CAPTURE OF THE STARLIGHT, OCEAN ROVER, ALERT, WEATHER-GAUGE--A RACE BY
NIGHT--CAPTURE OF THE ALTAMAHA, VIRGINIA, AND ELIJA DUNBAR--A ROUGH SEA,
TOILING BOATS, AND A PICTURESQUE BURNING OF A SHIP IN A GALE.
We were running in, while the muster described in the last chapter was
going on, for the little town, or, rather, sea-side village of Lagens, on
the south side of the island of Flores, and, having approached the beach
quite near, we hove the ship to, and hauling alongside, from the stern,
where they had been towing, the whale-boats of the captured ship, which we
had brought away from the prize for this purpose, we paroled our
prisoners, and, putting them in possession of their boats, shoved them off
for the shore. I had two motives in thus landing my prisoners in their own
boats, or, to speak more properly, in the boats which had once belonged to
them. It saved me the trouble of landing them myself; and, as the boats
were valuable, and I permitted the prisoners to put in them as many
provisions as they desired, and as much other plunder as they could pick
up about the decks of their ships--excepting always such articles as we
needed on board the _Alabama_--the sale of their boats and cargoes to the
islanders gave them the means of subsistence, until they could communicate
with their consul in the neighboring island of Fayal.
We had scarcely gotten through with the operation of landing our
prisoners, before the cry of "sail ho!" came to us from the mast-head; and
we made sail in chase of a schooner which was approaching the island,
hoisting the English colors to throw the stranger off his guard. As the
two vessels were sailing toward each other, they approached very rapidly,
and in the course of an hour we were within a mile of each other. Still
the schooner did not show any colors. The reason was quite plain; she was
American in every feature, and could show us no other colors than such as
would subject her to capture, in case we should prove to be her enemy, of
which she seemed to be suspicious. Indeed, the gallant little craft, with
every stitch of canvas set, sails well hoisted, and sheets a little eased,
was now edging off a little from us, and endeavoring to gain the shelter
of the well-known marine league, the land being distant only about five
miles. Perceiving her object, and seeing that I had only a couple of miles
to spare, I kept my own ship off, the better to throw myself across the
stranger's path, changed my colors, and fired a blank cartridge to heave
her to. But she neither hove to, nor showed colors, being evidently intent
upon giving me a race. Although I already had the little craft under my
guns, I humored her for a few minutes, just to show her that I could beat
her in a fair trial of speed, and when I had proved this, by gaining
rapidly upon her, I sent a round shot from one of the bow guns between her
masts, a few feet only over the heads of her people. If the reader has
heard a 32-pounder whistle, in such close proximity, he knows very well
what it says, to wit, that there must be no more trifling. And so the
captain of the schooner understood it, for in a moment afterward we could
see the graceful little craft luffing up in the wind, brailing up her
foresail, and hauling her jib sheet to windward. The welcome stars and
stripes fluttered soon afterward from her peak. The master being brought
on board with his papers, the prize proved to be the schooner _Starlight_,
of Boston, from Fayal, bound to Boston by the way of Flores, for which
island she had some passengers, several ladies among the number.
The crew consisted of seven persons--all good Yankee sailors. Having
heard, by this time, full accounts of the shameful treatment of my
paymaster of the _Sumter_, which has been described, in a former chapter,
I resolved to practise a little retaliation upon the enemy, and ordered
the crew of the _Starlight_ put in irons. I pursued this practice, painful
as it was, for the next seven or eight captures, putting the masters and
mates of the ships, as well as the crews, in irons. The masters would
frequently remonstrate with me, claiming that it was an indignity put
upon them; and so it was, but I replied to them, that their countrymen had
put a similar indignity upon an officer and a gentleman, who had worn the
uniform of the navies of both our countries. By the time that the capture
of the _Starlight_ had been completed, the sun was near his setting, and
it was too late to land the passengers. I therefore sent a prize crew on
board the captured ship, directing the prize-master to lie by me during
the night, and giving him especial charge to inform the passengers that
they should be safely landed in the morning, and, in the meantime, to
quiet the fears of the ladies, who had been much alarmed by the chase and
the firing, we hoisted a light at the peak of the _Alabama_, and lay to,
all night, in nearly a calm sea. There were some dark clouds hanging over
the island, but they had apparently gone there to roost, as no wind came
from them. Among the papers captured on board the _Starlight_ were a
couple of despatches from the Federal Consul at Fayal, to the
Sewards--father and son--in which there was the usual amount of stale
nonsense about "rebel privateers," and "pirates."
The weather proved fine, the next morning, and standing in, within a
stone's throw of the little town of Santa Cruz, we landed both passengers
and prisoners, putting the latter, as usual, under _parole_. In the
meantime, the Governor of the island, and a number of the dignitaries came
off to visit us. They were a robust, farmer-looking people, giving
evidence, in their persons, of the healthfulness of the island, and were
very polite, franking to us the ports of the island, and informing us that
supplies were cheap, and abundant. Their visit was evidently one of
curiosity, and we treated his Excellency with all due ceremony,
notwithstanding the smallness of his dominions. We talked to him, however,
of bullocks, and sheep, fish and turtles, yams and oranges, rather than of
the war between the States, and the laws of nations. Bartelli made the
eyes of the party dance with flowing goblets of champagne, and when I
thought they had remained long enough, I bowed them out of the cabin, with
a cigar all round, and sent them on shore, with rather favorable
impressions, I do not doubt, of the "pirate."
Hauling off, now, from the island, and running seaward for a space, we
chased and overhauled a Portuguese whaling brig. Seeing by her boats and
other indications that she was a whaler, I thought, at first, that I had a
prize, and was quite disappointed when she showed me the Portuguese
colors. Not being willing to trust to the verity of the flag, I sent a
boat on board of her, and invited the master to visit me with his papers,
which he did. The master was himself a Portuguese, and I found his papers
to be genuine. Thanking him for his visit, I dismissed him in a very few
minutes. I had no right to command him to come on board of me--he being a
neutral, it was my business to go on board of him, if I desired to examine
his papers, but he waived ceremony, and it was for this that I had thanked
him. I may as well remark here, in passing, that this was the only foreign
whaling-ship that I ever overhauled; the business of whaling having become
almost exclusively an American monopoly--the monopoly not being derived
from any sovereign grant, but resulting from the superior skill, energy,
industry, courage, and perseverance of the Yankee whaler, who is, perhaps,
the best specimen of a sailor, the world over.
Later in the same afternoon, we chased a large ship, looming up almost
like a frigate, in the northwest, with which we came up about sunset. We
had showed her the American colors, and she approached us without the
least suspicion that she was running into the arms of an enemy; the master
crediting good old Mr. Welles, as the master of the _Ocmulgee_ had done,
with sending a flashy-looking Yankee gunboat, to look out for his
whalebone and oil. This large ship proved to be, upon the master being
brought on board with his papers, the _Ocean Rover_, of New Bedford,
Massachusetts. She had been out three years and four months, cruising in
various parts of the world, had sent home one or two cargoes of oil, and
was now returning, herself, with another cargo, of eleven hundred barrels.
The master, though anxious to see his wife, and dandle on his knee the
babies that were no longer babies, with true Yankee thrift thought he
would just take the Azores in his way home, and make another "strike," or
two, to fill up his empty casks. The consequence was, as the reader has
seen, a little disappointment. I really felt for the honest fellow, but
when I came to reflect, for a moment, upon the diabolical acts of his
countrymen of New England, who were out-heroding Herod, in carrying on
against us a vindictive war, filled with hate and vengeance, the milk of
human kindness which had begun to well up in my heart disappeared, and I
had no longer any spare sympathies to dispose of.
It being near night when the capture was made, I directed the prize to be
hove to, in charge of a prize crew until morning. In the meantime,
however, the master, who had heard from some of my men, that I had
permitted the master of the _Ocmulgee_, and his crew, to land in their own
boats, came to me, and requested permission to land in the same manner. We
were four or five miles from the land, and I suggested to him, that it was
some distance to pull. "Oh! that is nothing," said he, "we whalers
sometimes chase a whale, on the broad sea, until our ships are hull-down,
and think nothing of it. It will relieve you of us the sooner, and be of
some service to us besides." Seeing that the sea was smooth, and that
there was really no risk to be run, for a Yankee whale-boat might be made,
with a little management, to ride out an ordinary gale of wind, I
consented, and the delighted master returned to his ship, to make the
necessary preparations. I gave him the usual permission to take what
provisions he needed, the whaling gear belonging to his boats, and the
personal effects of himself and men. He worked like a beaver, for not more
than a couple of hours had elapsed, before he was again alongside of the
_Alabama_, with all his six boats, with six men in each, ready to start
for the shore. I could not but be amused when I looked over the side into
these boats, at the amount of plunder that the rapacious fellow had packed
in them. They were literally loaded down, with all sorts of traps, from
the seamen's chests and bedding, to the tabby cat and parrot. Nor had the
"main chance" been overlooked, for all the "cabin stores" had been
secured, and sundry barrels of beef and pork, besides. I said to him,
"Captain, your boats appear to me, to be rather deeply laden; are you not
afraid to trust them?" "Oh! no," he replied; "they are as buoyant as
ducks, and we shall not ship a drop of water." After a detention of a few
minutes, during which my clerk was putting the crew under _parole_, I
gave the master leave to depart.
The boats, shoving off from the side, one by one, and falling into line,
struck out for the shore. That night-landing of this whaler's crew was a
beautiful spectacle. I stood on the horse-block, watching it, my mind busy
with many thoughts. The moon was shining brightly, though there were some
passing clouds sailing lazily in the upper air, that fleckered the sea.
Flores, which was sending off to us, even at this distance, her perfumes
of shrub and flower, lay sleeping in the moonlight, with a few fleecy,
white clouds wound around the mountain-top, like a turban. The rocky
islets that rise like so many shafts out of the sea, devoid of all
vegetation, and at different distances from the shore, looked weird and
unearthly, like sheeted ghosts. The boats moving swiftly and mysteriously
toward the shore, might have been mistaken, when they had gotten a little
distance from us, for Venetian gondolas, with their peaked bows and
sterns, especially when we heard coming over the sea, a song, sung by a
powerful and musical voice, and chorussed by all the boats. Those merry
fellows were thus making light of misfortune, and proving that the sailor,
after all, is the true philosopher. The echo of that night-song lingered
long in my memory, but I little dreamed, as I stood on the deck of the
_Alabama_, and witnessed the scene I have described, that four years
afterward, it would be quoted against me as a violation of the laws of
war! And yet so it was. It was alleged by the malice of my defamers, who
never have, and never can forgive me for the destruction of their
property, that miles away at sea, in rough and inclement weather, I
_compelled_ my prisoners to depart for the shore, in leaky and unsound
boats, at the hazard of their lives, designing and desiring to drown them!
And this was all the thanks I received for setting some of these fellows
up as nabobs, among the islanders. Why, the master of the _Ocean Rover_,
with his six boats, and their cargoes, was richer than the Governor, when
he landed in Flores; where the simple islanders are content with a few
head of cattle, a cast-net, and a canoe.
The _Alabama_ had now two prizes in company, with which she lay off and on
the island during the night, and she was destined to secure another
before morning. I had turned in, and was sleeping soundly, when about
midnight, an officer came below to inform me that there was another large
ship close on board of us. I was dressed and on deck in a few minutes. The
stranger was plainly visible, being not more than a mile distant. She was
heading for the island. I wore ship, as quietly as possible, and followed
her, but she had, in the meantime, drawn some distance ahead, and an
exciting chase now ensued. We were both close-hauled, on the starboard
tack, and the stranger, seeing that he was pursued, put every rag of sail
on his ship that he could spread. I could but admire her, with her square
yards and white canvas, every sheet home, and every leach taut. For the
first half hour, it was hard to tell which ship had the heels of the
other, but at the end of that time, we began to head-reach the chase very
perceptibly, though the latter rather "eat us out of the wind," or, to
speak more conformably with the vocabulary of the land, went to windward
of us. This did not matter much, however, as when we should be abreast of
her, we would be near enough to reach her with a shot. After a chase of
about four hours, day broke, when we hoisted the English ensign. This was
a polite invitation to the chase, to show her colors, but she declined to
do so. We now felt sure that she was an enemy, and a prize, and as we were
still gaining on her, it was only a matter of an hour or two, when she
would fall into our hands. Our polite invitation to the chase, to show her
colors, not succeeding, we became a little more emphatic, and fired a
blank cartridge. Still she was obstinate. She was steering for Flores, and
probably, like the _Starlight_, had her eye on the marine league. Having
approached her, in another half hour, within good round-shot range, I
resolved to treat her as I had treated the _Starlight_, and threw a
32-pounder near enough to her stern to give the captain a shower-bath.
Shower-baths are very efficacious, in many cases, and we found it so in
this, for in a moment more, we could see the stars and stripes ascending
to the stranger's peak, and that he had started his tacks and sheets, and
was in the act of hauling up his courses. This done, the main-yard was
swung aback, and the prize had surrendered herself a prisoner.
Bartelli now came to tell me, that my bath was ready, and descending to
the cabin, I bathed, and dressed for breakfast, whilst the
boarding-officer was boarding the prize. She proved to be the _Alert_, of,
and from New London, and bound, by the way of the Azores, and Cape de
Verde Islands, to the Indian Ocean. She was only sixteen days from port,
with files of late newspapers; and besides her own ample outfit for a
large crew, and a long voyage, she had on board supplies for the group
known as the Navigators' Islands, in the South Indian Ocean, where among
icebergs and storms, the Yankees had a whaling and sealing station. This
capture proved to be a very opportune one, as we were in want of just such
a lot of clothing, for the men, as we found on board the prize; and the
choice beef, and pork, nicely put up ship-bread, boxes of soap, and
tobacco, and numerous other articles of seaman's supplies did not come
amiss. We had been particularly short of a supply of tobacco, this being a
costly article in England, and I could see Jack's eye brighten, as he
rolled aft, and piled up on the quarter-deck, sundry heavy oaken boxes of
good "Virginia twist." That night the pipes seemed to have wonderfully
increased in number, on board the _Alabama_, and the song and the jest
derived new inspiration from the fragrance of the weed. We paroled the
officers and crew of the _Alert_, and sent them ashore, in their own
boats, as we had done the others.
I had now three prizes on my hands, viz.: the _Starlight_, the _Ocean
Rover_, and the _Alert_, with a prize crew on board of each, and as I
could make no better use of them than to destroy them, thanks to the
unfriendly conduct of neutrals, so often referred to, it became necessary
to think of burning them. They were lying at distances, ranging from half
a mile to three miles from the _Alabama_, and were fired within a short
time of each other, so that we had three funeral pyres burning around us
at the same moment. The other whalers at a distance must have thought that
there were a good many steamers passing Flores, that day. It was still
early in the afternoon, and there was more work before us ere night set
in. I had scarcely gotten my prize crews on board, and my boats run up,
before another sail was discovered standing in for the island. We
immediately gave chase, or rather, to speak more correctly, proceeded to
meet the stranger, who was standing in our direction. The ships approached
each other very rapidly, and we soon discovered the new sail to be a large
schooner, of unmistakable Yankee build and rig. We hoisted the United
States colors, and she responded soon afterward with the stars and
stripes. She came on quite unsuspiciously, as the two last prizes had
done, until she arrived near enough to see that the three mysterious cones
of smoke, at which she had probably been wondering for some time past,
proceeded from three ships on fire. Coupling this unusual spectacle with
the approach toward her of a rakish-looking barkentine, she at once smelt
rather a large rat, and wheeled suddenly in flight. But it was too late.
We were already within three miles of her, and a pursuit of half an hour
brought her within effective range of our bow-chaser. We now changed
colors, and fired a blank cartridge. This was sufficient. She saved us the
expenditure of a shot, and hove to, without further ado. Upon being
boarded, she proved to be the _Weathergauge_, a whaler of Provincetown,
Massachusetts, six weeks from the land of the Puritan, with other files of
newspapers, though not so late as those captured on board the _Alert_.
In running over these files, it was wonderful to observe the glibness with
which these Massachusetts brethren of ours now talked of treason, and of
rebels, and traitors, at no greater distance, in point of time, than
forty-five years, from the Hartford Convention; to say nothing of certain
little idiosyncrasies of theirs, that were developed during the annexation
of Texas. There were some "Sunday" papers among the rest, and all the
pious parsons and deacons in the land were overflowing with patriotism,
and hurling death and damnation from their pulpits, against those who had
dared to strike at the "Lord's anointed," the sainted Abraham Lincoln. But
as the papers contained little or no war news, we had no time to bestow
upon the crotchets of the Yankee brain, and they were promptly consigned
to the waste-paper basket. Another sail being discovered, whilst we were
receiving the surrender of the _Weathergauge_, we hastily threw a prize
crew on board this latter vessel, directing the prize-master to "hold on
to the island of Corvo," during the ensuing night, which was now falling,
until we should return, and started off in pursuit of the newly
discovered sail.
Chasing a sail is very much like pursuing a coy maiden, the very coyness
sharpening the pursuit. The chase, in the present instance, seemed
determined to run away from us; and as she was fast, and we were as
determined to overhaul her as she was to run away, she led us a beautiful
night-dance over the merry waters. The moon rose bright, soon after the
chase commenced, and, striking upon the canvas of the fleeing vessel,
lighted it up as though it had been a snow-bank. The American vessels are
distinguished, above all others, for the whiteness of their canvas; being
clothed, for the most part, in the fibre of our cotton-fields. The cut of
the sails, and the taper of the spars of the chase looked American, and
then the ship was cracking on every stitch of canvas that would draw, in
the effort to escape--she must surely be American, we thought. And so we
"looked on her, to lust after her," and gave our little ship the benefit
of all our skill in seamanship. The speed of the two ships was so nearly
matched, that, for the first hour or two, it was impossible to say whether
we had gained on her an inch. We were both running dead before the wind,
and this was not the _Alabama's_ most favorable sailing-point. With her
tall lower masts, and large fore-and-aft sails, she was better on a wind,
or with the wind abeam. The chase was leading us away from our
cruising-ground, and I should have abandoned it, if I had not had my pride
of ship a little interested. It would never do for the _Alabama_ to be
beaten in the beginning of her cruise, and that, too, by a merchantman;
and so we threw out all our "light kites" to the wind, and gave her the
studding-sails "alow and aloft." To make a long story short, we chased
this ship nearly all night, and only came up with her a little before
dawn; and when we did come up with her, she proved to be a Dane! She was
the bark _Overman_, from Bankok, in Siam, bound to Hamburg. There had been
no occasion, whatever, for this neutral ship to flee, and the long chase
which she had given me was evidently the result of a little spleen; and
so, to revenge myself in a good-natured way, I insisted upon all my
belligerent rights. Though satisfied from her reply to my hail, that she
was what she proclaimed herself to be, I compelled her to heave to, which
involved the necessity of taking in all that beautiful white canvas, with
which she had decoyed me so many miles away from my cruising-ground, and
sent a boat on board of her to examine her papers. She thus lost more time
than if she had shortened sail earlier in the chase, to permit me to come
up with her.
It was late next day before I rejoined the _Weathergauge_ off Corvo, and I
felt, as I was retracing my steps, pretty much as Music or Rover may be
supposed to feel, as he is limping back to his kennel, after a run in
pursuit of a fox that has escaped him. Bartelli failed to call me at the
usual hour, that morning, and I need not say that I made a late breakfast.
We now landed the crew of the _Weathergauge_, in their own boats, with the
usual store of provisions, and traps, and burned her. Two days elapsed now
without a capture, during which we overhauled but one ship, a Portuguese
bark homeward bound. Having beaten the "cover" of which Flores was the
centre, pretty effectually, I now stretched away to the north-west, and
ran the island out of sight, intending to skirt it, at the distance of
forty or fifty miles. On the third day, the welcome cry of "sail ho!"
again rang from the masthead, and making sail in the direction indicated
by the look-out, we soon discovered that the chase was a whaler. Resorting
to the usual _ruse_ of the enemy's flag, the stranger did not attempt to
escape, and in an hour or two more, we were alongside of the American
whaling brig _Altamaha_, from New Bedford, five months out. The _Altamaha_
had had but little success, and was comparatively empty. She did not make
so beautiful a bonfire, therefore, as the other whalers had done.
In the afternoon, we overhauled a Spanish ship. Our position, to-day, was
latitude 40 deg. 34' N., and longitude 35 deg. 24' 15" W. The barometer
stood at 30.3 inches, and the thermometer at 75 deg.; from which the reader
will see that the weather was fine and pleasant. It was now the middle of
September, however, and a change might be looked for at any moment. On the
night after capturing the _Altamaha_, we had another night-chase, with
more success, however, than the last. It was my habit, when there was no
"game up," to turn in early, usually at nine o'clock, to enable my
_physique_ to withstand the frequent drafts upon its energies. I was
already in a sound sleep, when about half-past eleven, an old
quartermaster came below, and giving my cot a gentle shake, said: "There
has a large ship just passed to windward of us, on the opposite tack,
sir." I sprang out of bed at once, and throwing on a few clothes, was on
deck almost as soon as the quartermaster. I immediately wore ship, and
gave chase. My ship was under topsails, and it took us some little time to
make sail. By this time the chase was from two and a half to three miles
distant, but quite visible to the naked eye, in the bright moonlight. We
were both close-hauled on the starboard tack, the chase about three points
on the weather bow. The stranger, who was probably keeping a better
look-out than is usual with merchant-ships, in consequence of the war, had
discovered our movement, and knew he was pursued, as we could see him
setting his royals and flying jib, which had been furled. The _Alabama_
was now at her best point of sailing. The sailors used to say, when we
drew aft the sheets of those immense trysails of hers, and got the
fore-tack close aboard, that she was putting on her seven-league boots.
She did, indeed, then seem
"To walk the waters like a thing of life,"
and there were few sailing ships that could run away from her.
We gained from the start upon the chase, and in a couple of hours, were on
his weather-quarter, having both head-reached, and gone to windward of
him. He was now no more than about a mile distant, and I fired the
accustomed blank cartridge to heave him to. The sound of the gun broke
upon the stillness of the night, with startling effect, but the chase did
not stir tack or sheet in obedience to it. She was evidently resolved to
try conclusions with me a little farther. Finding that I had the advantage
of him, on a wind, he kept off a little, and eased his sheets, and we
could see, with our night-glasses, that he was rigging out his
studding-sail booms preparatory to setting the sails upon them. We kept
off in turn, bringing the wind a little forward of the beam, and such good
use did the _Alabama_ make of her seven-league boots, that before the
stranger could get even his foretopmast studding-sail set, we had him
within good point-blank range of a 32-pounder. The moon was shining very
poetically, and the chase was very pretty, but it was rather "after
hours," and so I resolved to shift the scenes, cut short the drama an act
or two, and bring it to a close. I now fired a second gun, though still
unshotted, and the smoke had hardly blown away before we could see the
stranger hauling up his courses, and bringing his ship to the wind, as
much as to say, "I see you have the heels of me, and there is no use in
trying any longer." I gave the boarding-officer orders, in case the ship
should prove to be a prize, of which I had but little doubt, to show me a
light as soon as he should get on board of her. The oars of his boat had
scarcely ceased to resound, before I saw the welcome light ascending to
the stranger's peak, and knew that another of the enemy's ships had fallen
into my power. It was now nearly daylight, and I went below and finished
the nap which had been so unceremoniously broken in upon. I may as well
observe here, that I scarcely ever disturbed the regular repose of the
officers and crew during these night operations. Everything was done by
the watch on deck, and "all hands" were never called except on
emergencies.
When I came on deck the next morning, there was a fine large ship lying
under my lee, awaiting my orders. She proved to be the _Benjamin Tucker_,
of New Bedford, eight months out, with three hundred and forty barrels of
oil. We received from her an additional supply of tobacco, and other small
stores. As early as ten o'clock, the crew of the _Tucker_, numbering
thirty persons, were on board the _Alabama_, and the ship was on fire. The
remainder of this day, and the next, passed without incident, except the
incidents of wind, and weather, which have so often been recorded. We
improved the leisure, by exercising the men at the guns, and caulking the
decks, which were again beginning to let water enough through them, to
inconvenience the men in their hammocks below. Just as the sun was
setting, on the evening of the second day, we caught a glimpse from the
mast-head of the island of Flores, distant about forty miles.
The next morning dawned bright and clear, with a smooth sea, and summer
clouds sailing lazily overhead, giving us just breeze enough to save us
from the _ennui_ of a calm. As soon as the morning mists lifted themselves
from the surface of the waters, a schooner appeared in sight, at no great
distance. We had approached each other unwittingly during the night. We
immediately gave chase, hoisting the United States colors, for the
schooner was evidently Yankee. She did not attempt to escape, and when, as
early as half-past seven A. M., we came near enough to fire a gun, and
change colors, she hove to, and surrendered. She was the whaling-schooner
_Courser_, of Provincetown, Massachusetts. Her master was a gallant young
fellow, and a fine specimen of a seaman, and if I could have separated
him, in any way, from the "Universal Yankee Nation," I should have been
pleased to spare his pretty little craft from the flames; but the thing
was impossible. There were too many white-cravatted, long-haired fellows,
bawling from the New-England pulpits, and too many house-burners and
pilferers inundating our Southern land, to permit me to be generous, and
so I steeled my heart, as I had done on a former occasion, and executed
the laws of war.
Having now the crews of the three last ships captured, on board, amounting
to about seventy, who were not only beginning, on account of their number,
and the limited accommodations of the _Alabama_, to be uncomfortable
themselves, but were inconveniencing my own people, and hindering more or
less the routine of the ship, I resolved to run back to Flores, and land
them. I had eight whale-boats in tow, which I had brought away from the
burning ships, for the purpose of landing these prisoners, and, no doubt,
the islanders, as they saw my well-known ship returning, with such a
string of boats, congratulated themselves upon the prospect of other good
bargains with the Yankees. The traffic must now have been considerable in
this little island; such was the avalanche of boats, harpoons, cordage,
whales' teeth, whalebones, beef, pork, tobacco, soap, and jack-knives that
I had thrown on shore. When we had reached sufficiently near, I shoved all
the boats off at once, laden with my seventy prisoners, and there was
quite a regatta under the lee of Flores that afternoon, the boats of each
ship striving to beat the others to the shore. The fellows seemed to be so
well pleased, that I believe, with a little coaxing, they would have been
willing to give three cheers for the _Alabama_.
We had some sport ourselves, after the prisoners had departed; for we
converted the _Courser_ into a target, before setting fire to her, and
gave the crew a little practice at her, with the battery. They did pretty
well for green hands, but nothing to boast of. They were now becoming
somewhat familiar with the gun exercise, and in the evolutions that are
usually taught sailors at general quarters. Not only my excellent first
lieutenant, but all the officers of the divisions, took great pains with
them, and their progress was quite satisfactory.
We again stood away to the northward and westward, under easy sail, during
the night, and the next day, the weather being still fine, and the breeze
moderate from the south-west, in latitude about 40 deg., and longitude 33
deg., we chased a large ship which tried her heels with us--to no purpose,
however--as we overhauled her in about three hours and a half. It was
another American whaling ship, the _Virginia_, only twenty days out, from
New Bedford. She brought us another batch of late newspapers, and being
fitted out, like the _Alert_, for a long cruise, we got on board some more
supplies from her. The master of this ship expressed great surprise at the
speed of the _Alabama_, under sail. His own ship, he said, was fast, but
he had stood "no chance" with the _Alabama_. It was like a rabbit
attempting to run away from a greyhound. We burned the _Virginia_, when we
had gotten our supplies on board, and despoiled her of such cordage, and
spare sails as we needed, and stood away to the north-west again. The
torch having been applied to her rather late in the afternoon, the burning
wreck was still visible some time after nightfall.
The next morning the weather had changed considerably. It was cloudy, and
rather angry-looking, and the wind was fresh and increasing. We overhauled
a French brig, during the day, and after detaining her no longer than was
necessary to examine her papers, permitted her to depart. We had barely
turned away from the Frenchman, when a bark was announced from the
mast-head. We immediately gave chase. We had to wear ship for this
purpose, and the bark, which seemed to have descried us, quite as soon as
we had descried her, observing the evolution, made all sail at once, in
flight. Here was another chase, and under different circumstances from any
of those that had preceded it. It was blowing half a gale of wind, and it
remained to be proved whether the _Alabama_ was as much to be dreaded in
rough weather as in smooth. Many smooth-water sailers lose their quality
of speed entirely, when the seas begin to buffet them. I had the wind of
the chase, and was thus enabled to run down upon her, with a flowing
sheet. I held on to my topgallant sails, though the masts buckled, and
bent as though the sticks would go over the side. The chase did the same.
It was soon quite evident that my gallant little ship was entirely at home
in the roughest weather. She seemed, like a trained racer, to enjoy the
sport, and though she would tremble, now and then, as she leaped from sea
to sea, it was the tremor of excitement, not of weakness. We gained so
rapidly upon the chase, that in three hours from the time the race
commenced, we had her within the range of our guns. By way of a change, I
had chased this ship under English colors, but she obstinately refused to
show any colors herself, until she was compelled, by the loud-mouthed
command of a gun. She then ran up that "flaunting lie," the "old flag,"
and clewed up her topgallant sails, and hauled up her courses, and
submitted to her fate, with such resignation as she might.
I now not only took in my topgallant sails, and hauled up my courses, but
furled the latter, and took a single reef in my topsails, so fresh was the
wind blowing. Indeed it was so rough, that I hesitated a moment about
launching my boats; but there was evidently a gale brewing, and if I did
not take possession of my prize, she would in all probability escape
during the darkness and tempest of the ensuing night. I had a set of
gallant, and skilful young officers around me, who would dare anything I
told them to dare, and some capital seamen, and with the assistance I
could give them, by manoeuvring the ship, I thought the thing could be
managed; and so I ordered two of the best boats to be launched, and
manned. We were lying to, to windward of the prize, and the boats had
nothing to do, of course, but to pull before the wind and sea to reach
her. I directed the boarding-officers to bring off nothing whatever, from
the prize, in the way of property, except her chronometer, and her flag,
and told them when they should have gotten the prisoners on board and were
ready to return, that I would run down to leeward of the prize to receive
them. They would thus, still, only have to pull before the wind, and the
sea, to regain their ship. The prize was to be fired just before leaving
her. This was all accomplished successfully; but the reader may well
conceive my anxiety, as I watched those frail, tempest-tossed boats, as
they were returning to me, with their human freight; now thrown high on
the top of some angry wave, that dashed its foam and spray over them, as
though it would swamp them, for daring thus to beard it, and now settling
entirely out of sight in the trough of the sea. When they pulled under the
lee of the _Alabama_, and we threw them a rope, I was greatly relieved.
This was the only ship I ever burned, before examining her papers. But as
she was a whaler, and so could have no neutral cargo on board, the risk to
be run was not very great. She proved to be the _Elisha Dunbar_ of New
Bedford, twenty-four days out.
This burning ship was a beautiful spectacle, the scene being wild and
picturesque beyond description. The black clouds were mustering their
forces in fearful array. Already the entire heavens had been overcast. The
thunder began to roll, and crash, and the lightning to leap from cloud to
cloud in a thousand eccentric lines. The sea was in a tumult of rage; the
winds howled, and floods of rain descended. Amid this turmoil of the
elements, the _Dunbar_, all in flames, and with disordered gear and
unfurled canvas, lay rolling and tossing upon the sea. Now an ignited sail
would fly away from a yard, and scud off before the gale; and now the yard
itself, released from the control of its braces, would swing about wildly,
as in the madness of despair, and then drop into the sea. Finally the
masts went by the board, and then the hull rocked to and fro for a while,
until it was filled with water, and the fire nearly quenched, when it
settled to the bottom of the great deep, a victim to the passions of man,
and the fury of the elements.