who talked freely about whites, and blacks, always
putting himself, of course, in the former category, by the use of the
pronoun "we," and seemed to have no sort of objection to our flag, or the
cause it was supposed to represent. I wined this "gentleman," along with
my other visitors, and though I paid him a remunerative price for his
coal, I am under many obligations to him, for his kindness, and assistance
to us, during our stay. I take great pleasure in contrasting the conduct
and bearing of this person, with those of the Federal Consul, at
Paramaribo. This latter gentleman was a Connecticut man, who had probably
worn white cravats, and delivered quarter-dollar lectures, in his native
village, against slavery, as a means of obtaining an "honest living."
Coming to Paramaribo, he had married a mulatto wife, and through her,
become a slave-holder. This virtuous representative of "great moral
ideas," at once threw himself into the breach, between the _Sumter_, and
the coal-market, and did all he could to prevent her from coaling. He was
one of Mr. Seward's men, and taking up the refrain about "piracy," went
first to the Governor, to see what could be effected, in that quarter.
Being told that Holland had followed the lead of the great powers, and
recognized the Confederates as belligerents, he next went to our quadroon
contractor, and endeavored to bluff him off, by threatening him with the
loss of any Yankee trade, that he might possess. Being equally
unsuccessful here, he next tried to seduce the lightermen, to prevent them
from delivering the coal to us. All would not do, however, the _Sumter_,
or what is more likely, the _Sumter's_ gold--that talisman that works so
many miracles in this virtuous world of ours--was too strong for him, and,
pretty soon, the black diamonds--the most precious of jewels to men in our
condition--came tumbling into our coal-bunkers. Failing to prevent us from
coaling, the little Connecticut official next tampered with the pilot, and
endeavored to prevail on him, to refuse to take us to sea. But the pilot
was a sailor, with all the generous instincts that belong to his class,
and he not only refused to be seduced, but presented me with some local
charts of the coast, which I found very useful.
The Consul had his triumph at last, however. When I was fitting out the
_Sumter_ in New Orleans, a friend, and relative resident in that city, had
kindly permitted me to take with me, as my steward, a valuable slave of
his who had been brought up as a dining-room servant. Ned was as black as
the ace of spades, and being a good-tempered, docile lad, had become my
right-hand man, taking the best of care of my cabin, and keeping my table
supplied with all the delicacies of the different markets, to which we had
had access. He was as happy as the days were long, a great favorite with
the crew, and when there was any fun going on, on the forecastle, he was
sure to be in the midst of it. But the tempter came along. The Connecticut
miscegenist (and slave-holder, at the same time) had seen Ned's shining
and happy face going to market, of mornings, and, like the serpent of old,
whispered in his ear. One morning Ned was missing, but the market-basket
came off, piled up as usual with luxuries for dinner. The lad had been
bred in an honest household, and though his poor brain had been
bewildered, he was still above theft. His market-basket fully balanced his
account. Poor Ned! his after-fate was a sad one. He was taken to the
country, by his Mephistophiles, and set at work, with the slaves of that
pious Puritan, on a small plantation that belonged to his negro wife.
Ned's head was rather too woolly, to enable him to understand much about
the abstractions of freedom and slavery, but he had sense enough to see,
ere long, that he had been beguiled, and cheated, by the smooth Yankee;
and when, in course of time, he saw himself reduced to yam diet, and
ragged clothing, he began, like the prodigal child, to remember the
abundance of his master's house, and to long to return to it. Accordingly,
he was missing, again, one fine morning, and was heard of no more in
Paramaribo. He had embarked on board a vessel bound to Europe, and next
turned up in Southampton. The poor negro had wandered off at a hazard in
quest of the _Sumter_, but hearing nothing of her, and learning that the
Confederate States steamer _Nashville_, Commander Pegram, was at
Southampton, he made his way on board of that ship, and told his tale to
the officers. He afterward found his way to the United States, and died
miserably, of cholera, in some of the negro suburbs of Washington City.
_August 23d._--Weather clear, during the day, but we had some heavy
showers of rain, with thunder, and lightning during the night. We are
receiving coal rather slowly--a small lighter-load at a time. We are
making some changes in the internal arrangements of the ship. Finding, by
experience, that we have more tank-room, for water, than is requisite, we
are landing a couple of our larger tanks, and extending the bulkheads of
the coal-bunkers. By this means, we shall be enabled to increase our
coal-carrying capacity by at least a third, carrying twelve days of fuel,
instead of eight. Still the _Sumter_ remains fundamentally defective, as a
cruiser, in her inability to lift her screw.
_August 24th._--Weather clear, and pleasant, with some passing clouds, and
light showers of rain. The Dutch mail-steamer, from Demerara, arrived,
to-day. We are looking anxiously for news from home, as, at last
accounts--July 20th from New York--a battle near Manassas Junction, seemed
imminent. Demerara papers of the 19th of August contain nothing, except
that some skirmishing had taken place, between the two armies. The French
steamer-of-war _Abeille_ arrived, and anchored near us.
_Sunday, August 25th._--Morning cloudy. At half-past eight I went on
shore to church. The good old Mother has her churches, and clergymen, even
in this remote Dutch colony. The music of her choirs is like the
"drum-beat" of England; it encircles the earth, with its never-ending
melody. As the sun, "keeping company with the hours," lights up, with his
newly risen beams, one degree of longitude after another, he awakens the
priest to the performance of the never-ending mass. The church was a neat,
well-arranged wooden building, of large dimensions, and filled to
overflowing with devout worshippers. All the shades of color, from "snowy
white to sooty" were there, and there did not seem to be any order in the
seating of the congregation, the shades being promiscuously mixed. The
preacher was fluent, and earnest in action, but his sermon, which seemed
to impress the congregation, being in that beautiful and harmonious
language, which we call "low Dutch," was entirely unintelligible to me.
The Latin mass, and ceremonies--which are the same all over the
world--were, of course, quite familiar, and awoke many tender
reminiscences. I had heard, and seen them, in my own country, under the
domes of grand cathedrals, and in the quiet retreat of the country house,
where the good wife herself had improvised the altar. A detachment of the
Government troops was present.
Some Dutch naval lieutenants visited the ship to-day. We learn, by late
papers from Barbadoes, politely brought us by these gentlemen, that the
enemy's steamer, _Keystone State_, was in that island, in search of us, on
the 21st of July. She probably heard, there, of my intention to go back to
cruise off the island of Cuba, which, as the reader has seen, I
_confidentially_ communicated to my friends at Curacoa, and has turned
back herself. If she were on the right track she should be here before
this. There was great commotion, too, as we learn by these papers, at Key
West, on the 8th of July, when the news reached there of our being at
Cienfuegos. Consul Shufeldt, at Havana, had been prompt, as I had
foreseen. We entered Cienfuegos on the 6th, and on the 8th, he had two
heavy and fast steamers, the _Niagara_ and the _Crusader_, in pursuit of
us. They, too, seem to have lost the trail.
_August 28th._--Bright, elastic morning, with a gentle breeze from the
south-east. There was a grand fandango, on shore, last night, at which
some of my officers were present. The fun grew "fast and furious," as the
night waned, and what with the popping of champagne-corks, and the
flashing of the bright eyes of the waltzers, as they were whirled in the
giddy dance, my young fellows have come off looking a little red about the
eyes, and inclined to be poetical.
Rumors have been rife, for some days past, of a Confederate victory at
Manassas. There seems now to be no longer any doubt about the fact.
Private letters have been received, from Demerara, which state that the
enemy was not only beaten, but shamefully routed, flying in confusion and
dismay from the battle-field, and seeking refuge, pell-mell, in the
Federal capital. With the exception of the Federal Consul, and Yankee
skippers in the port, and a small knot of shop-keepers, interested in the
American trade, all countenances are beaming with joy at this
intelligence. This splendid victory was won by General Beauregard.
McDowell was the commander of the enemy's forces, assisted, as it would
seem, by the poor old superannuated Winfield Scott--this renegade soldier
lending his now feeble intellect to the Northern Vandal, to assist in
stabbing to the heart his mother State--Virginia! Alas! what an ignoble
end of a once proud and honored soldier.
_August 29th._--We have, at length, finished coaling, after a tedious
delay of ten days. A rumor prevailed in the town, yesterday, that there
were two enemy's ships of war off the bar--keeping themselves cunningly
out of sight, to waylay the _Sumter_. The rumor comes with circumstance,
for it is said that the fisherman, who brought the news, supplied one of
the ships with fish, and said that the other ship was getting water on
board from one of the coast plantations. To-day, the rumor dwindles; but
one ship, it seems, has been seen, and she a merchant ship. The story is
probably like that of the three white crows.
_August 30th._--The pilot having come on board, we got under way, at two
P. M., and steamed down to the mouth of the river, where we came to anchor.
A ship, going to sea, is like a woman going on a journey--many last things
remaining to be attended to, at the moment of departure. I have always
found it best, to shove off shore-boats, expel all visitors, "drop down"
out of the influences of the port, and send an officer or two back, to
arrange these last things. A boat was now accordingly dispatched back to
the town, for this purpose, and as she would not return until late in the
night, inviting the surgeon and paymaster, and my clerk to accompany me, I
pulled on shore, in my gig, to make a visit to an adjoining sugar
plantation, that lay close by, tempting us to a stroll under its fine
avenues of cocoanut and acacia trees. We were received very hospitably at
the planter's mansion, where we found some agreeable ladies, and with whom
we stayed late enough, to take tea, at their pressing solicitation. It was
a Hollandese household, but all the inmates spoke excellent English.
Whilst tea was being prepared, we wandered over the premises, the
sugar-house included, where we witnessed all the processes of sugar
making, from the expression of the juice from the cane, to the
crystallization of the syrup. There were crowds of negroes on the place,
old and young, male and female--some at work, and some at play; the
players being rather the more numerous of the two classes. The grounds
around the dwelling were tastefully laid out, in serpentine walks, winding
through a wilderness of rare tropical shrubbery, redolent of the most
exquisite of perfumes. True to the Dutch instinct for the water, the
river, or rather the bay, for the river has now disembogued into an arm of
the sea, washed the very walls of the flower-garden, and the plash, or
rather the monotonous fretting of the tiny waves, at their base, formed no
unmusical accompaniment to the hum of conversation, as the evening wore
away. Among other plants, we noticed the giant maguey, and a great variety
of the cactus, that favorite child of the sun. Our visit being over, we
took a warm leave of our hospitable entertainers, and pulled on board the
_Sumter_, by moonlight, deeply impressed, and softened as well by the
harmonies of nature, and feeling as little like "pirates," as possible.
The next morning, having run up our boats, and taken a final leave of the
waters of the Surinam, we steamed out to sea, crossing the bar about
meridian; the weather being fine, and the wind fresh from the north-east.
Having given it out that we were bound to Barbadoes, to look for the
_Keystone State_, we stood north, until we had run the land out of sight,
to give color to this idea, when we changed our course to E., half S. We
ran along, for the next two or three days, on soundings, with a view to
break the force of the current, doubling Cape Orange, on the 2d of
September, and hauling more to the southward, with the trending of the
coast. On the next day, we had regained the position from which we had
been compelled to bear up, and my journal remarks:--"We have thus lost
three days and a half of steaming, or about fifty tons of coal, but what
is worse, we have lost twenty-three days of valuable time,--but this time
can scarcely be said to have been wholly lost, either, since the display
of the flag of our young republic, in Cayenne and Paramaribo, has had a
most excellent effect."
_Sept. 4th._--Weather fine, with a fresh breeze, from about E. by S.
During most of the day, we have carried fore and aft sails, and have made
an excellent run, for a dull ship--175 miles. We have experienced no
current. We passed the mouths of the great Amazon, to-day, bearing on its
bosom the waters of a continent. We were running along in the deepest and
bluest of sea-water, whilst at no great distance from us, we could plainly
perceive, through our telescopes, the turbid waters of the great stream,
mixing and mingling, by slow degrees, with the ocean. Numerous tide rips
marked the uncongenial meeting of the waters, and the sea gull and penguin
were busy diving in them, as though this neutral ground, or rather I
should say, battle-ground, was a favorite resort for the small fish, on
which they prey. A drift log with sedate water-fowl seated upon it, would
now and then come along, and schools of porpoises were disporting
themselves, now in the blue, now in the muddy waters. Unlike the mouths of
the Mississippi, there were no white sails of commerce dotting the waters,
in the offing, and no giant tow-boats throwing their volumes of black
smoke into the air, and, with their huge side-wheels, beating time to the
pulsations of the steam-engine. All was nature. The giant stream ran
through a wilderness, scarcely yet opened to civilization. It disembogues
a little south of the equator, and runs from west to east, nearly entirely
across the continent.
We crossed the equator in the _Sumter_, on the meridian of 46 deg. 40',
and sounded in twenty fathoms of water, bringing up from the bottom of
the sea, for the first time, some of the sand, and shells of the Southern
Hemisphere. We hoisted the Confederate flag, though there were no eyes to
look upon it outside of our ship, to vindicate, symbolically, our right to
enter this new domain of Neptune, in spite of Abraham Lincoln, and the
Federal gun-boats.
_September 5th._--Wind fresh from E. S. E. Doubled Cape _Garupi_, during
the early morning, and sounded, at meridian, in eight fathoms of water,
_without any land in sight_, though the day was clear. Hauled out from the
coast a little. At half-past three, P. M., made the island of _San Joao_,
for which we had been running, a little on the starboard bow. We now
hauled in close with this island, and running along its white sand beach,
which reminded us much of the Florida coast, about Pensacola, we doubled
its north-eastern end, in six, and seven fathoms of water. Night now set
in, and, shaping our course S. E. by S., we ran into some very broken
ground--the soundings frequently changing, in a single cast of the lead,
from seven to four fathoms. Four fathoms being rather uncomfortably shoal,
on an open coast, we again hauled out, until we deepened our water to
eight fathoms, in which we ran along, still in very equal soundings, until
we made the light on Mount _Itacolomi_, nearly ahead. In half an hour
afterward, we anchored in six and a half fathoms of water, to wait for
daylight.
When I afterward told some Brazilian officers, who came on board, to visit
me, in Maranham, of this eventful night's run, they held up their hands in
astonishment, telling me that the chances were a hundred to one, that I
had been wrecked, for, many parts of the broken ground over which I had
run, were _almost dry_, at low water. Their steamers never attempt it,
they said, with the best pilots on board. It is a pity this coast is not
better surveyed, for the charts by which I was running, represented it
free from danger. The Brazilian is a coral coast, and, as before remarked,
all coral coasts are dangerous. The inequality of soundings was due to the
greater industry of the little stone-mason, of which we read some pages
back, in some spots than in others. This little worker of the sea will
sometimes pierce a ship's bottom, with a cone, which it has brought near
the surface, from surrounding deep waters. As it is constantly at work,
the bottom of the sea is constantly changing, and hence, on coral coasts,
surveying steamers should be almost always at work. Having anchored in the
open sea, and the sea being a little rough, we found, when we came to
heave up our anchor, the next morning, that we brought up only the ring,
and a small piece of the shank. It had probably been caught in the rocky
bottom, and broken by the force of the windlass, aided by the pitching of
the ship.
There was, much to my regret, no pilot-boat in sight. The entrance to
Maranham is quite difficult, but difficult as it was, I was forced to
attempt it. We rounded safely, the shoals of Mount Itacolomi, and passed
the middle ground of the Meio, and I was already congratulating myself
that the danger was past, when the ship ran plump upon a sand-bank, and
stopped! She went on, at full speed, and the shock, to those standing on
deck, was almost sufficient to throw them off their feet. We had a skilful
leadsman in the chains, and at his last cast, he had found no bottom, with
eight fathoms of line--all that the speed of the ship would allow him to
sink. Here was a catastrophe! Were the bones of the _Sumter_ to be laid to
rest, on the coast of Brazil, and her Commander, and crew to return to the
Confederate States, and report to the Government, that they had lost its
only ship of war! This idea flashed through my mind for an instant, but
only for an instant, for the work of the moment pressed. The engineer on
duty had stopped his engine, without waiting for orders, as soon as he
felt the ship strike, and I now ordered it reversed. In a moment more the
screw was revolving in the opposite direction, and the strong tide, which
was running out, catching the ship, on the port bow, at the same time, she
swung round to starboard, and slid off the almost perpendicular edge of
the bank into deep water, pretty much as a turtle will drop off a log. The
first thing I did was to draw a long breath, and the second was to put on
an air of indifference, as if nothing had happened, and tell the officer
of the deck, in the coolest manner possible, to "let her go ahead." We now
proceeded more cautiously, under low steam, giving the leadsman plenty of
time to get his soundings, accurately. These soon proving very irregular,
and there being some fishermen on the coast, half a mile distant, throwing
up their arms, and gesticulating to us, as though to warn us of danger, we
anchored, and sending a boat on shore, brought one of them off, who
volunteered to pilot us up to the town. Upon sounding the pumps, we found
that the ship had suffered no damage from the concussion. We anchored in
the port of Maranham, in three or four hours afterward, and the
Confederate States flag waved in the Empire of Brazil. The Port Admiral
sent a lieutenant to call on us, soon after anchoring, and I dispatched
one of my own lieutenants, to call on the Governor; returning the
Admiral's visit, myself, in the course of the afternoon, at his place of
business on shore.