THE SUMTER PURSUES HER VOYAGE ACROSS THE ATLANTIC--CAPTURE AND BURNING OF
THE ARCADE, VIGILANT, AND EBENEZER DODGE--A LEAKY SHIP, AND A GALE--AN
ALARM OF FIRE.
The morning of the 26th of November dawned clear, with the wind more
moderate, and a smoother sea. A ship of war being seen to windward,
running down in our direction, we beat to quarters, and hoisted the U. S.
colors. She was a heavy ship, but being a sailing vessel, we had nothing
to fear, even if she should prove to be an enemy. Indeed, it would have
been only sport for us, to fall in with one of the enemy's old time
sailing-frigates. Our agile little steamer, with her single long-range
gun, could have knocked her into pie, as the printers say, before the
majestic old thing could turn round. It was in the morning watch, when
holystones and sand, and scrubbing-brushes and soap were the order of the
hour, and we surprised the stranger, consequently, in her morning
dishabille, for her rigging was filled with scrubbed hammocks, and a
number of well-filled clothes-lines were stretched between her main and
mizzen shrouds. She proved to be Spanish; and was steering apparently
for the island of Cuba. We observed to-day in latitude 20 deg. 7'; the
longitude, as told by our faithful chronometer, being 57 deg. 12'.
By the way, one of my amusements, now, was to wind and compare a number of
chronometers, daily. The nautical instruments were almost the only things,
except provisions, and clothing for the crew, that we could remove from
our prizes. I never permitted any other species of property to be brought
on board. We had no room for it, and could not have disposed of it, except
by violating the laws of neutral nations, and converting our ship into a
trader; neither one of which comported with the duties which I had in
hand, viz., the rapid destruction of the enemy's commerce. I should have
had no objection to receiving, on deposit, for safe keeping, any funds
that I might have found on board the said prizes, but the beggarly Yankee
masters never carried any. A few hundred dollars for ship's expenses was
all that was ever found, and sometimes not even this--the master having,
generally, an order on his consignee, for what moneys he might need. I
sometimes captured these orders, and a stray bill of exchange for a small
amount, but of course I could make no use of them. The steamship has not
only revolutionized commerce, and war, but exchanges. Long before the
arrival of the tardy sailing-ship, at her destined port, with her
ponderous cargo, the nimble mail-steamer deposits a duplicate of her
invoice, and bill of lading, with the merchant to whom she is consigned;
and when the ship has landed her cargo, the same, or another steamer,
takes back a bill of exchange, for the payment of the freight.
The masters of my prizes frequently remonstrated against my capturing
their chronometers; in some instances claiming them as their own
individual property. When they would talk to me about private property, I
would ask to whom their ships belonged--whether to a private person, or
the Government? They at once saw the drift of the question, and there was
an end of the argument. I was making war upon the enemy's commerce--and
especially upon the ship, the vehicle of commerce, and the means and
appliances by which she was navigated. If her chronometers, sextants,
telescopes, and charts were left in possession of the master, they would
be transferred to, and used in the navigation of some other ship. The fact
that these instruments belonged to other parties, than the ship-owners,
could not make the least difference--ship and instruments were all private
property, alike, and alike subject to capture. Silly newspaper editors
have published a good deal of nonsense, mixed with a good deal of malice,
on this subject. It is only their nonsense that I propose to
correct--their abuse was something to be expected under the circumstances.
Being dependent upon the patronage of ship-owners and ship-masters, for
the prosperity of their papers, abuse of the _Sumter_, during the war,
came as naturally to them, as whittling a stick.
No prisoner of mine was ever disturbed in the possession of his strictly
personal effects. Under this head were included his watch, and his
jewelry, as well as his wardrobe. Every boarding-officer had orders to
respect these, nor do I believe that the orders were ever violated. I will
not detain the reader to contrast this conduct, with the shameful
house-burnings, robberies, and pilferings, by both officers and men, that
accompanied the march of the enemy's armies, through the Southern States.
It would be well for human nature, if the record made by these men, lost
to every sense of manliness and shame, could be obliterated; but as the
wicked deeds of men live after them, our common history, and our common
race will long have to bear the disgrace of their acts.
Soon after passing the Spanish ship, sail ho! was cried from the
mast-head, in a sharp, energetic voice, as though the look-out had, this
time, scented real game. The chase was one of those well-known schooners,
twice before described in these pages, as being unmistakable--hence the
energy that had been thrown into the voice of the look-out. She soon came
in sight from the deck, when we gave chase. In a couple of hours we had
come up with, and hove her to, with a gun. She proved to be the _Arcade_,
from Portland, Me., with a load of staves, bound to Guadeloupe, where she
intended to exchange her staves for rum and sugar. The owner of the staves
had not thought it worth while to certify, that his property was neutral,
and so we had no difficulty with the papers. We had not made much of a
prize. The little craft was sailed too economically to afford us even a
spare barrel of provisions. The number of mouths on board were few, and
the rations had been carefully adjusted to the mouths. And so, having
nothing to transfer to the _Sumter_, except the master and crew, we
applied the torch to her, in a very few minutes. The staves being well
seasoned, she made a beautiful bonfire, and lighted us over the seas, some
hours after dark.
During the night, the wind lulled, and became variable, and we hauled down
the fore and aft sails, and brought the ship's head to the north-east. The
prize had no newspapers on board, but we learned from the master, that the
great naval expedition, which the enemy had been sometime in preparing,
and about which there had been no little mystery, had at last struck at
Port Royal, in South Carolina. An immense fleet of ships of war, with
thirty-three transports, and an army of 15,000 men, had been sent to
capture a couple of mud forts, armed with 24 and 32-pounders, and
garrisoned with three or four hundred raw troops. Our next batch of
newspapers from New York, brought us the despatches of Commodore Dupont,
the commander of this expedition, exceeding in volume anything that Nelson
or Collingwood had ever written. Plates, and diagrams showed how the
approaches had been buoyed, and the order of battle was described, with
minute prolixity. I cannot forbear giving to the reader, the names of the
ships, that participated in this great naval victory, with their loss in
killed and wounded, after an engagement that lasted four mortal hours. The
ships were the _Wabash_, the _Susquehanna_, the _Mohican_, the _Seminole_,
the _Pawnee_, the _Unadilla_, the _Ottawa_, the _Pembina_, the _Isaac
Smith_, the _Bienville_, the _Seneca_, the _Curlew_, the _Penguin_, the
_Augusta_, the _R. B. Forbes_, the _Pocahontas_, the _Mercury_, the
_Vandalia_, and the _Vixen_--total 19. The killed were 8--not quite half a
man apiece; and the seriously wounded 6!
_November 27th._--Morning thick, with heavy clouds and rain, clearing as
the day advanced. Afternoon clear, bright weather, with a deep blue sea,
and the trade-wind blowing half a gale from the north-east. At six P. M.,
put all sail on the ship, and let the steam go down. We had already
consumed half our fuel, and it became necessary to make the rest of our
way to Europe under sail. Our boilers had been leaking for several days,
and the engineer availed himself of the opportunity to repair them. The
weather is sensibly changing in temperature. We are in latitude 22 deg.
22', and the thermometer has gone down to 78 deg.--for the first time, in
five months. We have crossed, to-day, the track of the homeward-bound
ships, both from the Cape of Good Hope, and Cape Horn, but have seen no
sail. We cannot delay to cruise in this track, as we have barely water
enough, on board, to last us across the Atlantic.
_November 28th._--Weather changeable, and squally--wind frequently
shifting during the day, giving indications of our approach to the
northern limit Of the trade-wind, crossing which we shall pass into the
variables.
_November 29th._--Thick, ugly weather--this term ugly being very
expressive in the seaman's vocabulary. The wind is veering, as before,
blowing half a gale, all the time, and a cold rain is pouring down, at
intervals, causing the sailors to haul on their woollen jackets, and hunt
up their long-neglected sou'westers. We observed in latitude 25 deg. 51'
to-day; the longitude being 57 deg. 36'.
_November 30th._--The morning has dawned bright, and beautiful, with a
perfectly clear sky. The boisterous wind of yesterday has disappeared, and
we have nearly a calm--the sea wearing its darkest tint of azure. We are,
in fact, in the calm-belt of Cancer, and having no fuel to spare, we must
be content to creep through it under sail, as best we may. A sail has been
reported from aloft. It is a long way off, and we forbear to chase.
_December 1st._--Another beautiful, bright, morning, with a glassy sea,
and a calm. This being the first of the month, the sailors are drawing
their clothing, and "small stores" from the paymaster, under the
supervision of the officers of the different divisions. The paymaster's
steward is the shopman, on the occasion, and he is "serving" a jacket to
one, a shirt to another, and a pair of shoes to a third. His assortment is
quite varied, for besides the requisite clothing, he has tobacco, and
pepper, and mustard; needles, thimbles, tape, thread, and spool-cotton;
ribbons, buttons, jack-knives, &c. Jack is not allowed to indulge in all
these luxuries, _ad lib._ He is like a school-boy, under the care of his
preceptor; he must have his wants approved by the officer of the division
to which he belongs. To enable this officer to act understandingly, Jack
spreads out his wardrobe before him, every month. If he is deficient a
shirt, or a pair of trousers, he is permitted to draw them; if he has
plenty, and still desires more, his extravagance is checked. These
articles are all charged to him, at cost, with the addition of a small
percentage, to save the Government from loss. When the monthly
requisitions are all complete, they are taken to the Captain, for his
approval, who occasionally runs his pencil through a _third_, or a
_fourth_ pound of tobacco, when an inveterate old chewer, or smoker is
using the weed to excess; he rarely interferes in other respects. On the
present occasion, woollen garments are in demand; Jack, with a prudent
forethought, preparing himself for the approaching change in the climate.
Much of the clothing, which the sailor wears, is made up with his own
hands. He is entirely independent of the other sex, in this respect, and
soon becomes very expert with the needle.
The 3d of December brought us another prize. The wind was light from the
south-east, and the stranger was standing in our direction. This was
fortunate, as we might hope to capture him by stratagem, without the use
of steam. The _Sumter_, when not under steam, and with her smoke-stack
lowered, might be taken for a clumsy-looking bark. Throwing a spare sail
over the lowered smoke-stack, to prevent it from betraying us, we hoisted
the French flag, and stood on our course, apparently unconscious of the
approaching stranger. We were running free, with the starboard
studding-sails set, and when the stranger, who, by this time, had hoisted
the United States colors, crossed our bows, we suddenly took in all the
studding-sails, braced sharp up, tacked, and fired a gun, at the same
moment. The stranger at once hauled up his courses, and backed his
main-topsail. He was already under our guns. The clumsy appearance of the
_Sumter_, and the French flag had deceived him. The prize proved to be the
_Vigilant_, a fine new ship, from Bath, Maine, bound to the guano island
of Sombrero, in the West Indies; some New Yorkers having made a lodgment
on this barren little island, and being then engaged in working it for
certain phosphates of lime, which they called mineral guano. We captured a
rifled 9-pounder gun, with a supply of fixed ammunition, on board the
_Vigilant_, and some small arms. We fired the ship at three P. M., and
made sail on our course. The most welcome part of this capture was a large
batch of New York newspapers, as late as the 21st of November. The Yankees
of that ilk had heard of the blockade of the "Pirate _Sumter_," by the
_Iroquois_, but they hadn't heard of Captain Palmer's rueful breakfast on
the morning of the 24th of November.
These papers brought us a graphic description of the gallant ram exploit,
of Commodore Hollins, of the Confederate Navy, at the mouth of the
Mississippi, on the 12th of October. This exploit is remarkable as being
the first practical application of the iron-clad ram to the purposes of
war. Some ingenious steamboat-men, in New Orleans, with the consent of the
Navy Department, had converted the hull of a steam-tug into an iron-clad,
by means of bars of railroad iron fastened to the hull of the boat, and to
a frame-work above the deck fitted to receive them; a stout iron prow
being secured to the bow of the boat, several feet below the water-line.
In this curious nondescript, which the enemy likened to a smoking
mud-turtle, the gallant Commodore assaulted the enemy's fleet, lying at
the old anchorage of the _Sumter_, at the "Head of the Passes," consisting
of the _Richmond_, _Vincennes_, _Preble_, and _Water Witch_. The assault
was made at four o'clock in the morning, and caused great consternation
and alarm among the enemy. The _Richmond_, lying higher up the Pass than
the other ships, was first assaulted--some of her planks being started,
below the water-line, by the concussion of the ram, though the blow was
broken by a coal-schooner, which, fortunately for her, was lying
alongside. As the ram drew off, a broadside of the _Richmond's_ guns was
fired into her, without effect. After this harmless broadside, the ships
all got under way, in great haste, and fled down the Pass, the ram
pursuing them, but Hollins was unable, from the effect of the current, and
the speed of the fleeing ships, to get another blow at them. The
_Richmond_ and the _Vincennes_ grounded, for a short time, on the bar, in
their hurry to get out, but the former was soon got afloat again. In the
confusion and panic of the moment, the _Vincennes_ was abandoned by her
captain, who left a slow match burning. Commodore Hollins, finding that
nothing more could be accomplished, threw a few shells at the alarmed
fleet, and withdrew. The _Vincennes_, not blowing up, and the enemy
recovering from his panic, her captain was ordered to return to her, and
she was finally saved with the rest of the fleet. This little experiment
was the _avant courier_ of a great change, in naval warfare--especially
for harbor and coast defence. The enemy, with his abundant resources,
greatly improved upon it, and his "monitor" system was the result.
_December 4th._--Weather clear, and becoming cool--thermometer, 76 deg.
We have run some 140 miles to the eastward, during the last twenty-four
hours, under sail, and as we are dragging our propeller through the water,
I need not tell the reader what a smacking breeze we have had. It is
delightful to be making so much easting, under sail, after having been
buffeted so spitefully, by the east wind, for the last five months,
whenever we have turned our head in that direction. Ten of the crew of the
_Vigilant_ are blacks, and as our ship is leaking so badly that the
constant pumping is fagging to the crew, I have set the blacks at the
pumps, with their own consent. The fact is, some of these fellows, who are
runaway slaves, have already recognized "master," and whenever I pass
them, grin pleasantly, and show the whites of their eyes. They are
agreeably disappointed, that they are not "drawn, hung, and quartered,"
and rather enjoy the change to the _Sumter_, where they have plenty of
time to bask in the sun, and the greasiest of pork and beans without
stint. In arranging the _Vigilant's_ crew into messes, a white bean and a
black bean have been placed, side by side, at the mess-cloth, my first
lieutenant naturally concluding, that the white sailors of the Yankee ship
would like to be near their colored brethren. Caesar and Pompey, having an
eye to fun, enjoy this arrangement hugely, and my own crew are not a
little amused, as the boatswain pipes to dinner, to see the gravity with
which the darkies take their seats by the side of their white comrades.
This was the only mark of "citizenship," however, which I bestowed upon
these sons of Ham. I never regarded them as prisoners of war--always
discharging them, when the other prisoners were discharged, without
putting them under parole.
_December 5th._--Weather thick and ugly--the wind hauling to the north,
and blowing very fresh for a while. Reefed the topsails. At noon, the
weather was so thick, that no observations could be had for fixing the
position of the ship--latitude, by dead reckoning, 30 deg. 19'; longitude
53 deg. 02'. During the afternoon and night, it blew a gale from N. E. to
E. N. E. Furled the mainsail, and set the reefed trysail instead; and the
wind still increasing, before morning we hauled up and furled the foresail.
For the next two or three days, we had a series of easterly gales,
compelling me to run somewhat farther north than I had intended. We carried
very short sail, and most of the time we were shut down below--that is,
such of the crew as were not on watch--with tarpaulin-covered hatches, and
a cold, driving rain falling almost incessantly. What with the howling of
the gale, as it tears through the rigging, the rolling and pitching of the
ship, in the confused, irregular sea, and the jog, jog, jog of the pumps,
through half the night, I have had but little rest.
_December 8th._--This is an anniversary with me. On this day, fifteen
years ago, the United States brig-of-war _Somers_, of which I was the
commander, was capsized and sunk, off Vera Cruz, having half her crew, of
120 officers and men, drowned. It occurred during the Mexican war. I was
left alone to blockade the port of Vera Cruz--Commodore Connor, the
commander of the squadron, having gone with his other ships on an
expedition to Tampico. There being every appearance of a norther on that
eventful morning, I was still at my anchors, under _Isla Verde_, or Green
Island, where I had sought refuge the preceding night. Suddenly a sail was
reported, running down the northern coast, as though she would force the
blockade. It would never do to permit this; and so the little
_Somers_--these ten-gun brigs were called coffins in that day--was gotten
under way, and under her topsails and courses, commenced beating up the
coast, to intercept the stranger. I had gone below, for a moment, when the
officer of the deck, coming to the companion-way, called to me, and said
that "the water looked black and roughened ahead, as though more wind than
usual was coming." I sprang upon deck, and saw, at the first glance, that
a norther was upon us. I immediately ordered everything clewed down and
brailed up, but before the order could be executed, the gale came sweeping
on with the fury of a whirlwind, and in less time than I have been
describing the event, the little craft was thrown on her beam-ends, her
masts and sails lying flat upon the surface of the sea, and the water
pouring in at every hatchway and scuttle. I clambered to the weather side
of the ship, and seeing that she must go down in a few minutes, set my
first lieutenant at work to extricate the only boat that was
available--the weather-quarter boat, all the others being submerged--from
her fastenings, to save as much life as possible. This was fortunately
done, and the boat being put in charge of a midshipman, the non-combatant
officers, as the surgeon and paymaster; the midshipmen, and such of the
boys of the ship as could not swim, were permitted to get into her. So
perfect was the discipline, though death, within the next ten minutes,
stared every man in the face, that there was no rush for this boat. A
large man was even ordered out of her, to make room for two lads, who
could not swim, and he obeyed the order as a matter of course! This boat
having shoved off from the sinking ship, the order was given, "Every man
save himself, who can!" whereupon there was a simultaneous plunge into the
now raging sea, of a hundred men and more, each struggling for his life.
The ship sank out of sight in a moment afterward. We were in twenty
fathoms of water. Divesting myself of all my clothing, except my shirt and
drawers, I plunged into the sea with the rest, and, being a good swimmer,
struck out for and reached a piece of grating, which had floated away from
the ship as she went down. Swimming along, with one arm resting on this
grating, I felt one of my feet touch something, and, at the same moment,
heard a voice exclaiming, "It is I, Captain; it is Parker, the second
lieutenant--give me a part of your grating, I am a good swimmer, and we
shall get along the better together." I, accordingly, shared my grating
with Parker, and we both struck out, manfully, for the shore, distant no
more than about a mile; but, unfortunately, the now raging gale was
sweeping down parallel with the coast, and we were compelled to swim at
right angles with the waves and the wind, if we would save ourselves; for
once swept past the coast of the island, and the open sea lay before us,
whence there was no rescue!
As we would rise upon the top of a wave, and get a view of the "promised
land," the reader may imagine how anxious our consultations were, as to
whether we were gaining, or losing ground! In the meantime, the boat,
which had shoved off from the ship, as described, had reached the island,
half-swamped, and discharging her passengers, and freeing herself from
water as soon as possible, pushed out again into the raging caldron of
waters, under the gallant midshipman, who had charge of her, in the
endeavor to rescue some of the drowning crew. She came, by the merest
accident, upon Parker and myself! We were hauled into her more dead than
alive, and after she had picked up two, or three others--all that could
now be seen--she again returned to the shore. My first lieutenant, Mr. G.
L. Claiborne, was saved, as by a miracle, being dashed on shore--he having
struck out, in the opposite direction, for the mainland--between two
ledges of rock, separated only by a span of sand beach. If he had been
driven upon the rocks, instead of the beach, he must have been instantly
dashed in pieces. The reader will, perhaps, pardon me, for having
remembered these eventful scenes of my life, as I wrote in my journal, on
board the leaky little _Sumter_, amid the howling of another gale, _the_
"_eighth day of December_."
On _this_ eighth day of December, 1861, however, the record is very
different, it being as follows: "At ten A. M. descried a sail from the
deck, startlingly close to; so thick has been the weather. The stranger
being a bark, taunt-rigged, with sky-sail poles, and under top-sails, we
mistook him at first for a cruiser, and raised our smoke-stack, and
started the fires in the furnaces. Having done this, we approached him
somewhat cautiously, keeping the weather-gauge of him, and showed him the
United States colors. He soon hoisted the same. Getting a nearer view of
him, we now discovered him to be a whaler. The engineer at once
discontinued his "firing up," and the smoke-stack was again lowered, to
its accustomed place. Upon being boarded, the bark proved to be the _Eben.
Dodge_, twelve days out, from New Bedford, and bound on a whaling voyage
to the Pacific Ocean. She had experienced a heavy gale, had sprung some of
her spars, and was leaking badly--hence the easy sail she had been under.
Although the sea was still very rough, and the weather lowering, we got on
board from the prize, some water, and provisions, clothing, and small
stores. The supply of pea-jackets, whalers' boots, and flannel
over-shirts, which our paymaster had been unable to procure in the West
Indies, was particularly acceptable to us, battling, as we now were, with
the gales of the North Atlantic, in the month of December. We brought
away from her, also, two of her fine whale-boats, so valuable in rough
weather; making room for them on deck, by the side of the _Sumter's_
launch. The crew of the _Dodge_, consisting of twenty-two persons, made a
considerable addition to our small community. We fired the prize at
half-past six, P. M., as the shades of evening were closing in, and made
sail on our course. The flames burned red and lurid in the murky
atmosphere, like some Jack-o'-lantern; now appearing, and now
disappearing, as the doomed ship rose upon the top, or descended into the
abyss of the waves.
Having now forty-three prisoners on board, and there never being, at one
time, so many of the _Sumter's_ crew on watch, it became necessary for me
to think of precautions. It would be easy for forty-three courageous men,
to rise upon a smaller number, sleeping carelessly about the decks, and
wrest from them the command of the ship. Hitherto I had given the
prisoners the run of the ship, putting no more restrictions upon them,
than upon my own men, but this could no longer be. I therefore directed my
first lieutenant to put one-half of the prisoners in single irons--that
is, with manacles on the wrists only--alternately, for twenty-four hours
at a time. The prisoners, themselves, seeing the necessity of this
precaution, submitted cheerfully to the restraint--for as such only they
viewed it--and not as an indignity.
We received another supply of late newspapers, by the _Dodge_. They were
still filled with jubilations over Dupont's great naval victory. We
learned, too, that New England had been keeping, with more than usual
piety and pomp, the great National festival of "Thanksgiving," which the
Puritan has substituted for the Christian Christmas. The pulpit thundered
war and glory, the press dilated upon the wealth and resources of the
Universal Yankee _Nation_, and hecatombs of fat pigs and turkeys fed the
hungry multitudes--pulpit, press, pig, and turkey, all thanking God, that
the Puritan is "not like unto other men."
_December 10th._--The weather remains still unsettled. The wind, during
the last five or six days, has gone twice around the compass, never
stopping in the west, but lingering in the east. The barometer has been in
a constant state of fluctuation, and there will, doubtless, be a grand
climax before the atmosphere regains its equilibrium. These easterly
winds are retarding our passage very much, and taxing our patience.
Observed, to-day, in latitude 32 deg. 39'; the longitude being 49
deg. 57'.
The next day, the weather culminated, sure enough, in a gale. The
barometer began to settle, in the morning watch, and dense black clouds,
looking ragged and windy, soon obscured the sun, and spread an ominous
pall over the entire heavens. I at once put the ship under easy sail; that
is to say, clewed up everything but the topsails and trysails, and awaited
the further progress of the storm. The wind was as yet light, but the
barometer, which had stood at 29 deg. 70' at eight o'clock, had fallen to
29 deg. 59' by two P. M. The dense canopy of clouds now settled lower and
lower, circumscribing more and more our horizon, and presently fitful gusts
of wind would strike the sails, pressing the ship over a little. It was
time to reef. All hands were turned up, and the close reefs were taken,
both in topsails and trysails; the jib hauled down and stowed, and the
top-gallant yards sent down from aloft. The squalls increasing in frequency
and force, the gale became fully developed by three P. M. The wind, which
we first took from about E. S. E., backed to the N. E., but did not remain
long in that quarter, returning to east. It now began to blow furiously
from this latter quarter, the squalls being accompanied by a driving,
blinding rain; the barometer going down, ominously down, all the while.
As the night closed in, an awful scene presented itself. The aspect of the
heavens was terrific. The black clouds overhead were advancing and
retreating like squadrons of opposing armies, whilst loud peals of
thunder, and blinding flashes of lightning that would now and then run
down the conductor, and hiss as they leaped into the sea, added to the
elemental strife. A streaming scud, which you could almost touch with your
hand, was meanwhile hurrying past, screeching and screaming, like so many
demons, as it rushed through the rigging. The sea was mountainous, and
would now and then strike the little _Sumter_ with such force as to make
her tremble in every fibre of her frame. I had remained on deck during
most of the first watch, looking anxiously on, to see what sort of weather
we were going to make. The ship behaved nobly, but I had no confidence in
her strength. Her upper works, in particular, were very defective. Her
bends, above the main deck, were composed of light pine stanchions and
inch plank, somewhat strengthened in the bows. Seeing the fury of the
gale, and that the barometer was still settling, I went below about
midnight, and turned in to get a little rest, with many misgivings. I had
scarcely fallen into an uneasy slumber, when an old quartermaster, looking
himself like the demon of the storm, with his dishevelled hair and beard
dripping water, and his eyes blinking in the light of his lantern, shook
my cot, and said, "We've stove in the starboard bow-port, sir, and the
gun-deck is all afloat with water!" Here was what I had feared; unless we
could keep the water out of the between-decks, all the upper works, and
the masts along with them, would be gone in a trice. I hurried at once to
the scene of disaster, but before I could reach it, my energetic and
skilful first lieutenant had already, by the aid of some planks and spare
spars, erected a barricade that would be likely to answer our purpose.
The gale lulled somewhat in an hour or two afterward, and I now got some
sleep. I was on deck again, however, at daylight. The same thick gloom
overspread the heavens, the scud was flying as furiously, and as low as
before, and the gale was raging as fiercely as ever. But we had one great
comfort, and that was _daylight_. We could see the ship and the
heavens--there was nothing else visible--and this alone divested the gale
of half its terrors. At last, at six A. M., the barometer reached its
lowest point, 29.32, which, in the latitude we were in, was a very low
barometer. Any one who has watched a barometer under similar
circumstances, will understand the satisfaction with which I saw the
little tell-tale begin to rise. It whispered to me as intelligibly as if
it had been a living thing, "the gale is broken!" We had been lying to,
all this time, under a close-reefed main-topsail. We now bore up under a
reefed foresail, and kept the ship on her course, east by south. She
scudded as beautifully as she had lain to, darting ahead like an arrow, on
the tops of the huge waves that followed her like so many hungry wolves,
and shaking the foam and spray from her bows, as if in disdain and
contempt of the lately howling storm.
_December 13th._--Weather clear, with passing clouds. Wind fresh from the
south-west, but abating, with a rapidly rising barometer. The cyclone, for
such evidently the late gale was, had a diameter of from three hundred and
fifty to four hundred miles. We took it in its northern hemisphere--the
gale travelling north. Hence it passed over us in nearly its entire
diameter--the vortex at no great distance from us. Observed in latitude
33 deg. 28'; the longitude being 47 deg. 03'. Repairing damages. The ship
leaks so badly as to require to be pumped out twice in each watch. During
the heaviest of the gale, the masters and mates of the captured ships
offered their services, like gallant men, to assist in taking care of the
ship. We thanked them, but were sufficiently strong-handed ourselves.
_December 14th._--We had an alarm of fire on the berth deck last night.
The fire-bell, sounded suddenly in a sleeping city, has a startling effect
upon the aroused sleepers, but he who has not heard it, can have no
conception of the knell-like sound of the cry of fire! shouted from the
lungs of an alarmed sailor on board a ship, hundreds of miles away from
any land. It is the suddenness with which the idea of danger presents
itself, quite as much as the extent of the danger, which intimidates.
Hence the panics which often ensue, when a ship is discovered to be on
fire. Ships of war, as a rule, are not the subjects of panics. Discipline
keeps all the passions and emotions under control, as well those which
arise from fear, as from lawlessness. We had no panic on board the
_Sumter_, although appearances were sufficiently alarming for a few
moments. A smoke was suddenly seen arising through one of the ventilators
forward, in the dead hour of the night, when except the sentry's lantern
and the lamp in the binnacle, there should be no other fire in the ship.
The midshipman of the watch, upon rushing below, found one of the
prisoners' mattresses on fire. The flames were soon smothered, and the
whole danger was over before the ship's crew were fairly aroused. Some
prisoner, in violation of orders, had lighted his pipe for a smoke, after
hours, and probably gone to sleep with it in his mouth. The prisoner could
not be identified, but there were two sentinels on post, and these in due
time paid the penalty of their neglect.