THE ALABAMA IS DISABLED, AND STOPS TO REPAIR HER MACHINERY--PROCEEDS TO
HER NEW RENDEZVOUS, THE ARCAS ISLANDS, AND THENCE TO GALVESTON--COMBAT
WITH THE UNITED STATES STEAMER HATTERAS.
The _Alabama_ was disabled for two or three days, soon after the events
recorded in the last chapter, by an accident which occurred to her
engine--the giving way of one of the valve castings. I was, in
consequence, obliged to withdraw from the tracks of commerce, and lie as
_perdue_ as possible, until the damage could be repaired. For this
purpose, I ran close in with the land, on the north side of the island of
Jamaica, where, with the exception of an occasional fishing-boat, and a
passing coasting sloop, nothing was to be seen. Mr. Freeman, my chief
engineer, was a capital machinist, and a man of great fertility of
resource, and he went to work at once to remedy the mishap. Nothing but
the puffing of the bellows, the clinking of the hammer on the anvil, and
the rasping of files was heard now for forty-eight hours. At the end of
this time, the engine was again in order for service. But we should have
no occasion to use it for some days yet.
It was now the 12th of December, and it was time for us to begin to think
of running into the Gulf of Mexico, in pursuit of General Banks.
Accordingly we put the ship under sail, and ran along down the island of
Jamaica to the west end. Hence we stretched over into that other track of
the California steamers, returning to the United States by the west end of
Cuba; intending to follow this track as far as Cape San Antonio, hoping
that we might stumble upon something by the way. The California steamer
was not now my principal object, however, but only an incident to my
Mexican Gulf scheme. I did not design to waste time upon her. Whilst
pursuing our way leisurely along this track, we experienced a most
singular series of bad weather. We took an old-fashioned norther, which
lasted us three days, and blew us well down into the Gulf of Honduras.
Here we became the sport of a variety of currents--setting generally to
the westward, but sometimes in a contrary direction. We sighted some of
the islands lying parallel with the coast, but being anxious to get
forward, did not touch at any of them. As we drew out of the Gulf of
Honduras, we again crossed the track of the California steamers, but
fortune continued adverse, and none came along. A delay of a week or two
here might enable me to pick up one of these treasure steamers, but this
would interfere with my designs against Banks, as before remarked, and I
forbore.
On the 20th of December we made the Mexican province of Yucatan, and, just
before nightfall, got hold of Cape Catoche. My land-fall was a very happy
one, though, owing to the bad weather, I had had no "observation" for
thirty-six hours. I sounded soon after dark, in twenty-eight fathoms of
water, and being quite sure of my position, ran into the Yucatan passage,
by the lead, the night being too dark to permit us to discern anything.
The coast is clean, and the soundings regular, and I felt my way around
the Cape without the least difficulty, finding myself, the next morning,
in the Gulf of Mexico, running off to the westward with a free wind. The
water was of a chalky whiteness, a little tinged with green, resembling
the water on the Bahama Banks, and we ran along in a depth of twenty
fathoms, the entire day, scarcely varying a foot. I had accomplished my
object, thus far, with perfect success. I had not sighted a sail since
leaving the west end of Jamaica, which could report me, and had entered
the Gulf of Mexico, by night, unseen of any human eye, on the land or the
sea. On the day after entering the Gulf, we did pass a solitary sail--a
large steamer--steering in the direction of Havana, but she was hull down,
and could make nothing of us. She may have been an enemy, but was probably
a French ship of war, or transport, from Vera Cruz; the French expedition
that culminated in the death of the unfortunate Maximilian having landed
in Mexico about a year before, and there being much passing of steamships
between France and Vera Cruz.
On the 22d of December, night overtaking us, within about twenty miles of
the Arcas, we anchored in twenty fathoms of water, in the open sea. The
Yucatan coast is like that of West Florida, and the Guianas, before
described. It is a continuous harbor, a ship being able to hold on to her
anchors in the heaviest gale. Getting under way the next morning, we
continued on our course, and pretty soon made a bark standing in the same
direction with ourselves. It was our old friend, the _Agrippina_, with her
bluff bows, and stump top-gallant masts. She had been all this time making
her way hither from Blanquilla--a period of nearly four weeks; the
incorrigible old Scotch captain having stopped, on his way, to refresh his
crew, and do a little private trading. However, he was in good time, and
so, letting him off with a gentle reprimand, we ran in to the Arcas
together, and anchored at about five o'clock in the afternoon.
We remained at these little islands a week, coaling ship, and refitting
and repainting. We could not have been more thoroughly out of the world if
we had been in the midst of the great African desert. A Robinson Crusoe
here might have had it all to himself; and to give color to the illusion,
we found on one of the islands a deserted hut, built of old boards and
pieces of wreck, with an iron pot or two, and some pieces of sail-cloth
lying about. An old dug-out, warped and cracked by the sun, lay hauled up
near the hut, and a turtle-net, in pretty good repair, was found, stowed
away in one corner of Crusoe's abode. But what had become of the hermit
who once inhabited these desolate little coral islands, over which the
wild sea-bird now flew, and screamed, in undivided dominion? An humble
grave, on the head-board of which had been rudely carved with a knife, a
name, and a date, told the brief and mournful story. A companion had
probably laid the hermit away and departed. A more fitting burial-place
for a sailor could not well be conceived; for here the elements with which
he was wont to battle had full sweep, and his requiem was sung, without
ceasing, by the booming wave, that shook and rocked him in his
winding-sheet of sand, when the storm raged.
The islands are three in number, lying in a triangle. They are surrounded
by deep water, and it is probably not a great many years since the little
stone-mason of the sea, the coralline insect, first brought them to the
surface, for the only vegetation as yet on any of them is a carpet of
sea-kale, on the largest of them, and a stunted bush or two. In the basin,
in the centre of the triangle, the _Alabama_ is anchored, and so pellucid
is the water, that not only her anchor, which lies in seven fathoms, is
visible, from stock to fluke, but all the wonders of the coral world,
before described, lie open to inspection; with the turtle groping about
amid the sea-fern, the little fishes feeding, or sporting, and madrepore
and sponges lying about in profusion. Bartelli drew up from this submarine
forest, one of the largest of the latter, and having cured it in the sun,
and rendered it sweet by frequent ablution, transferred it to my
bath-room. The naturalist would have revelled at the Arcas, in viewing the
debris of sea-shells, and coral, and the remains of stranded fish, that
lay strewn along the beach; and in watching the habits of the gannet,
man-of-war bird, and a great variety of the sea-gull, all of which were
laying, and incubating. As the keel of one of our boats would grate upon
the sand, clouds of these birds would fly up, and circle around our heads,
screaming in their various and discordant notes at our intrusion. Beneath
our feet, the whole surface of the islands was covered with eggs, or with
young birds, in various stages of growth. Here, as at Blanquilla, all our
boats were hoisted out, and rigged for sailing; and fishing, and turtling
parties were sent out to supply the crew, and in the evening sailing and
swimming matches, and target-shooting took place. This was only the
by-play, however, whilst the main work of the drama was going forward,
viz., the coaling, and preparation of the _Alabama_ for her dash at the
enemy.
Our upper deck had again become open, and required recaulking; and some
patching and refitting was necessary to be done to the sails. As we wanted
our heels to be as clean as possible, we careened the ship, and gave her
copper a good scrubbing below the water-line, where it had become a
little foul. Having taken all the coal out of the _Agrippina_, we
ballasted her with the coral rock, which we found lying abundantly at our
hands, watered her from the _Alabama_, and gave her her sailing orders for
Liverpool. She was to report to Captain Bullock, for another cargo of
coal, to be delivered at another rendezvous, of the locality of which the
reader will be informed in due time. During the week that we lay at the
Arcas, there had evidently been several gales of wind at work around us,
though none of them had touched us. On two or three occasions, when the
wind was quite light, and the sky clear overhead, a heavy sea was observed
to be breaking on the northern shores of the islands. There is no doubt
that on these occasions there were "northers" prevailing along the Mexican
coast. I was led hence to infer, that these terrible gales do not extend,
as a general rule, a great distance seaward from that coast. We were very
little more than a hundred miles from Vera Cruz, which is in the track of
these terrible storms, and yet we had only felt the pulsations of them, as
it were; the huge breakers on the Arcas beating time, in a still
atmosphere, to the storm which was raging at Vera Cruz. It was seventeen
days from the time we doubled Cape Catoche, until we left the Arcas.
During all this time, we were off the coast of Yucatan, the season was
near mid-winter, and yet we had not had a norther. Along the Mexican coast
from Tampico to Vera Cruz, at this season of the year, the usual interval
between these gales, is from three to five days.
As has been mentioned to the reader, the Banks' expedition was expected to
rendezvous at Galveston, on the 10th of January. On the 5th of that month
we got under way from the Arcas, giving ourselves five days in which to
make the distance, under sail. Our secret was still perfectly safe, as
only a single sail had passed us, whilst we lay at anchor, and she at too
great a distance to be able to report us. We had an abundant supply of
coal on board, the ship was in excellent trim, and as the sailors used to
say of her, at this period, could be made to do everything but "talk." My
crew were well drilled, my powder was in good condition, and as to the
rest, I trusted to luck, and to the "creek's not being too high." The
weather continued fine throughout our run, and on the 11th at
noon--having been delayed a day by a calm--we observed in latitude 28 deg.
51' 45", and longitude 94 deg. 55', being just thirty miles from Galveston.
I now laid my ship's head for the Galveston light-house, and stood in,
intending to get a distant sight of the Banks' fleet before nightfall, and
then haul off, and await the approach of night, before I ran in, and made
the assault.
I instructed the man at the mast-head, to keep a very bright look-out, and
told him what to look out for, viz., an immense fleet anchored off a
light-house. The wind was light, and the afternoon was pretty well spent
before there was any sign from the mast-head. The look-out at length
cried, "Land ho! sail ho!" in quick succession, and I already began to
make sure of my game. But the look-out, upon being questioned, said he did
not see any fleet of transports, but only five steamers which looked like
ships of war. Here was a damper! What could have become of Banks, and his
great expedition, and what was this squadron of steam ships-of-war doing
here? Presently a shell, thrown by one of the steamers, was seen to burst
over the city. "Ah, ha!" exclaimed I, to the officer of the deck who was
standing by me, "there has been a change of programme here. The enemy
would not be firing into his own people, and we must have recaptured
Galveston, since our last advices." "So it would seem," replied the
officer. And so it turned out. In the interval between our leaving the
West Indies, and arriving off Galveston, this city had been retaken by
General Magruder, assisted by a gallant seaman of the merchant service,
Captain Leon Smith. Smith, with a couple of small river steamers,
protected by cotton bags, and having a number of sharp-shooters on board,
assaulted and captured, or drove to sea the enemy's entire fleet,
consisting of several heavily armed steamships.
The recapture of this place from the enemy changed the destination of the
Banks' expedition. It rendezvoused at New Orleans, whence General Banks,
afterward, attempted the invasion of Texas by the valley of the Red River.
He was here met by General Dick Taylor, who, with a much inferior force,
demolished him, giving him such a scare, that it was with difficulty
Porter could stop him at Alexandria, to assist him in the defence of his
fleet, until he could extricate it from the shallows of the river where it
was aground. The hero of Boston Common had not had such a scare since
Stonewall Jackson had chased him through Winchester, Virginia.
What was best to be done in this changed condition of affairs? I certainly
had not come all the way into the Gulf of Mexico, to fight five ships of
war, the least of which was probably my equal. And yet, how could I very
well run away, in the face of the promises I had given my crew? for I had
told them at the Arcas islands, that they were, if the fates proved
propitious, to have some sport off Galveston. Whilst I was pondering the
difficulty, the enemy himself, happily, came to my relief; for pretty soon
the look-out again called from aloft, and said, "One of the steamers, sir,
is coming out in chase of us." The _Alabama_ had given chase pretty often,
but this was the first time she had been chased. It was just the thing I
wanted, however, for I at once conceived the design of drawing this single
ship of the enemy far enough away from the remainder of her fleet, to
enable me to decide a battle with her before her consorts could come to
her relief.
The _Alabama_ was still under sail, though, of course, being so near the
enemy, the water was warm in her boilers, and in a condition to give us
steam in ten minutes. To carry out my design of decoying the enemy, I now
wore ship, as though I were fleeing from his pursuit. This, no doubt,
encouraged him, though, as it would seem, the captain of the pursuing ship
pretty soon began to smell a rat, as the reader will see presently by his
report of the engagement. I now lowered my propeller, still holding on to
my sails, however, and gave the ship a small head of steam, to prevent the
stranger from overhauling me too rapidly. We were still too close to the
fleet, to think of engaging him. I thus decoyed him on, little by little,
now turning my propeller over slowly, and now stopping it altogether. In
the meantime night set in, before we could get a distinct view of our
pursuer. She was evidently a large steamer, but we knew from her build and
rig, that she belonged neither to the class of old steam frigates, or that
of the new sloops, and we were quite willing to try our strength with any
of the other classes.
At length, when I judged that I had drawn the stranger out about twenty
miles from his fleet, I furled my sails, beat to quarters, prepared my
ship for action, and wheeled to meet him. The two ships now approached
each other, very rapidly. As we came within speaking distance, we
simultaneously stopped our engines, the ships being about one hundred
yards apart. The enemy was the first to hail. "What ship is that?" cried
he. "This is her Britannic Majesty's steamer _Petrel_," we replied. We now
hailed in turn, and demanded to know who he was. The reply not coming to
us very distinctly, we repeated our question, when we heard the words,
"This is the United States ship ----" the name of the ship being lost to
us. But we had heard enough. All we wanted to know was, that the stranger
was a United States ship, and therefore our enemy. A pause now ensued--a
rather awkward pause, as the reader may suppose. Presently, the stranger
hailed again, and said, "If you please, I will send a boat on board of
you." His object was, of course, to verify or discredit the answer we had
given him, that we were one of her Britannic Majesty's cruisers. We
replied, "Certainly, we shall be happy to receive your boat;" and we heard
a boatswain's mate call away a boat, and could hear the creaking of the
tackles, as she was lowered into the water.
Things were now come to a crisis, and it being useless to delay our
engagement with the enemy any longer, I turned to my first lieutenant, and
said, "I suppose you are all ready for action?" "We are," he replied; "the
men are eager to begin, and are only waiting for the word." I then said to
him, "Tell the enemy who we are, for we must not strike him in disguise,
and when you have done so, give him the broadside." Kell now sang out, in
his powerful, clarion voice, through his trumpet, "This is the Confederate
States steamer _Alabama_!" and turning to the crew, who were all standing
at their guns--the gunners with their sights on the enemy, and
lock-strings in hand--gave the order, fire! Away went the broadside in an
instant, our little ship feeling, perceptibly, the recoil of her guns. The
night was clear. There was no moon, but sufficient star-light to enable
the two ships to see each other quite distinctly, at the distance of half
a mile, or more, and a state of the atmosphere highly favorable to the
conduct of sound. The wind, besides, was blowing in the direction of the
enemy's fleet. As a matter of course, our guns awakened the echoes of the
coast, far and near, announcing very distinctly to the Federal
Admiral--Bell, a Southern man, who had gone over to the enemy--that the
ship which he had sent out to chase the strange sail, had a fight on her
hands. He immediately, as we afterward learned, got under way, with the
_Brooklyn_, his flag-ship, and two others of his steamers, and came out to
the rescue.
[Illustration: The Combat between the Alabama and the Hatteras, off
Galveston, on the 11th of January, 1863.
KELLY, PIET & CO. PUBLISHERS.----LITH. BY A. HOEN & CO. BALTO.]
Our broadside was returned instantly; the enemy, like ourselves, having
been on his guard, with his men standing at their guns. The two ships,
when the action commenced, had swerved in such a way, that they were now
heading in the same direction--the _Alabama_ fighting her
starboard-broadside, and her antagonist her port-broadside. Each ship, as
she delivered her broadside, put herself under steam, and the action
became a running fight, in parallel lines, or nearly so, the ships now
nearing, and now separating a little from each other. My men handled their
pieces with great spirit and commendable coolness, and the action was
sharp and exciting while it lasted; which, however, was not very long, for
in just _thirteen minutes_ after firing the first gun, the enemy hoisted a
light, and fired an off-gun, as a signal that he had been beaten. We at
once withheld our fire, and such a cheer went up from the brazen throats
of my fellows, as must have astonished even a Texan, if he had heard it.
We now steamed up quite close to the beaten steamer, and asked her
captain, formally, if he had surrendered. He replied that he had. I then
inquired if he was in want of assistance, to which he responded promptly
that he was, that his ship was sinking rapidly, and that he needed all our
boats. There appeared to be much confusion on board the enemy's ship;
officers and crew seemed to be apprehensive that we would permit them to
drown, and several voices cried aloud to us for assistance, at the same
time. When the captain of the beaten ship came on board to surrender his
sword to me, I learned that I had been engaged with the United States
steamer _Hatteras_, Captain Blake. I will now let Captain Blake tell his
own story. The following is his official report to the Secretary of the
Federal Navy:--
UNITED STATES' CONSULATE,
KINGSTON, JAMAICA, JAN. 21, 1863.
SIR:--It is my painful duty to inform the Department of the
destruction of the United States steamer _Hatteras_, recently under
my command, by the rebel steamer _Alabama_, on the night of the 11th
inst., off the coast of Texas. The circumstances of the disaster are
as follows:--
Upon the afternoon of the 11th inst., at half-past two o'clock, while
at anchor in company with the fleet under Commodore Bell, off
Galveston, Texas, I was ordered by signal from the United States
flag-ship _Brooklyn_, to chase a sail to the southward and eastward.
I got under way immediately, and steamed with all speed in the
direction indicated. After some time the strange sail could be seen
from the _Hatteras_, and was ascertained to be a steamer, which fact
I communicated to the flag-ship by signal. I continued the chase and
rapidly gained upon the suspicious vessel. Knowing the slow rate of
speed of the _Hatteras_, I at once suspected that deception was being
practised, and hence ordered the ship to be cleared for action, with
everything in readiness for a determined attack and a vigorous
defence.
When within about four miles of the vessel, I observed that she had
ceased to steam, and was lying broadside and awaiting us. It was
nearly seven o'clock, and quite dark; but, notwithstanding the
obscurity of the night, I felt assured, from the general character of
the vessel and her manoeuvres, that I should soon encounter the
rebel steamer _Alabama_. Being able to work but four guns on the side
of the _Hatteras_--two short 32-pounders, one 30-pounder rifled
Parrott gun, and one 20-pounder rifled gun--I concluded to close with
her, that my guns might be effective, if necessary.
I came within easy speaking range--about seventy-five yards--and upon
asking, "What steamer is that?" received the answer, "Her Britannic
Majesty's ship _Vixen_." I replied that I would send a boat aboard,
and immediately gave the order. In the meantime, the vessels were
changing positions, the stranger endeavoring to gain a desirable
position for a raking fire. Almost simultaneously with the piping
away of the boat, the strange craft again replied, "We are the
Confederate steamer _Alabama_," which was accompanied with a
broadside. I, at the same moment, returned the fire. Being well aware
of the many vulnerable points of the _Hatteras_, I hoped, by closing
with the _Alabama_, to be able to board her, and thus rid the seas of
the piratical craft. I steamed directly for the _Alabama_, but she
was enabled by her great speed, and the foulness of the bottom of the
_Hatteras_, and, consequently, her diminished speed, to thwart my
attempt when I had gained a distance of but thirty yards from her. At
this range, musket and pistol shots were exchanged. The firing
continued with great vigor on both sides. At length a shell entered
amidships in the hold, setting fire to it, and, at the same
instant--as I can hardly divide the time--a shell passed through the
sick bay, exploding in an adjoining compartment, also producing
fire. Another entered the cylinder, filling the engine-room and deck
with steam, and depriving me of my power to manoeuvre the vessel,
or to work the pumps, upon which the reduction of the fire depended.
With the vessel on fire in two places, and beyond human power, a
hopeless wreck upon the waters, with her walking-beam shot away, and
her engine rendered useless, I still maintained an active fire, with
the double hope of disabling the _Alabama_ and attracting the
attention of the fleet off Galveston, which was only twenty-eight
miles distant.
It was soon reported to me that the shells had entered the _Hatteras_
at the water-line, tearing off entire sheets of iron, and that the
water was rushing in, utterly defying every attempt to remedy the
evil, and that she was rapidly sinking. Learning the melancholy
truth, and observing that the _Alabama_ was on my port bow, entirely
beyond the range of my guns, doubtless preparing for a raking fire of
the deck, I felt I had no right to sacrifice uselessly, and without
any desirable result, the lives of all under my command.
To prevent the blowing up of the _Hatteras_ from the fire, which was
making much progress, I ordered the magazine to be flooded, and
afterward a lee gun was fired. The _Alabama_ then asked if assistance
was desired, to which an affirmative answer was given.
The _Hatteras_ was then going down, and in order to save the lives of
my officers and men, I caused the armament on the port side to be
thrown overboard. Had I not done so, I am confident the vessel would
have gone down with many brave hearts and valuable lives. After
considerable delay, caused by the report that a steamer was seen
coming from Galveston, the _Alabama_ sent us assistance, and I have
the pleasure of informing the Department that every living being was
conveyed safely from the _Hatteras_ to the _Alabama_.
Two minutes after leaving the _Hatteras_ she went down, bow first,
with her pennant at the mast-head, with all her muskets and stores of
every description, the enemy not being able, owing to her rapid
sinking, to obtain a single weapon.
The battery upon the _Alabama_ brought into action against the
_Hatteras_ numbered seven guns, consisting of four long 32-pounders,
one 100-pounder, one 68-pounder, and one 24-pounder rifled gun. The
great superiority of the _Alabama_, with her powerful battery and her
machinery under the water-line, must be at once recognized by the
Department, who are familiar with the construction of the _Hatteras_,
and her total unfitness for a conflict with a regular built vessel of
war.
The distance between the _Hatteras_ and the _Alabama_ during the
action varied from twenty-five to one hundred yards. Nearly fifty
shots were fired from the _Hatteras_, and I presume a greater number
from the _Alabama_.
I desire to refer to the efficient and active manner in which Acting
Master Porter, executive officer, performed his duty. The conduct of
Assistant Surgeon Edward S. Matthews, both during the action and
afterward, in attending to the wounded, demands my unqualified
commendation. I would also bring to the favorable notice of the
Department Acting Master's Mate McGrath, temporarily performing duty
as gunner. Owing to the darkness of the night, and the peculiar
construction of the _Hatteras_, I am only able to refer to the
conduct of those officers who came under my especial attention; but
from the character of the contest, and the amount of damage done to
the _Alabama_, I have personally no reason to believe that any
officer failed in his duty.
To the men of the _Hatteras_ I cannot give too much praise. Their
enthusiasm and bravery was of the highest order.
I enclose the report of Assistant Surgeon E. S. Matthews, by which
you will observe that five men were wounded and two killed. The
missing, it is hoped, reached the fleet at Galveston.
I shall communicate to the Department, in a separate report, the
movements of myself and my command, from the time of our transfer to
the _Alabama_ until the departure of the earliest mail from this
place to the United States.
I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
H. C. BLAKE,
_Lieutenant Commanding_.
_Hon._ GIDEON WELLES,
_Secretary of the Navy, Washington_.
Setting aside all the discourteous stuff and nonsense about "a _rebel_
steamer," and a "piratical craft," of which Captain Blake, who had been
bred in the old service, should have been ashamed, especially after
enjoying the hospitalities of my cabin for a couple of weeks, the above is
a pretty fair report of the engagement. I am a little puzzled, however, by
the Captain's statement, that he could use but four guns on a side. We
certainly understood from all the officers and men of the _Hatteras_, at
the time, that she carried eight guns; six in broadside, and two pivots,
just like the _Alabama_,--the only difference between the two ships being,
that the _Alabama's_ pivot guns were the heaviest.
There is another remark in the report that is quite new to me. I am
informed, for the first time, that Captain Blake desired to board me. I
cannot, of course, know what his intentions were, but I saw no evidence of
such an intention, in the handling of his ship; and Captain Blake must
himself have known that, in the terribly demoralized condition of his
crew, when they found that they had really fallen in with the _Alabama_,
he could not have depended upon a single boarder. What Captain Blake means
by saying that his ship went down, with her pennant flying, I am at a
loss, as every seaman must be, to understand. Did he not surrender his
ship to me? And if so, what business had his pennant, any more than his
ensign, to be flying? But this, I suppose, was a little clap-trap, like
his expressions, "rebel," and "pirate," thrown in to suit the Yankee taste
of the day. Indeed, nothing was more lamentable to me, during the whole
war, than to observe how readily the officers of the old Navy, many of
whom belonged to the gentle families of the land, and all of whom had been
bred in a school of honor, took to the slang expressions of the day, and
fell, pell-mell, into the ranks of the vulgar and fanatical rabble that
was hounding on the war.
The officers of the Confederate States Navy, to say the least, were as
much entitled to be regarded as fighting for a principle as themselves,
and one would have thought that there would have been a chivalrous rivalry
between the two services, as to which should show the other the most
courtesy. This was the case, a thousand years ago, between the Christian
and the Saracen. Did it result from their forms of government, and must
democrats necessarily be vulgarians? Must the howling Demos devour
everything gentle in the land, and reduce us all to the common level of
the pot-house politician, and compel us to use his slang? Radicalism
seemed to be now, just what it had been in the great French Revolution, a
sort of mad-dog virus; every one who was inoculated with it, becoming
rabid. The bitten dog howled incessantly with rage, and underwent a total
transformation of nature. But our figure does not fit the case exactly.
There was more method in this madness, than in that of the canine animal,
for the human dog howled as much to please his master, as from rage. The
size of the sop which he was to receive depended, in a great measure, upon
the vigor of his howling.
But to return to the _Alabama_ and the _Hatteras_. As soon as the action
was over, and I had seen the latter sink, I caused all lights to be
extinguished on board my ship, and shaped my course again for the passage
of Yucatan. In the meantime, the enemy's boat, which had been lowered for
the purpose of boarding me, pulled in vigorously for the shore, as soon
as it saw the action commence, and landed safely; and Admiral Bell, with
his three steamers, passed on either side of the scene of action--the
steamers having been scattered in the pursuit, to cover as much space as
possible, and thus increase their chances of falling in with me. They did
not find the _Alabama_, or indeed anything else during the night, but as
one of the steamers was returning to her anchorage off Galveston, the next
morning, in the dejected mood of a baffled scout, she fell in with the
sunken _Hatteras_, the tops of whose royal masts were just above water,
and from the main of which, the pennant--the _night_ pennant, for the
action was fought at night--spoken of by Captain Blake, was observed to be
flying. It told the only tale of the sunken ship which her consort had to
take back to the Admiral. The missing boat turned up soon afterward,
however, and the mystery was then solved. There was now as hurried a
saddling of steeds for the pursuit as there had been in the chase of the
young Lochinvar, and with as little effect, for by the time the steeds
were given the spur, the _Alabama_ was distant a hundred miles or more.
There was very little said by the enemy, about this engagement, between
the _Alabama_ and the _Hatteras_, as was usual with him when he met with a
disaster; and what was said was all false. My own ship was represented to
be a monster of speed and strength, and the _Hatteras_, on the other hand,
to be a tug, or river steamer, or some such craft, with two or three small
guns at the most. The facts are as follows: The _Hatteras_ was a larger
ship than the _Alabama_, by one hundred tons. Her armament, as reported to
us by her own people, was as follows: Four 32-pounders; two Parrot
30-pounder rifles; one 20-pounder rifle; and one 12-pounder
howitzer--making a total of eight guns. The armament of the _Alabama_ was
as follows: Six 32-pounders; one 8-inch shell gun; one Blakeley rifle of
100 pounds--total, eight guns. There was, besides, a little toy-rifle--a
9-pounder--on the quarter-deck of the _Alabama_, which had been captured
from a merchant-ship, and which, I believe, was fired once during the
action. The crew of the _Hatteras_ was 108 strong; that of the _Alabama_
110. There was thus, as the reader sees, a considerable disparity between
the two ships, in the weight of their pivot-guns, and the _Alabama_ ought
to have won the fight; and she did win it, in _thirteen minutes_--taking
care, too, though she sank her enemy at night, to see that none of his men
were drowned--a fact which I shall have occasion to contrast, by-and-by,
with another sinking. The only casualty we had on board the _Alabama_ was
one man wounded. The damages to our hull were so slight, that there was
not a shot-hole which it was necessary to plug, to enable us to continue
our cruise; nor was there a rope to be spliced. Blake behaved like a man
of courage, and made the best fight he could, ill supported as he was by
the "volunteer" officers by whom he was surrounded, but he fell into
disgrace with the Demos, and had but little opportunity shown him during
the remainder of the war, to retrieve his disaster.