DESTRUCTION OF THE WHALERS.
The Confederate flag was first hoisted on the Alabama, Sunday, August
24th, 1862. When once the shipping articles had been signed coaxing and
persuasion were at an end, and the man with the gray mustache had become a
dictator, to disobey whom meant severe or even capital punishment. Semmes
says:
The democratic part of the proceedings closed as soon as the articles
were signed. The "public meeting" just described was the first and
last ever held on board the Alabama, and no other stump speech was
ever made to the crew. When I wanted a man to do anything after this,
I did not talk to him about "nationalities" or "liberties" or "double
wages," but I gave him a rather sharp order, and if the order was not
obeyed in "double-quick," the delinquent found himself in limbo.
Democracies may do very well for the land, but monarchies, and pretty
absolute monarchies at that, are the only successful governments for
the sea.
The hasty transfer of stores to the deck of the vessel, a large part of
which had been accomplished in a rolling sea, had not been favorable to
an orderly bestowal. A gale sprang up, and the boxes and chests on deck
went tumbling about. The hot sun of the Azores had opened seams in the
deck and upper works, and the clank of the pumps, so familiar to those who
had been in the Sumter during the latter part of her cruise, once more
disturbed their dreams.
It was the purpose of Captain Semmes to strike at the American whaling
vessels which he knew would be at work in the vicinity of the Azores. The
season would close about the first of October, after which time the whales
would seek other feeding waters. The following week was spent in getting
the pivot guns mounted and in putting the ship in order. The captain was
not at once successful in locating the whaling fleet. On Friday, August
29th, a blank shot was fired at a brig which had been pursued all day, but
the latter refused to heave to or show her colors, and not having the look
of an American craft, the chase was abandoned. Another week was spent in
the search, and several vessels were overhauled, but all showed neutral
colors. September 5th the Alabama was in chase of a brig which showed
very fast sailing qualities, and came unexpectedly upon a ship lying to in
mid-ocean with her foretopsail to the mast. Excitement grew apace as a
nearer approach justified the opinion that the motionless stranger was a
Yankee whaler. The English flag was hoisted on the Alabama, and all doubt
was set at rest when the ship responded with the stars and stripes. The
chase of the brig was forthwith abandoned. The master of the whaler made
no effort to get under way. He had struck a fine large sperm whale, which
was now alongside and partly hoisted out of the water by the yard tackles,
and his crew were hard at work, cutting it up and getting the blubber
aboard. A boat was sent from the Alabama, and as the boarding officer
gained the whaler's deck, the cruiser dropped her false colors, and ran up
the Confederate flag.
The astonishment and consternation of Captain Abraham Osborn when he
realized that he was a prisoner and that his ship and cargo were subject
to confiscation, can only be imagined. International law, which is so
careful of property rights on land, affords no protection whatever at sea
in the presence of a hostile force. The ship was the Ocmulgee, of
Edgartown, Massachusetts. Captain and crew were removed to the deck of the
Alabama and placed in irons. Some beef, pork and other stores were also
transferred, and the ship left, anchored to the whale, as Captain Semmes
did not wish to burn her during the night, for fear of alarming other
whaling masters, who were probably not far away. Next morning the torch
was applied, and the most of the Alabama's crew saw for the first time a
burning ship.
Sunday, September 7th, the Alabama approached the south shore of the
island of Flores, one of the westernmost of the Azore group, and the crew
of the Ocmulgee were permitted to pull ashore in their own whaleboats. At
four o'clock p. m. the Alabama filled away to head off a schooner which
appeared to be running in for the island, and hoisted the English flag.
The schooner failed to respond, and a gun was fired, but she still held
her course. A shot was fired across her bow, but even this failed to stop
her. Then a shot whistled between her fore and main masts, and the
futility of attempting to escape being apparent, she rounded to and
hoisted the United States flag. Her master, a young man not over
twenty-eight, was well aware of the fate which had befallen him. His
vessel was the Starlight, from Boston, and he was homeward bound from the
Azores, having on board a number of passengers to be landed at Flores,
including several ladies. He also had dispatches from the American consul
at Fayal to Secretary Seward, narrating the proceedings of the Alabama at
Terceira. The captain and the six seamen who constituted his crew, were
placed in irons. Next day the cruiser proceeded again to the island of
Flores, and sent the prisoners on shore in a boat.
[Illustration: CAPTURES NEAR THE AZORES.]
The obliging governor of the island paid the Alabama a visit, and offered
her officers the hospitalities of the place. In the afternoon (Sept. 8th)
the whaling bark Ocean Rover, of New Bedford, Massachusetts, was captured.
She had been out over three years, had sent home one or two cargoes of
oil, and now had about 1,100 barrels of oil on board. The captain and
crew were permitted to pull ashore in their six whale boats, into which
they had conveyed a considerable quantity of their personal effects.
Before daylight the next morning Captain Semmes was aroused and notified
that a large bark was close by. She proved to be the Alert, of New London,
Connecticut, sixteen days out. Her crew pulled ashore in their boats.
During the day the three prizes (Starlight, Ocean Rover and Alert) were
burned. While the hulks were still smoking the schooner Weathergauge, of
Provincetown, Massachusetts, was captured. This vessel and the Alert
brought plenty of Northern newspapers, and those on board the cruiser were
thus informed of the progress of the war. The whaler Eschol, of New
Bedford, came near enough to make out the burning vessels with a glass,
but her master kept her close to the shore, determined to run her upon the
beach rather than permit her to be captured, and she escaped without being
seen.
On September 13th the brig Altamaha, of New Bedford, fell a prey to the
spoiler, and during the night the Benjamin Tucker, of the same town met a
like fate. The boarding officer on this occasion was Master's Mate G. T.
Fullam, an Englishman, whose home was at Hull. He wrote in his diary:
Darkness prevented us knowing who she was, so I went on board to
examine her papers, which, if Yankee, I was to signal it and heave to
until daylight. What I did on boarding this vessel was the course
usually adopted in taking prizes. Pulling under the stern, I saw it
was the whaling ship Benjamin Tucker, of and from New Bedford.
Gaining the quarter deck, I was welcomed with outstretched hands.
The unsuspecting master answered all questions promptly touching the
character of his ship and cargo, and was then told that the vessel was a
prize to the Confederate States steamer Alabama. This ship had 340 barrels
of oil and made a brilliant bonfire. One of the crew, a Hollander, shipped
on the Alabama. Early the next morning (Sept. 16th) the whaling schooner
Courser, of Provincetown, Massachusetts, was captured. The Alabama then
ran in toward Flores, and to the rapidly increasing colony of shipless
mariners on that island were added the sixty-eight seamen forming the
crews of the last three prizes. The Courser was used as a target until
dark and then burned.
The forenoon of the next day was taken up with the chase of another
whaler, the Virginia, of New Bedford. She was overhauled at noon and
burned. The next day (Sept. 18th), with the wind blowing half a gale, the
Alabama chased the Elisha Dunbar, also a New Bedford whaler. Both vessels
carried their topgallant sails, although the masts bent and threatened to
go over the side. In three hours the Alabama had drawn within gunshot, and
her master judged it best to obey the summons conveyed by a blank
cartridge. Sails were hastily taken in on both vessels. Captain Semmes
hesitated somewhat about launching boats in so rough a sea, but he was
fearful that the gale would increase and that the prize would escape
during the night. The Alabama reached a position to windward of her
victim, so that the boats' crews might pull with the wind and waves, and
two of the best boats were launched, gaining the Dunbar's deck in safety.
The Alabama then dropped round to the leeward of the prize, so that the
boats might return in the same manner, with the wind. The Dunbar's master
and crew were ordered into the boats, and hastily applying the torch, the
boarding officer gained the lee of the Alabama where a rope was thrown to
him, and the boats' crews with their prisoners got on board the cruiser
without accident. The fire quickly gathered volume, and the flames
streamed heavenward as the doomed ship drove before the blast. The storm
burst and thunder and lightning added their magnificence to the sublime
scene. The fire was blazing too fiercely to be affected by the rain. Now
and then a flaming sail would tear loose from its fastenings and go flying
far out over the sea. At last the masts crashed overboard, and only the
hull was left to rock to and fro until nearly full of water, and then dive
deep into the ocean. This was the only ship burned by Captain Semmes
without examining her papers, but as the Elisha Dunbar was a whaler there
was little danger of burning any goods belonging to a neutral owner.
In thirteen days the Alabama had destroyed property to the amount of
$230,000. Captain Tilton, of the Virginia, had remonstrated with his
captor and asked to be released, and Captain Semmes had replied:
"You Northerners are destroying our property, and sending stone fleets to
block up our harbors. New Bedford people are holding war meetings and
offering $200 bounty for volunteers, and now we are going to retaliate."
Captain Tilton resented the indignity of being put in irons and was told
that this was a measure of retaliation for the treatment which had been
meted out to the paymaster of the Sumter, Henry Myers, who was arrested in
Morocco by order of the United States consul, put in irons, and sent to
New York. During the time Captain Tilton remained on the Alabama (nearly
three weeks) he was never permitted to have more than one of his irons off
at a time. Captain Gifford and crew, of the Elisha Dunbar, were treated in
like manner.