OTHER INCIDENTS OF THE BATTLE BETWEEN THE ALABAMA AND THE KEARSARGE--THE
RESCUE OF OFFICERS AND SEAMEN BY THE ENGLISH STEAM-YACHT DEERHOUND--THE
UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT DEMANDS THAT THEY BE GIVEN UP--BRITISH GOVERNMENT
REFUSES COMPLIANCE--THE RESCUED PERSONS NOT PRISONERS--THE INCONSISTENCY
OF THE FEDERAL SECRETARY OF THE NAVY.
Notwithstanding my enemy went out chivalrously armored, to encounter a
ship whose wooden sides were entirely without protection, I should have
beaten him in the first thirty minutes of the engagement, but for the
defect of my ammunition, which had been two years on board, and become
much deteriorated by cruising in a variety of climates. I had directed my
men to fire low, telling them that it was better to fire too low than too
high, as the _ricochet_ in the former case--the water being smooth--would
remedy the defect of their aim, whereas it was of no importance to cripple
the masts and spars of a steamer. By Captain Winslow's own account, the
_Kearsarge_ was struck twenty-eight times; but his ship being armored, of
course, my shot and shell, except in so far as fragments of the latter may
have damaged his spars and rigging, fell harmless into the sea. The
_Alabama_ was not mortally wounded, as the reader has seen, until after
the _Kearsarge_ had been firing at her _an hour and ten minutes_. In the
mean time, in spite of the armor of the _Kearsarge_, I had _mortally
wounded_ that ship in the first thirty minutes of the engagement. I say,
"mortally wounded her," because the wound would have proved mortal, but
for the defect of my ammunition above spoken of. I lodged a rifled
percussion shell near her stern post--_where there were no chains_--which
failed to explode because of the defect of the cap. If the cap had
performed its duty, and exploded the shell, I should have been called upon
to save Captain Winslow's crew from drowning, instead of his being called
upon to save mine. On so slight an incident--the defect of a
percussion-cap--did the battle hinge. The enemy were very proud of this
shell. _It was the only trophy they ever got of the Alabama!_ We fought
her until she would no longer swim, and then we gave her to the waves.
This shell, thus imbedded in the hull of the ship, was carefully cut out,
along with some of the timber, and sent to the Navy Department in
Washington, to be exhibited to admiring Yankees. It should call up the
blush of shame to the cheek of every Northern man who looks upon it. It
should remind him of his ship going into action with _concealed_ armor; it
should remind him that his ship fired into a beaten antagonist _five_
times, after her colors had been struck and when she was sinking; and it
should remind him of the drowning of helpless men, struggling in the water
for their lives!
Perhaps this latter spectacle was something for a Yankee to gloat upon.
The _Alabama_ had been a scourge and a terror to them for two years. She
had destroyed their _property_! _Yankee_ property! Curse upon the
"pirates," let them drown! At least this was the sentiment uttered by that
humane and Christian gentleman, to whom I have before had occasion to
allude in these pages--Mr. William H. Seward--one of the chief Vandals,
who found themselves in the possession and control of the once glorious
"Government of the States," during the war. This gentleman, in one of his
despatches to Mr. Adams, prompting him as to what he should say to the
English Government, on the subject of the rescue of my men by the
_Deerhound_, remarks: "I have to observe, upon these remarks of Earl
Russell, that it was the right of the _Kearsarge that the pirates should
drown_, unless saved by humane exertions of the officers and crew of that
vessel, or by their own efforts, _without the aid of the Deerhound_. The
men were either already actually prisoners, or they were desperately
pursued by the _Kearsarge_. If they had _perished_ [by being permitted to
be drowned, in cold blood after the action], the _Kearsarge would have had
the advantage of a lawful destruction of so many enemies_; if they had
been recovered by the _Kearsarge_, with or without the aid of the
_Deerhound_, then the voluntary surrender of those persons would have been
perfected, and they would have been prisoners. In neither case would they
have remained hostile Confederates."
No one who is not a seaman can realize the blow which falls upon the heart
of a commander, upon the sinking of his ship. It is not merely the loss of
a battle--it is the overwhelming of his household, as it were, in a great
catastrophe. The _Alabama_ had not only been my battle-field, but my home,
in which I had lived two long years, and in which I had experienced many
vicissitudes of pain and pleasure, sickness and health. My officers and
crew formed a great military family, every face of which was familiar to
me; and when I looked upon my gory deck, toward the close of the action,
and saw so many manly forms stretched upon it, with the glazed eye of
death, or agonizing with terrible wounds, I felt as a father feels who has
lost his children--his children who had followed him to the uttermost ends
of the earth, in sunshine and storm, and been always true to him.
A remarkable spectacle presented itself on the deck of the sinking ship,
after the firing had ceased, and the boats containing the wounded had been
shoved off. Under the order, which had been given, "Every man save himself
who can!" all occupations had been suspended, and all discipline relaxed.
One man was then as good as another. The _Kearsarge_ stood sullenly at a
distance, making no motion, that we could see, to send us a boat. The
_Deerhound_ and the French pilot-boats were also at a considerable
distance. Meantime, the water was rushing and roaring into the ship's
side, through her ghastly death-wound, and she was visibly settling--lower
and lower. There was no panic, no confusion, among the men. Each stood,
waiting his doom, with the most perfect calmness. The respect and
affection manifested for their officers was touching in the extreme.
Several gathered around me, and seemed anxious for my safety. One tendered
me this little office of kindness, and another, that. Kell was near me,
and my faithful steward, Bartelli, also, was at my side. Poor Bartelli! he
could not swim a stroke--which I did not know at the time, or I should
have saved him in the boats--and yet he was calm and cheerful; seeming to
think that no harm could befall him, so long as he was at my side. He
asked me if there were not some papers I wanted, in the cabin. I told him
there were, and sent him to bring them. He had to wade to my state-room to
get them. He brought me the two small packages I had indicated; and, with
tears in his eyes, told me how the cabin had been shattered by the enemy's
shot--our fine painting of the _Alabama_, in particular, being destroyed.
Poor fellow! he was drowned in ten minutes afterward.
Two of the members of my boat's crew being around me, when the papers were
brought, insisted that I should give them to them to take care of. They
were good swimmers, they said, and would be sure to preserve them for me.
I gave each a package--put up tightly between small slats--and they thrust
them in the bosoms of their shirts. One of them then helped me off with my
coat, which was too well laden with buttons, to think of retaining, and I
sat down whilst the other pulled off my boots. Kell stripped himself in
like manner. The men with the papers were both saved. One swam to a French
pilot-boat, and the other to the _Deerhound_. I got both packages of
papers. The seaman who landed on the French coast sought out Captain
Sinclair, who was still at Cherbourg, and delivered them to him. A writer
in the London "Times" thus describes how I got the other package: "When
the men came on board the _Deerhound_, they had nothing on but their
drawers and shirts, having been stripped to fight; and one of them, with a
sailor's devotedness, insisted on seeing his Captain, who was then lying
in Mr. Lancaster's cabin, in a very exhausted state, as he had been
intrusted by Captain Semmes with the ship's papers, and to no one else
would he give them up. The men were all very anxious about their Captain,
and were rejoiced to find that he had been saved. They appeared to be a
set of first-rate fellows, and to act well together, in perfect union,
under the most trying circumstances."
[Illustration: The Combat between the Alabama and the Kearsarge, off
Cherbourg, on the 19th of June, 1864.
KELLY, PIET & CO. PUBLISHERS.----LITH. BY A. HOEN & CO. BALTO.]
The ship settled by the stern, and as the taffarel was about to be
submerged, Kell and myself threw ourselves into the sea, and swam out far
enough from the sinking ship to avoid being drawn down into the vortex
of waters. We then turned to get a last look at her, and see her go down.
Just before she disappeared, her main-topmast, which had been wounded,
went by the board; and, like a living thing in agony, she threw her bow
high out of the water, and then descended rapidly, stern foremost, to her
last resting-place. A noble Roman once stabbed his daughter, rather than
she should be polluted by the foul embrace of a tyrant. It was with a
similar feeling that Kell and I saw the _Alabama_ go down. We had buried
her as we had christened her, and she was safe from the polluting touch of
the hated Yankee!
Great rejoicing was had in Yankeedom, when it was known that the _Alabama_
had been beaten. Shouts of triumph rent the air, and bonfires lighted
every hill. But along with the rejoicing there went up a howl of
disappointed rage, that I had escaped being made a prisoner. The splendid
victory of their iron-clad over a wooden ship was shorn of half its
brilliancy. Mr. Seward was in a furor of excitement; and as for poor Mr.
Adams, he lost his head entirely. He even conceived the brilliant idea of
demanding that I should be delivered up to him by the British Government.
Two days after the action, he wrote to his chief from London as follows:--
"The popular excitement attending the action between the _Alabama_
and the _Kearsarge_ has been considerable. I transmit a copy of the
"Times," of this morning, containing a report made to Mr. Mason, by
Captain Semmes. It is evidently intended for this meridian. The more
I reflect upon the conduct of the _Deerhound_, the more grave do the
questions to be raised with this Government appear to be. I do not
feel it my duty to assume the responsibility of demanding, without
instructions, the surrender of the prisoners. Neither have I yet
obtained directly from Captain Winslow, any authentic evidence of the
facts attending the conflict. I have some reason to suspect, that the
subject has already been under the consideration of the authorities
here."
Mr. Seward and Mr. Adams were both eminently civilians. The heads of both
of them were muddled, the moment they stepped from the Forum to the Campus
Martius. Mr. Adams was now busy preparing another humiliation for the
great American statesman. Some men learn wisdom by experience, and others
do not. Mr. Adams seems to have been of the latter class. He had made a
great many _demands_ about the _Alabama_, which had been refused, and was
now about to make another which was more absurd even than those that had
gone before. The "instructions" coming from Mr. Seward in due time, the
demand was made, and here is the reply of Lord Russell:--
"Secondly,"--[his lordship had been considering another point, which
Mr. Adams had introduced into his despatch, not material to the
present question,]--"I have to state, that it appears to her
Majesty's Government, that the commander of the private British
yacht, the _Deerhound_, in saving from drowning some of the officers
and crew of the _Alabama_, after that vessel had sunk, performed a
praiseworthy act of humanity, to which, moreover, he had been
exhorted by the officer commanding the _Kearsarge_, to which vessel
the _Deerhound_ had, in the first instance, gone, in order to offer
to the _Kearsarge_ any assistance which, after her action with the
_Alabama_, she might stand in need of; and it appears further, to her
Majesty's Government, that, under all the circumstances of the case,
Mr. Lancaster was not under any obligation to deliver to the captain
of the _Kearsarge_ the officers and men whom he had rescued from the
waves. But however that may be, with regard to the demand made by
you, by instructions from your Government, that those officers and
men should now be delivered up to the Government of the United
States, as being escaped prisoners of war, her Majesty's Government
would beg to observe, that there is no obligation by international
law, which can bind the government of a neutral State, to deliver up
to a belligerent prisoners of war, who may have escaped from the
power of such belligerent, and may have taken refuge within the
territory of such neutral. Therefore, even if her Majesty's
Government had any power, by law, to comply with the above-mentioned
demand, her Majesty's Government could not do so, without being
guilty of a violation of the duties of hospitality. In point of fact,
however, her Majesty's Government have no lawful power to arrest, and
deliver up the persons in question. They have been guilty of no
offence against the laws of England, and they have committed no act,
which would bring them within the provisions of a treaty between
Great Britain and the United States, for the mutual surrender of
offenders, and her Majesty's Government are, therefore, entirely
without any legal means by which, even if they wished to do so, they
could comply with your above-mentioned demand."
This reasoning is unanswerable, and adds to the many humiliations the
Federal Government received from England during the war in connection with
the _Alabama_, through the bungling of its diplomatists. The _Deerhound_,
a neutral vessel, was not only under no obligation, in fact, to deliver
up the prisoners she had rescued from the water, but she could not,
lawfully, have put herself under such obligation. The prisoners had rights
in the premises as well as the _Deerhound_. The moment they reached the
deck of the neutral ship, _by whatever means_, they were entitled to the
protection of the neutral flag, and any attempt on the part of the neutral
master, whether by agreement with the opposite belligerent or not, to hand
them over to the latter, would have been an exercise of force by him, and
tantamount to an act of hostility against the prisoners. It would have
been our right and our duty to resist any such attempt; and we would
assuredly have done so if it had been made. It will be observed that Lord
Russell does not discuss the question whether we were prisoners. It was
not necessary to his argument; for even admitting that we were prisoners,
hospitality forbade him to deliver us up.
But we were not prisoners. A person, to become a prisoner, must be brought
within the power of his captor. There must be a manucaption, a possession,
if even for a moment. I never was at any time, during the engagement, or
after, in the power of the enemy. I had struck my flag, it is true, but
that did not make me a prisoner. It was merely an _offer_ of surrender. It
was equivalent to saying to my enemy, "I am beaten, if you will take
possession of me, I will not resist." Suppose my ship had not been fatally
injured, and a sudden gale had sprung up, and prevented the enemy from
completing his capture, by taking possession of her, and I had escaped
with her, will it be pretended that she was his prize? There have been
numerous instances of this kind in naval history, and no one has ever
supposed that a ship under such circumstances would be a prize, or that
any person on board of her would be a prisoner. Nor can the _cause_ which
prevents the captor from taking possession of his prize, make any
difference. If from _any_ cause, he is unable to take possession, he loses
her. If she takes fire, and burns up, or sinks, she is equally lost to
him, and if any one escapes from the burning or sinking ship to the shore,
can it be pretended that he is a prisoner? And is there any difference
between escaping to the shore, and to a neutral flag? The folly of the
thing is too apparent for argument, and yet the question was pressed
seriously upon the British Government; and the head of Mr. Gideon Welles,
the Secretary of the Federal Navy, was, for a long time, addled on the
subject. I question, indeed, whether the head of the old gentleman has
recovered from the shock it received, to this day. He afterward had me
arrested, as the reader will see in due time, and conveyed to Washington a
prisoner, and did all in his power to have me tried by a military
commission, _in time of peace_, because I did not insist upon Mr.
Lancaster's delivering me up to Captain Winslow! Will any one believe that
this is the same Mr. Welles who approved of Captain Stellwagen's running
off with the _Mercedita_, after he had been _paroled_?
But here is another little incident in point, which, perhaps, Mr. Welles
had forgotten when he ordered my arrest. It arose out of Buchanan's
gallant fight with the enemy's fleet in Hampton Roads, before alluded to
in these pages. I will let the Admiral relate it, in his own words. He is
writing to Mr. Mallory, the Secretary of the Navy, and after having
described the ramming and sinking of the _Cumberland_, proceeds:--
"Having sunk the _Cumberland_, I turned our attention to the
_Congress_. We were some time in getting our proper position, in
consequence of the shoalness of the water, and the great difficulty
of manoeuvring the ship, when in or near the mud. To succeed in my
object, I was obliged to run the ship a short distance above the
batteries on James River, in order to wind her. During all this time
her keel was in the mud; of course she moved but slowly. Thus we were
subjected twice to the heavy guns of all the batteries, in passing up
and down the river, but it could not be avoided. We silenced several
of the batteries, and did much injury on the shore. A large transport
steamer, alongside of the wharf, was blown up, one schooner sunk, and
another captured and sent to Norfolk. The loss of life on shore we
have no means of ascertaining. While the _Virginia_ was thus engaged
in getting her position for attacking the _Congress_, the prisoners
state it was believed on board that ship, we had hauled off; the men
left their guns, and gave three cheers. They were sadly undeceived,
for, a few minutes after, we opened upon her again, she having run on
shore, in shoal water. The carnage, havoc, and dismay, caused by our
fire, compelled them to haul down their colors, and hoist a white
flag at their gaff, and half-mast another at the main. The crew
instantly _took to their boats and landed_. Our fire immediately
ceased, and a signal was made for the _Beaufort_ to come within hail.
I then ordered Lieutenant-Commanding Parker to take possession of the
_Congress_, secure the officers as prisoners, allow the men to land,
and burn the ship. He ran alongside, received her flag and surrender
from Commander William Smith, and Lieutenant Pendergrast, with the
side-arms of these officers. They delivered themselves as prisoners
of war, on board the _Beaufort_, and afterward were permitted, _at
their own request_, to return to the _Congress_, to assist in
removing the wounded to the _Beaufort_. _They never returned_, and I
submit to the decision of the Department, whether they are not our
prisoners?"
Aye, these _paroled_ gentlemen escaped, and Mr. Welles _forgot_ to send
them back. There was some excuse for Mr. Seward and Mr. Adams making the
blunder they did, of supposing that the rescued officers and men of the
_Alabama_ were prisoners to the _Kearsarge_, but there was none whatever
for Mr. Welles. He was the head of the enemy's Navy Department, and it was
his business to know better; and if he did not know better, himself, he
should have called to his assistance some of the clever naval men around
him. Nay, if he had taken down from its shelf almost any naval history in
the library of his department, he could have set himself right in half an
hour. James' "English Naval History" is full of precedents, where ships
which have struck their flags, have afterward escaped--the enemy failing
to take possession of them--and no question has been raised as to the
propriety of their conduct. So many contingencies occur in naval battles,
that it has become a sort of common law of the sea, that a ship is never a
prize, or the persons on board of her prisoners, _until she has actually
been taken possession of by the enemy_. A few of these cases will
doubtless interest the reader, especially as they have an interest of
their own, independently of their application.
THE REVOLUTIONNAIRE AND THE AUDACIOUS.
Lord Hood fought his famous action with the French fleet in 1794. In that
action, the French ship _Revolutionnaire_ struck her colors to the English
ship _Audacious_, but the latter failing to take possession of her, she
escaped. The following is the historian's relation of the facts:--
"The _Audacious_, having placed herself on the _Revolutionnaire's_
lee quarter, poured in a heavy fire, and, until recalled by signal,
the _Russell_, who was at some distance to leeward, also fired on
her. The _Audacious_ and _Revolutionnaire_ now became so closely
engaged, and the latter so disabled in her masts and rigging, that it
was with difficulty the former could prevent her huge opponent from
falling on board of her. Toward ten P. M., the _Revolutionnaire_,
having, besides the loss of her mizzen-mast, had her fore and main
yards, and main-topsail yard shot away, dropped across the hawse of
the _Audacious_; but the latter quickly extricating herself, and the
French ship, with her fore-topsail full, but owing to the sheets
being shot away, still flying, directed her course to leeward. The
men forward, in the _Audacious_, declared that the _Revolutionnaire_
struck her colors, just as she got clear of them, and the ship's
company cheered in consequence. The people of the _Russell_ declared,
also, that the _Revolutionnaire_, as she passed under their stern,
had no colors hoisted. That the latter was a beaten ship, may be
inferred from her having returned but three shots to the last
broadside of the _Audacious_; moreover, her loss in killed and
wounded, if the French accounts are to be believed, amounted to
nearly 400 men. Still _the Revolutionnaire became no prize to the
British_; owing partly to the disabled state of the _Audacious_, but
chiefly because the _Thunderer_, on approaching the latter, and being
hailed to take possession of the French ship, made sail after her own
fleet." 1 _James_, 132, 133.
It is observable in the above extract, that the historian does not
complain that the French ship escaped; does not deny her right to do so,
but remarks, as a matter of course, that she did not become a prize,
_because she was not taken possession of_.
THE ACHILLE AND THE BRUNSWICK.
In the same action, the French ship _Achille_, struck to the British ship
_Brunswick_, and _not being taken possession of_, endeavored to escape.
The relation of this engagement is as follows:--
"At eleven A. M., a ship was discovered through the smoke, bearing
down on the _Brunswick's_ larboard quarter, having her gangways and
rigging crowded with men, as if with the intention of releasing the
_Vengeur_, [a prize made by the _Brunswick_,] by boarding the
_Brunswick_. Instantly the men stationed at the five aftermost
lower-deck guns, on the starboard side, were turned over on the
larboard side; and to each of the latter guns, already loaded with a
single 32-pounder, was added a double-headed shot. Presently, the
_Achille_, for that was the ship, advanced to within musket-shot;
when five or six rounds from the _Brunswick's_ after-guns, on each
deck, brought down by the board the former's only remaining mast, the
foremast. The wreck of this mast, falling where the wreck of the main
and mizzen-masts already lay, on the starboard side, prevented the
_Achille_ from making the slightest resistance; and, after a few
unreturned broadsides from the _Brunswick_, the French ship struck
her colors. It was, however, wholly out of the _Brunswick's_ power
_to take possession_, and the _Achille_ very soon rehoisted her
colors, and setting her sprit-sail endeavored to escape."
The escape, however, was prevented by the appearance of a new ship upon
the scene, the _Ramilles_. This ship, after dispatching an antagonist with
which she had been engaged, perceiving the attempt of the _Achille_, made
sail in pursuit, and coming up with her, took possession of her, and thus,
for the first time, made her a _prize_. 1 _James_, 162-4.
THE BELLONA AND THE MILLBROOK.
In the year 1800, the French ship _Bellona_ struck to the British ship
_Millbrook_, and afterward escaped. The following is the account of the
engagement. The battle having continued some little time, the historian
proceeds:--
"The carronades of the _Millbrook_ were seemingly fired with as much
precision, as quickness; for the _Bellona_, from broadsides, fell to
single guns, and showed by her sails and rigging, how much she had
been cut up by the schooner's shot. At about ten A. M., the ship's
colors came down, and Lieutenant Smith used immediate endeavors to
take possession of her. Not having a rope wherewith to hoist out a
boat, he launched one over the gunwale, but having been pierced with
shot in various directions, the boat soon filled with water. About
this time, the _Millbrook_, having had two of her guns disabled, her
masts, yards, sails, and rigging shot through, and all her sweeps
shot to pieces, lay quite unmanageable, with her broadside to the
_Bellona's_ stern. In a little while, a light breeze sprung up, and
the _Bellona_ hoisted all the canvas she could, and sought safety in
flight." 3 _James_, 57.
THE SAN JOSE AND THE GRASSHOPPER.
In 1807, off the coast of Spain, the Spanish brig _San Jose_ struck to the
British brig _Grasshopper_--having first run on shore--when the greater
part of her crew escaped _before she could be taken possession of_. The
affair is thus related:--
"At about half an hour after noon, having got within range, the
_Grasshopper_ opened a heavy fire of round and grape upon the brig.
A running fight was maintained--about fifteen minutes of its
close--until two P. M., when the latter, which was the Spanish
brig-of-war _San Jose_, of ten 24-pounder carronades, and two long
sixes, commanded by Lieutenant Don Antonio de Torres, ran on shore
under Cape Negrete, and struck her colors. The greater part of her
crew, which, upon leaving Carthagena, on the preceding evening,
numbered 99 men, then swam on shore, and effected their escape." 4
_James_, 374.
THE VAR AND THE BELLE POULE.
In 1809, in the Gulf of Velona, the French ship-of-war _Var_, struck to
the British frigate _Belle Poule_, but _before she could be taken
possession of_, the officers, and a greater part of the crew escaped. The
action is described as follows:--
"On the 15th, at daybreak, the _Var_ was discovered moored with
cables to the fortress of Velona, mounting fourteen long 18 and
24-pounders, and upon an eminence above the ship, and apparently
commanding the whole anchorage, was another strong fort. A breeze at
length favoring, the _Belle Poule_, at one P. M., anchored in a
position to take, or destroy the _Var_, and, at the same time, to
keep in check the formidable force, prepared, apparently, to defend
the French ship. The _Belle Poule_ immediately opened upon the latter
an animated and well-directed fire, and, as the forts made no efforts
to protect her, the _Var_ discharged a few random shots, that hurt no
one, and then hauled down her colors. _Before she could be taken
possession of_, her officers, and a greater part of her crew escaped
to the shore." 5 _James_, 154.
THE VIRGINIA AND THE CONGRESS.
In the year 1862, one Gideon Welles being Secretary of the Federal Navy,
Admiral Buchanan, of the Confederate States Navy, in the engagement in
Hampton Roads, already referred to, for another purpose, sunk the frigate
_Congress_, and, _before she could be taken possession of, the crew took
to their boats and escaped_. Buchanan did not claim that the crew of the
_Congress_, that had thus escaped, were his prisoners; he only claimed
that Commander Smith, and Lieutenant Pendergrast were his prisoners, _he
having taken possession of them_, and they having escaped, in violation of
the _special parole_, under which he had permitted them to return to their
ship.
It thus appears, that, so far from its being the exception, it is the
rule, in naval combats, for both ship and officers, and crew, to escape,
after surrender, if possible. The enemy may prevent it by force, if he
can, but if the escape be successful, it is a valid escape. I have thus
far been considering the case, as though it were an escape with, or from a
ship, which had not been fatally injured, and on board which the officers
and crew might have remained, if they had thought proper. If the escape be
proper in such a case as this, how much more must it be proper when, as
was the case with the _Alabama_, the officers and crew of the ship are
compelled to throw themselves into the sea, and struggle for their lives?
Take my own individual case. The Federal Government complained of me
because I threw my sword into the sea, which, as the Federal Secretary of
the Navy said, no longer belonged to me. But what was I to do with it?
Where was Mr. Welles' officer, that he did not come to demand it? It had
been tendered to him, and _would_ have belonged to him, if he had had the
ability, or the inclination to come and take it. But he did not come. I
did not betake myself to a boat, and seek refuge in flight. I waited for
him, or _his_ boat, on the deck of my sinking ship, until the sea was
ready to engulf me. I was ready and willing to complete the surrender
which had been tendered, but as far as was then apparent, the enemy
intended to permit me to drown. Was I, under these circumstances, to
plunge into the water with my sword in my hand and endeavor to swim to the
_Kearsarge_? Was it not more natural, that I should hurl it into the
depths of the ocean in defiance, and in hatred of the Yankee and his
accursed flag? When my ship went down, I was a waif upon the waters.
Battles and swords, and all other things, except the attempt to save life,
were at an end. I ceased from that moment to be the enemy of any brave
man. A true sailor, and above all, one who had been bred to arms, when he
found that he could not himself save me, as his prisoner, should have been
glad to have me escape from him, with life, whether by my own exertions,
or those of a neutral. I believe this was the feeling, which, at that
moment, was in the heart of Captain Winslow. It was reserved for William
H. Seward to utter the atrocious sentiment which has been recorded against
him, in these pages. Mr. Seward is now an old man, and he has the
satisfaction of reflecting that he is responsible for more of the woes
which have fallen upon the American people, than any other citizen of the
once proud republic. He has worked, from first to last, for self, and he
has met with the usual reward of the selfish--the contempt and neglect of
all parties. He has need to utter the prayer of Cardinal Wolsey, and to
add thereto, "Forgive, O Lord! him who never did forgive."
With the permission of the reader, I will make another brief reference to
Naval History, to show how gallant men regard the saving of life, from
such disasters during battle, as befell the _Alabama_; how, in other
words, they cease to be the enemies of disarmed men, struggling against
the elements for their lives.
DESTRUCTION OF L'ORIENT AT THE BATTLE OF THE NILE.
At the battle of the Nile, fought by Lord Nelson, in 1798, with Admiral
Brueyes, the flag-ship of the French fleet, _L'Orient_, took fire and blew
up, after having surrendered. Admiral Ganteaume, the third in command of
the fleet, was on board the ill-fated ship, and being blown into the water
by the explosion of the magazine, was picked up by one of his boats and
conveyed to a French brig of war, in which he escaped to Alexandria. This
escape, after surrender, was regarded as valid by Lord Nelson. The
disaster is thus described by the historian. After giving the position of
the French fleet, at anchor in the Bay of Aboukir, and describing the mode
of attack by the English fleet, the narrator proceeds:--
"It was at nine P. M., or a few minutes after, that the _Swiftsure's_
people discovered a fire on board of the _Orient_, and which, as it
increased, presently bore the appearance of being in the ship's
mizzen chains. It was, in fact, on the poop-deck, and in the
admiral's cabin, and its cause we shall hereafter endeavor to
explain. As many of the _Swiftsure's_ guns as could be brought to
bear were quickly directed to the inflamed spot, with, as was soon
evident, dreadful precision. After spreading along the decks, and
ascending the rigging with terrific and uncontrollable rapidity, the
flames reached the fatal spot, and at about ten P. M., the _Orient_
blew up with a most tremendous explosion."
The historian then describes the terrible night-scene that followed; how
it put an end, for the time, to the action, and the efforts which were
made by the English boats to save life. We have only to do, however, with
Admiral Ganteaume. This gentleman describes his escape as follows:--
"It was by an accident, [he is writing to the Minister of Marine,]
which I cannot yet comprehend, that I escaped from the midst of the
flames of the _Orient_, and was taken into a yawl, lying under the
ship's counter. Not being able to reach the vessel of General
Villeneuve, [the second in command,] I made for Alexandria. At the
beginning of the action, Admiral Brueyes, all the superior officers,
the first commissary, and about twenty pilots, and masters of
transports, were on the poop of the _Orient_, employed in serving
musketry. After the action had lasted about an hour, the admiral was
wounded in the body, and in the hand; he then came down from the
poop, and a short time after was killed on the quarter-deck. The
English having utterly destroyed our van, suffered their ships to
drift forward, still ranging along our line, and taking their
different stations around us. One, however, which attacked, and
nearly touched us, on the starboard side, being totally dismasted,
ceased her fire, and cut her cable to get out of reach of our guns;
but obliged to defend ourselves against two others, who were
furiously thundering upon us on the larboard quarter, and on the
starboard bow, we were again compelled to heave in our cable. The 36
and 24-pounders were still firing briskly, when some flames,
accompanied with an explosion, appeared on the after-part of the
quarter-deck," &c.
Admiral Ganteaume does not mention the striking of the colors of this
ship, and the fact has been disputed. But Lord Nelson believed that she
had struck, and that is all we need for our purpose, which is to show
that, with the belief of this fact, he did not pretend to regard Admiral
Ganteaume as a prisoner. In 2 Clarke's "Life of Lord Nelson," p. 135,
occurs the following passage:--
"In a letter to his Excellency, Hon. W. Wyndham, at Florence, dated
the 21st of August, 1798, Sir Horatio had said, that on account of
his indifferent health and his wound, he thought of going down the
Mediterranean as soon as he arrived at Naples, unless he should find
anything very extraordinary to detain him; and this determination had
been strongly impressed on his mind by some of his friends, who
doubted the effect of his going into winter-quarters at Naples [where
the modern Anthony would find his Cleopatra, in the person of the
then charming Lady Hamilton] might have on a mind by no means adapted
to cope with the flattery of the Sicilian Court. He also informed Mr.
Wyndham, that _L'Orient certainly struck her colors_, and had not
fired a shot for a quarter of an hour before she took fire."
Admiral Ganteaume resumed his duties as a naval officer immediately after
his escape, repairing to Cairo, where Napoleon then was, to put himself
under the orders of the Great Captain. He returned with his distinguished
chief to France, in the frigate _Le Muiron_. The British Government did
not demand him of the French Government as a prisoner of war. This case
was almost precisely similar with my own. Both ships struck their colors;
both ships were destroyed before the enemy could take possession of them,
and both commanders escaped; the only difference being that Admiral
Ganteaume escaped in one of his own boats, to one of his own brigs of war,
and thence to Alexandria, and I escaped by swimming to a neutral ship, and
to the cover of a neutral flag; which, as before remarked, was the same
thing as if I had swum to neutral territory. Mr. Lancaster could no more
have thrust me back into the sea, or handed me over to the _Kearsarge_,
than could the keeper of the Needles light, if I had landed on the Isle of
Wight.
I have presented several contrasts in these pages; I desire to present
another. The reader has seen how Mr. Seward, a civilian, insisted that
beaten enemies, who were struggling for their lives in the water, should
be permitted to drown, rather than be rescued from the grasp of his naval
commander by a neutral. I desire to show how a Christian admiral forbade
his enemies to be fired upon, when they were engaged in rescuing their
people from drowning; even though the consequence of such rescue should be
the escape of the prisoners. I allude to Lord Collingwood, a name almost
as well known to American as to English readers; the same Lord
Collingwood, who was second in command to Nelson at the famous battle of
Trafalgar. This Admiral, from his flag-ship, the _Ocean_, issued the
following general order to the commanders of his ships:--
"OCEAN, September 19, 1807.
"In the event of an action with the enemy, in which it shall happen
that any of their ships shall be in distress, by taking fire, or
otherwise, and the brigs and tenders, or boats which are attached to
their fleet, shall be employed in saving the lives of the crews of
such distressed ships, they shall not be fired on, or interrupted in
such duty. But as long as the battle shall continue, his Majesty's
ships are not to give up the pursuit of such, as have not
surrendered, to attend to any other occasion, except it be to give
their aid to his Majesty's ships which may want it."--_Collingwood's
Letters_, 235.
But the American war developed "grand moral ideas," and Mr. Seward's,
about the drowning of prisoners, was one of them.