THE ALABAMA CONTINUES HER CRUISE ON THE COAST OF BRAZIL--AMERICAN SHIPS
UNDER ENGLISH COLORS--THE ENEMY'S CARRYING-TRADE IN NEUTRAL BOTTOMS--THE
CAPTURE OF THE CONRAD--SHE IS COMMISSIONED AS A CONFEDERATE STATES
CRUISER--THE HIGHWAYS OF THE SEA, AND THE TACTICS OF THE FEDERAL
SECRETARY OF THE NAVY--THE PHENOMENON OF THE WINDS IN THE SOUTHERN
HEMISPHERE--ARRIVAL AT SALDANHA BAY, ON THE COAST OF AFRICA.
We captured our last ship off the Abrolhos, as related in the last
chapter. We have since worked our way as far south, as latitude 22 deg.
38', and it is the middle of June--equivalent in the southern hemisphere,
to the middle of December, in the northern. Hence the blows, and other bad
weather we are beginning to meet with. On the 16th of June, we overhauled
two more American ships, under English colors. One of these was the
_Azzapadi_ of Port Louis, in the Mauritius. She was formerly the _Joseph
Hale_, and was built at Portland, Maine. Having put into Port Louis, in
distress, she had been sold for the benefit of "whom it might concern,"
and purchased by English parties, two years before. The other was the
_Queen of Beauty_, formerly the _Challenger_. Under her new colors and
nationality, she was now running as a packet between London, and Melbourne
in Australia. These were both _bona fide_ transfers, and were evidence of
the straits to which Yankee commerce was being put. Many more ships
disappeared from under the "flaunting lie" by sale, than by capture, their
owners not being able to employ them.
The day after we overhauled these ships, we boarded a Bremen bark, from
Buenos Ayres, for New York, with hides and tallow, on Yankee account. The
correspondents of the New York merchants were taking the advice of the
latter, and shipping in neutral bottoms to avoid paying the premium on the
war risk.
On the 20th of June, we observed in latitude 25 deg. 48', and found the
weather so cool, as to compel us to put on our thick coats. On that day we
made another capture. It was the _Conrad_, of Philadelphia, from Buenos
Ayres, for New York, with part of a cargo of wool. There were certificates
found on board claiming the property as British, but as there were
abundant circumstances in the _res gestae_, pointing to American ownership,
I disregarded the certificates, and condemned both ship and cargo as good
prize. The _Conrad_ being a tidy little bark, of about three hundred and
fifty tons, with good sailing qualities, I resolved to commission her as a
cruiser. Three or four officers, and ten or a dozen men would be a
sufficient crew for her, and this small number I could spare from the
_Alabama_, without putting myself to material inconvenience. Never,
perhaps, was a ship of war fitted out so promptly before. The _Conrad_ was
a commissioned ship, with armament, crew, and provisions on board, flying
her pennant, and with sailing orders signed, sealed, and delivered, before
sunset on the day of her capture. I sent Acting-Lieutenant Low on board to
command her, and gave him Midshipman George T. Sinclair, as his first
lieutenant; and promoted a couple of active and intelligent young seamen,
as master's mates, to serve with Mr. Sinclair, as watch officers. Her
armament consisted of the two 12-pounder brass rifled guns, which we had
captured from the Yankee mandarin, who was going out, as the reader has
seen, on board of the _Talisman_, to join the Taepings; twenty rifles, and
half a dozen revolvers. I called the new cruiser, the _Tuscaloosa_, after
the pretty little town of that name, on the Black Warrior River in the
State of Alabama. It was meet that a child of the _Alabama_ should be
named after one of the towns of the State. The baptismal ceremony was not
very elaborate. When all was ready--it being now about five P. M.--at a
concerted signal, the _Tuscaloosa_ ran up the Confederate colors, and the
crew of the _Alabama_ leaped into the rigging, and taking off their hats,
gave three hearty cheers! The cheers were answered by the small crew of
the newly commissioned ship, and the ceremony was over. Captain Low had
now only to fill away, and make sail, on his cruise. Our first meeting was
to be at the Cape of Good Hope. My bantling was thus born upon the high
seas, in the South Atlantic Ocean, and no power could gainsay the
legitimacy of its birth. As the reader will see, England was afterward
compelled to acknowledge it, though an ill-informed cabinet minister--the
Duke of Newcastle--at first objected to it.
On the same evening that we parted with the _Tuscaloosa_, we boarded the
English bark, _Mary Kendall_, from Cardiff for Point de Galle, but which
having met with heavy weather, and sprung a leak, was putting back to Rio
Janeiro for repairs. At the request of her master I sent my surgeon on
board to visit a seaman who had been badly injured by a fall. As we were
within a few days' sail of Rio, I prevailed upon the master of this ship
to receive my prisoners on board, to be landed. There were thirty-one of
them, and among the rest, a woman from the _Conrad_, who claimed to be a
passenger.
The time had now arrived for me to stretch over to the Cape of Good Hope.
I had been three months near the equator, and on the coast of Brazil, and
it was about time that some of Mr. Welles' ships of war, in pursuance of
the tactics of that slow old gentleman, should be making their appearance
on the coast in pursuit of me. I was more than ever astonished at the
culpable neglect or want of sagacity of the head of the Federal Navy
Department, when I arrived on the coast of Brazil, and found no Federal
ship of war there. Ever since I had left the island of Jamaica, early in
January, I had been working my way, gradually, to my present cruising
ground. My ship had been constantly reported, and any one of his clerks
could have plotted my track, from these reports, so as to show him, past
all peradventure, where I was bound. But even independently of any
positive evidence, he might have been sure, that sooner or later I would
make my way to that great thoroughfare.
As has been frequently remarked in the course of these pages, the sea has
its highways and byways, as well as the land. Every seaman, now, knows
where these highways are, and when he is about to make a voyage, can plot
his track in advance. None of these highways are better defined, or
perhaps so well defined, as the great public road that leads along the
coast of Brazil. All the commerce of Europe and America, bound to the Far
East or the Far West, takes this road. The reader has seen a constant
stream of ships passing the toll-gate we established at the crossing of
the thirtieth parallel, north, all bound in this direction. And he has
seen how this stream sweeps along by the island of Fernando de Noronha, on
its way to the great highway on the coast of Brazil. The road thus far is
wide--the ships having a large discretion. But when the road has crossed
the equator, and struck into the region of the south-east trades, its
limits become much circumscribed. It is as much as a ship can do now, to
stretch by the coast of Brazil without tacking. The south-east trades push
her so close down upon the coast, that it is touch and go with her. The
road, in consequence, becomes very narrow. The more narrow the road, the
more the stream of ships is condensed. A cruiser, under easy sail,
stretching backward and forward _across_ this road, must necessarily get
sight of nearly everything that passes. If Mr. Welles had stationed a
heavier and faster ship than the _Alabama_--and he had a number of both
heavier and faster ships--at the crossing of the 30th parallel; another at
or near the equator, a little to the eastward of Fernando de Noronha, and
a third off Bahia, he must have driven me off, or greatly crippled me in
my movements. A few more ships in the other chief highways, and his
commerce would have been pretty well protected. But the old gentleman does
not seem once to have thought of so simple a policy as _stationing_ a ship
anywhere.
The reader who has followed the _Alabama_ in her career thus far, has seen
how many vital points he left unguarded. His plan seemed to be, first to
wait until he heard of the _Alabama_ being somewhere, and then to send off
a number of cruisers, post-haste, in pursuit of her, as though he expected
her to stand still, and wait for her pursuers! This method of his left the
game entirely in my own hands. My safety depended upon a simple
calculation of times and distances. For instance, when I arrived off the
coast of Brazil, I would take up my pencil, and make some such an estimate
as this: I discharged my prisoners from the first ship captured, on such
a day. It will take these prisoners a certain number of days to reach a
given port. It will take a certain other number of days, for the news of
the capture to travel thence to Washington. And it will take a certain
other number still, for a ship of war of the enemy to reach the coast of
Brazil. Just before this aggregate of days elapses, I haul aft my trysail
sheets, and stretch over to the Cape of Good Hope. I find no enemy's ship
of war awaiting me here. I go to work on the stream of commerce doubling
the Cape. And by the time, I think, that the ships which have arrived on
the coast of Brazil in pursuit of me, have heard of my being at the Cape,
and started in fresh chase; I quietly stretch back to the coast of Brazil,
and go to work as before. _Voila tout!_ The reader will have occasion to
remark, by the time we get through with our cruises, how well this system
worked for me; as he will have observed, that I did not fall in with a
single enemy's cruiser at sea, at any time during my whole career!
We had, some days since, crossed the tropic of Capricorn, and entered the
"variables" of the southern hemisphere; and having reached the forks of
the great Brazilian highway, that is to say, the point at which the stream
of commerce separates into two principal branches, one passing around Cape
Horn, and the other around the Cape of Good Hope, we had taken the
left-hand fork. We had not proceeded far on this road, however, before we
found upon examination of our bread-room, that the weevil, that pestilent
little destroyer of bread-stuffs in southern climates, had rendered almost
our entire supply of bread useless! It was impossible to proceed on a
voyage of such length, as that to the Cape of Good Hope, in such a
dilemma, and I put back for Rio Janeiro, to obtain a fresh supply; _unless
I could capture it by the way_. We were now in latitude 28 deg. 01', and
longitude 28 deg. 29', or about 825 miles from Rio; some little distance
to travel to a baker's shop. We were saved this journey, however, as the
reader will presently see, by a Yankee ship which came very considerately
to our relief.
For the next few days, the weather was boisterous and unpleasant--wind
generally from the north-west, with a south-easterly current. Ships were
frequently in sight, but they all proved to be neutral. On the 30th of
June, the weather moderated, and became fine for a few days. On the 1st
of July, after overhauling as many as eleven neutral ships, we gave chase,
at eleven P. M., to a twelfth sail looming up on the horizon. She looked
American, and had heels, and the chase continued all night. As the day
dawned, a fine, tall ship, with taper spars, and white canvas, was only a
few miles ahead of us. A blank cartridge brought the United States colors
to her peak, but still she kept on. She was as yet three miles distant,
and probably had some hope of escape. At all events, her captain had
pluck, and held on to his canvas until the last moment. It was not until
we had approached him near enough to send a shot whizzing across his bow,
that he consented to clew up, and heave to. She proved to be the _Anna F.
Schmidt_, of Maine, from Boston, for San Francisco, with a valuable cargo
of assorted merchandise; much of it consisting of ready-made clothing,
hats, boots, and shoes. Here was a haul for the paymaster! But
unfortunately for Jack, the coats were too fine, and the tails too long.
The trousers and undergarments were all right, however, and of these we
got a large supply on board. The _Schmidt_ had on board, too, the very
article of bread, and in the proper quantity, that we were in want of. We
received on board from her thirty days' supply, put up in the nicest kind
of air-tight casks. Crockery, china-ware, glass, lamps, clocks,
sewing-machines, patent medicines, clothes-pins, and the latest invention
for killing bed-bugs, completed her cargo. No Englishman or Frenchman
could possibly own such a cargo, and there was, consequently, no attempt
among the papers to protect it. It took us nearly the entire day to do the
requisite amount of "robbing" on board the _Schmidt_, and the torch was
not applied to her until near nightfall. We then wheeled about, and took
the fork of the road again, for the Cape of Good Hope.
Whilst we were yet busy with the prize, another American ship passed us,
but she proved, upon being boarded, to have been sold, by her patriotic
Yankee owners, to an Englishman, and was now profitably engaged in
assisting the other ships of John Bull in taking away from the enemy his
carrying-trade. I examined the papers and surroundings of all these ships,
with great care, being anxious, if possible, to find a peg on which I
might hang a doubt large enough to enable me to burn them. But, thus far,
all the transfers had been _bona fide_. In the present instance, the
papers were evidently genuine, and there was a Scotch master and English
crew on board. At about nine P. M., on the same evening, the _Schmidt_
being in flames, and the _Alabama_ in the act of making sail from her, a
large, taunt ship, with exceedingly square yards, passed us at rapid
speed, under a cloud of canvas, from rail to truck, and from her course
seemed to be bound either to Europe or the United States. She had paid no
attention to the burning ship, but flew past it as though she were anxious
to get out of harm's way as soon as possible. I conceived thence the idea,
that she must be one of the enemy's large clipper-ships, from "round the
Horn," and immediately gave chase, adding, in my eagerness to seize so
valuable a prize, steam to sail. It was blowing half a gale of wind, but
the phantom ship, for such she looked by moonlight, was carrying her
royals and top-gallant studding-sails. This confirmed my suspicion, for
surely, I thought, no ship would risk carrying away her spars, under such
a press of sail, unless she were endeavoring to escape from an enemy. By
the time we were well under way in pursuit, the stranger was about three
miles ahead of us. I fired a gun to command him to halt. In a moment or
two, to my astonishment, the sound of a gun from the stranger came booming
back over the waters in response. I now felt quite sure that I had gotten
hold of a New York and California clipper-ship. She had fired a gun to
make me believe, probably, that she was a ship of war, and thus induce me
to desist from the pursuit. But a ship of war would not carry such a press
of sail, or appear to be in such a hurry to get out of the way--unless,
indeed, she were an enemy's ship of inferior force; and the size of the
fugitive, in the present instance, forbade such a supposition. So I sent
orders below to the engineer, to stir up his fires, and put the _Alabama_
at the top of her speed. My crew had all become so much excited by the
chase, some of the sailors thinking we had scared up the Flying Dutchman,
who was known to cruise in these seas, and others expecting a fight, that
the watch had forgotten to go below to their hammocks. About midnight we
overhauled the stranger near enough to speak her. She loomed up terribly
large as we approached. She was painted black, with a white streak around
her waist, man-of-war fashion, and we could count, with the aid of our
night-glasses, five guns of a side frowning through her ports. "What ship
is that?" now thundered my first lieutenant through his trumpet. "This is
her Britannic Majesty's ship, _Diomede_!" came back in reply very quietly.
"What ship is that?" now asked the _Diomede_. "This is the Confederate
States steamer _Alabama_." "I suspected as much," said the officer, "when
I saw you making sail, by the light of the burning ship." A little
friendly chat now ensued, when we sheared off, and permitted her Britannic
Majesty's frigate to proceed, without insisting upon an examination of
"_her papers_;" and the sailors slunk below, one by one, to their
hammocks, disappointed that they had neither caught the Flying Dutchman, a
California clipper, or a fight.
The next day, and for several days, the weather proved fine. We were
running to the eastward on the average parallel of about 30 deg., with
the wind from N. N. E. to the N. W. Saturday, _July 4th_, 1863, is thus
recorded in my journal:--"This is 'Independence day' in the 'old concern;'
a holiday, which I feel half inclined to throw overboard, because it was
established in such bad company, and because we have to fight the battle
of independence over again, against a greater tyranny than before. Still,
old feelings are strong, and it will not hurt Jack to give him an extra
glass of grog."
The morning of the 6th proved cloudy and squally, and we had some showers
of rain, though the barometer kept steadily up. At thirty minutes past
midnight, an officer came below to inform me, that there was a large sail
in sight, not a great way off. I sent word to the officer of the deck to
chase, and repaired on deck pretty soon myself. In about three hours, we
had approached the chase sufficiently near, to heave her to, with a shot,
she having previously disregarded two blank cartridges. She proved to be
another prize, the ship _Express_, of Boston, from Callao, for Antwerp,
with a cargo of guano from the Chincha Islands. This cargo probably
belonged to the Peruvian Government, for the guano of the Chincha Islands
is a government monopoly, but our Peruvian friends had been unfortunate
in their attempts to cover it. It had been shipped by Messrs. Sescau,
Valdeavellano & Co., and consigned to J. Sescau & Co., at Antwerp. On the
back of the bill of lading was the following indorsement:--"Nous
soussigne, Charge d'Affairs, et Consul General de France, a Lima,
certifions que la chargement de mille soixante deuze tonneaux, de
register, de Huano, specifie au present connaissement, est propriete
neutre. Fait a Lima, le 27 Janvier, 1863." This certificate was no better
than so much waste paper, for two reasons. First, it was not sworn to, and
secondly, it simply averred the property to be neutral, without stating
who the owners were. I was sorry to burn so much property belonging, in
all probability, to Peru, but I could make no distinction between that
government and an individual. I had the right to burn the enemy's ship,
and if a neutral government chose to put its property on board of her, it
was its duty to document it according to the laws of war, or abide the
consequences of the neglect. The certificate would not have secured
individual property, and I could not permit it to screen that of a
government, which was presumed to know the law better than an individual.
As the case stood, I was bound to presume that the property, being in an
enemy's bottom, was enemy's. The torch followed this decision.
The _Express_ had had a long and boisterous passage around Cape Horn, and
gave signs of being much weather-beaten--some of her spars and sails were
gone, and her sides were defaced with iron rust. The master had his wife
on board, a gentle English woman, with her servant-maid, or rather humble
companion, and it seemed quite hard that these two females, after having
braved the dangers of Cape Horn, should be carried off to brave other
dangers at the Cape of Good Hope.
We were now in mid-winter, July 15th, when the storms run riot over these
two prominent head-lands of our globe. We were fast changing our skies as
we proceeded southward. Many of the northern constellations had been
buried beneath the horizon, to rise no more, until we should recross the
equator, and other new and brilliant ones had risen in their places. We
had not seen the familiar "North Star" for months. The Southern Cross had
arisen to attract our gaze to the opposite pole instead. The mysterious
Magellan clouds hovered over the same pole, by day, and caused the mariner
to dream of far-off worlds. They were even visible on very bright nights.
The reader will perhaps remember the meteorological phenomena which we met
with in the Gulf Stream--how regularly the winds went around the compass,
from left to right, or with the course of the sun, obeying the laws of
storms. Similar phenomena are occurring to us now. The winds are still
going round with the sun, but they no longer go from left to right, but
from right to left; for this is now the motion of the sun. Instead of
watching the winds haul from north-east to east; from east to south-east;
from south-east to south, as we were wont to do in the northern
hemisphere, we now watch them haul from north-east to north; from north to
north-west; and from north-west to west. And when we get on shore, in the
gardens, and vineyards, at the Cape of Good Hope, we shall see the
tendrils of the vine, and the creeping plants, twining around their
respective supports, in the opposite direction, from left to right,
instead of from right to left, as the reader has seen them do in the
writer's garden in Alabama.
After capturing the _Express_, we passed into one of the by-ways of the
sea. The fork of the road which we had been hitherto pursuing, now bore
off to the south-east--the India-bound ships running well to the southward
of the Cape. We turned out of the road to the left, and drew in nearer to
the coast of Africa. With the exception of an occasional African trader,
or a chance whaler, we were entirely out of the track of commerce. In the
space of seven or eight hundred miles, we sighted but a single ship.
As we drew down toward the Cape, that singular bird, the Cape pigeon came
to visit us. It is of about the size of a small sea-gull, and not unlike
it in appearance. Like the petrel, it is a storm-bird, and seems to
delight in the commotion of the elements. It is quite gentle, wheeling
around the ship, and uttering, from time to time, its cheerful scream, or
rather whistle. A peculiarity of this bird is, that it is entirely unknown
in the northern hemisphere; from which it would appear, that, like the
"right" whale, it is incapable of enduring the tropical heats. It would
probably be death to it, to attempt to cross the equator.
On the 28th of July, we observed in latitude 33 deg. 46', and longitude
17 deg. 31', and the next day, at about nine A. M., we made Daffen Island,
with its remarkable breaker, lying a short distance to the northward of
the Cape of Good Hope. Instead of running into Cape Town, I deemed it
more prudent to go first to Saldanha Bay, and reconnoitre. There might be
enemy's ships of war off the Cape, and if so, I desired to get news of
them, before they should hear of my being in these seas. As we were
running in for the bay, we overhauled a small coasting schooner, the
master of which volunteered to take us in to the anchorage; and early in
the afternoon, we came to, in five and three quarter fathoms of water, in
a cosy little nook of the bay, sheltered from all winds. There was no
Yankee man-of-war at the Cape, nor had there been any there for some
months! Mr. Welles was asleep, the coast was all clear, and I could renew
my "depredations" upon the enemy's commerce whenever I pleased.
There is no finer sheet of land-locked water in the world than Saldanha
Bay. Its anchorage is bold, and clean, and spacious enough to accommodate
the largest fleets. It is within a few hours' sail of the cape, which is
the halfway mile-post, as it were, between the extreme east, and the
extreme west, and yet commerce, with a strange caprice, has established
its relay-house at Cape Town, whose anchorage is open to all the winter
gales, from which a ship is in constant danger of being wrecked. We did
not find so much as a coaster at anchor, in this splendid harbor. The
country around was wild and picturesque in appearance; the substratum
being of solid rock, and nature having played some strange freaks, when
chaos was being reduced to order. Rocky precipices and palisades meet the
beholder at every turn, and immense boulders of granite lie scattered on
the coast and over the hills, as if giants had been amusing themselves at
a game of marbles. A few farm-houses are in sight from the ship,
surrounded by patches of cultivation, but all the rest of the landscape is
a semi-barren waste of straggling rocks, and coarse grass. The country
improves, however, a short distance back from the coast, and the grazing
becomes fine. Beef cattle are numerous, and of fair size, and the sheep
flourishes in great perfection--wool being one of the staple products of
the colony. The cereals are also produced, and, as every one knows, the
Cape has long been famous for its delicate wines.
My first care was to send the paymaster on shore, to contract for
supplying the crew with fresh provisions, during our stay, and my next to
inform the Governor at the Cape of my arrival. As I turned into my cot
that night, with a still ship, in a land-locked harbor, with no strange
sails, or storms to disturb my repose, I felt like a weary traveller, who
had laid down, for the time, a heavy burden. The morning after our
arrival--the 30th of July--was bright and beautiful, and I landed early to
get sights for my chronometers. It was the first time I had ever set foot
on the continent of Africa, and I looked forth, from the eminence on which
I stood, upon a wild, desolate, and yet picturesque scene. The ocean was
slumbering in the distance, huge rocky precipices were around me, the
newly risen sun was scattering the mists from the hills, and the only
signs of life save the _Alabama_ at my feet, and the ox-team of a boer
which was creeping along the beach, were the screams of the sea-fowl, as
they whirled around me, and, from time to time, made plunges into the
still waters in quest of their prey. A profusion of wild flowers bloomed
in little parterres among the rocks, and among others, I plucked the
geranium, in several varieties. This was evidently its native home.
Returning on board at the usual breakfast hour, I found that Bartelli had
made excellent use of his time. There was a hut or two on the beach, to
which a market-boat had been sent from the ship, to bring off the fresh
beef and vegetables for the crew, which the paymaster had contracted for
on the previous evening. Bartelli had accompanied it, and the result was a
venison steak, cut fresh from a spring-bok that a hunter had just brought
in, simmering in his chafing dish. There were some fine pan-fish on the
table, too; for my first lieutenant, ever mindful of the comfort of his
people, had sent a party on shore with the seine, which had had fine
success, and reported the bay full of fish. Jack, after having been nearly
three months on a diet of salted beef and pork, was once more in clover,
and my young officers were greatly excited by the reports that came off to
them from the shore, of the variety and abundance of game, in the
neighborhood. Besides the curlew, snipe, and plover, that were to be found
on the beach, and in the salt marshes adjacent, the quail, pheasant, deer
in several varieties, and even the ostrich, the lion, and the tiger,
awaited them, if they should think proper to go a little distance inland.
The small islands in the bay abounded in rabbits, which might be chased
and knocked on the head with sticks. Hunting-parties were soon organized,
and there was a great cleaning and burnishing of fowling-pieces, and
adjusting and filling of powder-flasks and shot-pouches going on.
But all was not to be pleasure; there was duty to be thought of as well.
The _Alabama_ required considerable overhauling after her late cruise,
both in her machinery, and hull, and rigging. Among other things, it was
quite necessary that she should be re-caulked, inside and out, and
re-painted. There were working-parties organized, therefore, as well as
hunting and fishing-parties. We soon found, too, that we had the duties of
hospitality to attend to. The fame of the "British Pirate" had preceded
her. Every ship which had touched at the Cape, had had more or less to say
of the _Alabama_. Mr. Seward and Mr. Adams, Lord Russell and the "London
Times" had made her famous, and the people manifested great curiosity to
see her. We were, in a measure, too, among our own kinsmen. The Cape of
Good Hope, as all the world knows, had been a Dutch colony, and was now
inhabited by a mixed population of Dutch and English. The African had met
the usual fate of the savage, when he comes in contact with civilized man.
He had been thrust aside, and was only to be seen as a straggler and
stranger in his native land.
From far and near, the country-people flocked in to see us, in every
description of vehicle, from the tidy spring-wagon, with its pair of sleek
ponies, to the ox-cart. The vehicles, containing mostly women and
children, were preceded or followed by men on horseback, by twos and
threes, and sometimes by the dozen. The men brought along with them their
shot-guns and rifles, thus converting their journey into a hunting-party,
as well as one of curiosity. Those from a distance came provided with
tents and camp-equipage. Almost every one had some present of game or
curiosity to offer, as he came on board. One would bring me a wild-peacock
for dinner, which he had shot on the wayside; another a brace of
pheasants; others ostrich-eggs fresh from the nest, plumes of
ostrich-feathers, spikes from the head of the spring-bok three and four
feet in length, &c. We showed them around the ship--the young boers
lifting our hundred-pound rifle-shot, and looking over the sights of our
guns, and the young women looking at the moustaches of my young officers.
The Saldanha settlement is almost exclusively Dutch, notwithstanding it
has been fifty years and more in possession of the English. Dutch is the
language universally spoken; all the newspapers are published in that
melodious tongue, and the "young idea" is being taught to "shoot" in it.
One young man among our visitors, though he was twenty-three years of age,
and lived within twenty miles of the sea, told me he had never been on
board of a ship before. He became very much excited, and went into
ecstasies at everything he saw, particularly at the size and weight of the
guns, which seemed to transcend all his philosophy--the largest gun which
he had hitherto seen, being his own rifle, with which he was in the habit
of bringing down the ostrich or the tiger. The climate seemed to be well
suited to these descendants of the Hollanders. The men were athletic and
well-proportioned, and the young women chubby, and blooming with the
blended tints of the lily and the rose--the rose rather preponderating.
The beauty of these lasses--and some of them were quite pretty--was due
entirely to mother Nature, as their large and somewhat rough hands, and
awkward courtesies showed that they were rather more familiar with milking
the cows and churning the butter, than with the airs and graces of the
saloon.
We remained a week in Saldanha Bay, during the whole of which, we had
exceedingly fine weather; the wind generally prevailing from the
south-east, and the sky being clear, with now and then a film of gray
clouds. This was quite remarkable for the first days of August--this month
being equivalent, at the "stormy Cape," to the month of February, in the
northern hemisphere. The natives told us that so gentle a winter had not
been known for years before. The temperature was delightful. Although we
were in the latitude of about 34 deg.--say the equivalent latitude to that
of south-western Virginia--we did not feel the want of fires. Indeed, the
grasses were green, and vegetation seemed to have been scarcely suspended.
The graziers had no need to feed their cattle.
A schooner came in while we lay here, bringing us some letters from
merchants at Cape Town, welcoming us to the colony, and offering to supply
us with coal, or whatever else we might need. I had left orders both at
Fernando de Noronha, and Bahia, for the _Agrippina_, if she should arrive
at either of those places, after my departure, to make the best of her way
to Saldanha Bay, and await me there. She should have preceded me several
weeks. She was not here--the old Scotchman, as before remarked, having
played me false.
When Kell had put his ship in order, he took a little recreation himself,
and in company with one or two of his messmates went off into the
interior, on an ostrich hunt. Horses and dogs, and hunters awaited them,
at the country-seat of the gentleman who had invited them to partake of
this peculiarly African sport. They had a grand hunt, and put up several
fine birds, at which some of the party--Kell among the number, got
shots--but they did not bring any "plumes" on board; at least of their own
capturing. The devilish birds, as big as horses, and running twice as
fast, as some of the young officers described them, refused to "heave to,"
they said, though they had sent sundry whistlers around their heads, in
the shape of buck-shot.
A sad accident occurred to one of our young hunters before we left the
bay. One afternoon, just at sunset, I was shocked to receive the
intelligence that one of the cutters had returned alongside, with a dead
officer in it. Third Assistant Engineer Cummings was the unfortunate
officer. He had been hunting with a party of his messmates. They had all
returned with well-filled game-bags to the boat, at sunset, and Cummings
was in the act of stepping into her, when the cock of his gun striking
against the gunwale, a whole load of buck-shot passed through his chest in
the region of the heart, and he fell dead, in an instant, upon the sands.
The body was lifted tenderly into the boat, and taken on board, and
prepared by careful and affectionate hands for interment on the morrow.
This young gentleman had been very popular, with both officers and crew,
and his sudden death cast a gloom over the ship. All amusements were
suspended, and men walked about with softened foot-fall, as though fearing
to disturb the slumbers of the dead. Arrangements were made for interring
him in the grave-yard of a neighboring farmer, and the next morning, the
colors of the ship were half-masted, and all the boats--each with its
colors also at half-mast--formed in line, and as many of the officers and
crew as could be spared from duty, followed the deceased to his last
resting-place. There were six boats in the procession, and as they pulled
in for the shore, with the well-known funeral stroke and drooping flags,
the spectacle was one to sadden the heart. A young life had been suddenly
cut short in a far distant land. A subscription was taken up to place a
proper tomb over his remains, and the curious visitor to Saldanha Bay may
read on a simple, but enduring marble slab, this mournful little episode
in the history of the cruise of the _Alabama_.