NEVER CAUGHT!
On my return to Wilmington I found that my vessel was ready for sea, so
I took charge of her, and we went down the river.
We had to undergo the same ordeal as before in the way of being smoked
and searched. This time there were no runaways discovered, but there was
one on board for all that, who made his appearance, almost squashed to
death, after we had been twenty-four hours at sea. We then anchored
under Fort Fisher, where we waited until it was dark, after which, when
the tide was high enough on the bar, we made a move and were soon
rushing out to sea at full speed. There was a considerable swell
running, which we always considered a point in our favour. By the way,
writing of swells puts me in mind of a certain 'swell' I had on board as
passenger on this occasion, who, while in Wilmington, had been talking
very big about 'hunting,' which probably he supposed I knew nothing
about. He used to give us long narratives of his own exploits in the
hunting-field, and expatiated on the excitement of flying over ditches
and hedges, while apparently he looked upon blockade-running and its
petty risks with sublime contempt. Soon after we crossed the bar on our
way out a gentle breeze and swell began to lift the vessel up and down,
and this motion he described as 'very like hunting.'
Just after he had ventured this remark, a Yankee gun-boat favoured us
with a broadside and made a dash to cut us off. This part of the fun,
however, my friend did not seem to think at all 'like hunting,' and
after having strongly urged me to return to the anchorage under the
protecting guns of the fort, he disappeared below, and never talked, to
me at least, about hunting again.
But to return to my story, there was, as I said before, a considerable
swell running outside, which was fortunate for us, as we ran almost into
a gunboat lying watching unusually close to the bar. It would have been
useless to turn round and endeavour to escape by going back, as, if we
had done so, we should inevitably have been driven on to the beach, and
either captured or destroyed. In such a predicament there was nothing
for it but to make a dash past and take the gun-boat's fire and its
consequences. I knew we had the legs of her, and therefore felt more at
ease in thus running the gauntlet than I otherwise should have done, so
on we went at full speed. She fired her broadside at about fifty yards
distance, but the shot all passed over us, except one that went through
our funnel. The marines on board of her kept up a heavy fire of musketry
as long as we were visible, but only slightly wounded one of our men.
Rockets were then thrown up as signals to her consorts, two of which
came down on us, but luckily made a bad guess at our position, and
closed with us on our quarter instead of our bow. They also opened fire,
but did us no injury. At the moment there was no vessel in sight ahead;
and as we were going at a splendid pace, we soon reduced our dangerous
companions to three or four shadowy forms struggling astern without a
hope of catching us. The signalising and firing had, however, brought
several other blockaders down to dispute our passage, and we found
ourselves at one moment with a cruiser on each side within a pistol shot
of us; our position being that of the meat in a sandwich. So near were
the cruisers, that they seemed afraid to fire from the danger of hitting
each other, and, thanks to our superior speed, we shot ahead and left
them without their having fired a shot.
Considering the heavy swell that was running, there was the merest
chance of their hitting us; in fact, to take a blockade-runner in the
night, when there was a heavy swell or wind, if she did not choose to
give in, was next to impossible. To run her down required the cruiser to
have much superior speed, and was a dangerous game to play, for vessels
have been known to go down themselves while acting that part.
Then, again, it must be borne in mind that the blockade-runner had
always full speed at command, her steam being at all times well up and
every one on board on the look-out; whereas the man-of-war must be
steaming with some degree of economy and ease, and her look-out men had
not the excitement to keep them always on the _qui vive_ that we had.
I consider that the only chances the blockading squadron had of
capturing a blockade-runner were in the following instances; viz., in a
fair chase in daylight, when superior speed would tell, or chasing her
on shore, or driving her in so near the beach that her crew were driven
to set fire to her and make their escape; in which case a prize might be
made, though perhaps of no great value; or frightening a vessel by guns
and rockets during the night into giving up. Some of the
blockade-runners showed great pluck, and stood a lot of pitching into.
About sixty-six vessels left England and New York to run the blockade
during the four years' war, of which more than forty were destroyed by
their own crews or captured; but most of them made several runs before
they came to grief, and in so doing paid well for their owners.
I once left Bermuda, shortly before the end of the war, in company with
four others, and was the only fortunate vessel of the lot. Of the other
four, three were run on shore and destroyed by their own crews, and one
was fairly run down at sea and captured.
I saw an extraordinarily plucky thing done on one occasion, which I
cannot refrain from narrating. We had made a successful run through the
blockade, and were lying under Fort Fisher, when as daylight broke we
heard a heavy firing, and as it got lighter we saw a blockade-runner
surrounded by the cruisers. Her case seemed hopeless, but on she came
for the entrance, hunted like a rabbit by no end of vessels. The guns of
the fort were at once manned, ready to protect her as soon as her
pursuers should come within range. Every effort was made to cut her off
from the entrance of the river, and how it was she was not sunk I cannot
tell. As she came on we could see N----, her commander, a well-known
successful blockade-runner, standing on her paddle-box with his hat off,
as if paying proper respect to the men-of-war. And now the fort opened
fire at the chasing cruisers, from whom the blockade-runner was
crawling, being by this time well inshore. One vessel was evidently
struck, as she dropped out of range very suddenly. On came the 'Old
J----,' one of the fastest boats in the trade, and anchored all right;
two or three shots in her hull, but no hurt. Didn't we cheer her! the
reason of her being in the position in which we saw her at daylight was
that she had run the time rather short, and daylight broke before she
could get into the river; so that, instead of being there, she was in
the very centre of the blockading fleet. Many men would have given in,
but old N---- was made of different stuff.
We got well clear of the cruisers before daybreak, and keeping far out
to sea, were unmolested during the run to Nassau, where we arrived
safely with our second cargo of cotton, having this time been eighteen
days making the round trip.
Having made two round trips, we could afford to take it easy for a
short time, and as the dark nights would not come on for three weeks, we
gave the little craft a thorough refit, hauling her up on a patent slip
that an adventurous American had laid down especially for
blockade-runners, and for the use of which we had to pay a price which
would have astonished some of our large ship-owners. I may mention that
blockade-runners always lived well; may be acting on the principle that
'good people are scarce'; so we kept a famous table and drank the best
of wine. An English man-of-war was lying in the harbour, whose officers
frequently condescended to visit us, and whose mouths watered at what
they saw and heard of the profits and pleasures of blockade-running.
Indeed, putting on one side the sordid motives which I dare say to a
certain extent actuated us, there was a thrilling and glorious
excitement about the work, which would have well suited some of these
gay young fellows.
Time again came round too soon, and we had to start on another trip, and
to tear ourselves away from all sorts of amusements, some of us from
domestic ties: for there were instances of anxious wives who, having
followed their husbands to the West Indies, vastly enjoyed all the
novelty of the scene. These ladies had their pet ships, in whose
captains they had confidence, and in which they sent private ventures
into the Confederacy; and in this way some of them made a nice little
addition to their pin-money. I don't know that any of them speculated in
Cockle's pills or corsages, but I heard of one lady who sent in a large
quantity of yellow soap, and made an enormous profit out of her venture.
Having completed the necessary alterations and repairs, and made all
snug for a fresh run, we started again from the port of Nassau. We had
scarcely steamed along the coast forty miles from the mouth of the
harbour, when we discovered a steamer bearing down on us, and we soon
made her out to be a well-known, very fast Yankee cruiser, of whom we
were all terribly afraid. As we were still in British waters, skirting
the shore of the Bahamas, I determined not to change my course, but kept
steadily on, always within a mile of the shore. On the man-of-war firing
a shot across our bows as a signal for us to heave to, I hoisted the
English colours and anchored. An American officer came on board, who,
seeing unmistakable proofs of the occupation we were engaged in, seemed
very much inclined to make a prize of us; but on my informing him that I
claimed exemption from capture on the ground of the vessel being in
British waters, he, after due consideration, sulkily wished me good
morning and went back to his ship. She continued to watch us till the
middle of the night, when I imagine something else attracted her
attention, and she steamed away. We, taking advantage of her temporary
absence, weighed our anchor and were soon far out at sea.
At the end of three days we had run into a position about sixty miles
from Wilmington without any incident happening worth mentioning. On our
nearing the blockading squadron at nightfall we heard a great deal of
firing going on inshore, which we conjectured (rightly as it afterwards
appeared) was caused by the American ships, who were chasing and
severely handling a blockade-runner. An idea at once struck me, which I
quickly put into execution. We steamed in as fast as we could, and soon
made out a vessel ahead that was hurrying in to help her consorts to
capture or destroy the contraband. We kept close astern of her, and in
this position followed the cruiser several miles. She made signals
continually by flashing different coloured lights rapidly from the
paddle-boxes, the meaning of which I tried my best to make out, so that
I might be able to avail myself of the knowledge of the blockade signals
at some future time; but I could not manage to make head or tail of
them.
Suddenly the firing ceased, and our pioneer turned out to sea again. As
we were by this time very near inshore, we stopped the engines and
remained quite still, but unluckily could not make out our exact
position.
The blockading cruisers were evidently very close in, so we did not like
moving about; besides, the pilot was confident that we were close enough
to the entrance of the river to enable us to run in when day broke,
without being in any danger from the enemy.
Thus for the remainder of the night we lay quite close to the beach.
Unfortunately, however, about an hour before daylight we struck the
shore, and all our efforts to free the vessel were of no avail.
As the day dawned we found that we were about a mile from Fort Fisher,
and that two of the American vessels nearest the shore were about a mile
from us when we first made them out, and were steaming to seaward,
having probably been lying pretty near to the river's mouth during the
darkness of the night. They were not slow to make us out in our unhappy
position. I ordered the boats to be lowered, and gave every one on board
the option of leaving the vessel, as it seemed evident that we were
doomed to be a bone of contention between the fort and the blockaders.
All hands, however, stuck to the ship, and we set to work to lighten her
as much as possible. Steam being got up to the highest pressure, the
engines worked famously, but she would not move, and I feared the sand
would get into the bilges. And now a confounded vessel deliberately
tried the range with her Parrot gun, and the shot splashed alongside of
us. Her fire, however, was promptly replied to by Fort Fisher. The shot
from the fort's heavy artillery passed right over and close to the
cruiser, and made her move further out, and thus spoiled the accuracy of
the range of our devoted little craft, which the man-of-war had so
correctly obtained. We made a frantic effort to get off our sandy bed,
and on all hands running from one extremity of the vessel to the other,
to our delight she slipped off into deep water.
But our troubles were not yet over. To get into the river's mouth it was
necessary to make a _détour_, to do which we had to steer out towards
the blockading fleet for a quarter of a mile before we could turn to go
into the river. While we were performing this somewhat ticklish
manoeuvre, Fort Fisher most kindly opened a heavy fire from all its guns,
and thus drew the attention of the blockaders from us. In twenty
minutes from the time we got off we were safely at anchor under the
Confederate batteries. The vessel that had been so hard chased and fired
at during the night was lying safely at the anchorage, not very much
damaged.
This was by far the most anxious time we had gone through. We had to
thank the commandant and garrison of Fort Fisher for our escape. Having
paid our gallant rescuers a visit, we took a pilot on board and steamed
up to Wilmington. Cape Clear river at this time was full of all sorts of
torpedoes and obstructions, put down to prevent any gun-boats from
approaching the town of Wilmington, should the forts at its entrance be
taken possession of by the enemy. And as the whereabouts of these
obstructions were only known to certain pilots, we had to be careful to
have the right man on board. We got up in safety, and finding that our
cargo of cotton was ready, made haste to unload and prepare for sea
again as quickly as possible.
There was nothing interesting in Wilmington, which is a large straggling
town built on sand-hills. At the time I write of the respectable
inhabitants were nearly all away from their homes, and the town was full
of adventurers of all descriptions; some who came to sell cotton, others
to buy at enormous prices European goods brought in by
blockade-runners. These goods they took with them into the interior,
and, adding a heavy percentage to the price, people who were forced to
buy them paid most ruinous prices for the commonest necessaries of life.
On this occasion we spent a very short time at Wilmington, and having
taken our cargo of cotton, we went down the river to the old waiting
place under the friendly batteries of Fort Fisher. We had scarcely
anchored when a heavy fog came on; as the tide for going over the bar
did not suit till three o'clock in the morning, which I considered an
awkward time, inasmuch as we should only have two hours of darkness left
in which to get our offing from the land, I determined to go out in the
fog and take my chance of the thick weather lasting. I calculated that
if we had met with any cruisers, they would not have been expecting us,
and so would have been under low steam.
I was told by every one that I was mad to venture out, and all sorts of
prognostications were made that I should come to grief, in spite of
which omens of disaster, however, I went over the bar at four o'clock in
the afternoon in a fog, through which I could hardly see from one end of
the ship to the other, and took my chance. As we went on the fog seemed
to get if possible still thicker, and through the night it was
impossible for us to see anything or anything to see us.
In the morning we had an offing of at least a hundred and twenty miles,
and nothing was in sight. We made a most prosperous voyage, and arrived
at Nassau safely in seventy-two hours, thus completing our third round
trip.