SETTLING A "YANKEE HASH."
On October 21st, 1862, a large ship was seen carrying a cloud of canvas,
and running with great speed before the wind. The reefs of the Alabama's
topsails were shaken out and preparations made to set the topgallant sails
in case it should be necessary, and the cruiser ran down diagonally toward
the stranger's path. She was pronounced "Yankee" long before she came
within gunshot, and as she drew near a blank cartridge brought her to the
wind. The admirable seamanship displayed in bringing her to a speedy halt
called forth the praise of even the Alabama's captain, and one can only
wonder that some of her master's skill was not expended in avoiding this
suspicious steamer idling in mid-ocean. The British flag she wore could
hardly deceive anybody, after the tales which were told by the captains
who were taken into Boston on the Emily Farnum. But doubtless Captain
Saunders relied upon the fact that his cargo was well covered with
consular certificates, remembering that the Farnum had escaped by having a
cargo which was owned abroad.
The prize proved to be the Lafayette, from New York, laden with grain for
Belfast, Ireland. Captain Saunders readily obeyed the order of the
boarding officer to go on board the Alabama with his ship's papers. He was
shown into the presence of Captain Semmes, and produced his British
consular certificate, with the remark that he supposed that was sufficient
protection. After a hasty examination, Semmes said:
"New Yorkers are getting smart, but it won't save it. It's a d--d hatched
up mess."
The Lafayette was burned.
The decree of the "Confederate Prize Court," which seems to have
comprehended neither more nor less than the Alabama's commander, was in
this case as follows:
CASE OF THE LAFAYETTE.
The ship being under the enemy's flag and register, is condemned.
With reference to the cargo, there are certificates, prepared in due
form and sworn to before the British consul, that it was purchased,
and shipped on neutral account. These _ex parte_ statements are
precisely such as every unscrupulous merchant would prepare, to
deceive his enemy and save his property from capture. There are two
shipping houses in the case; that of Craig & Nicoll and that of
Montgomery Bros. Messrs. Craig & Nicoll say that the grain shipped by
them belongs to Messrs. Shaw & Finlay and to Messrs. Hamilton,
Megault & Thompson, all of Belfast, in Ireland, to which port the
ship is bound, but the grain is not consigned to them, and they could
not demand possession of it under the bill of lading. It is, on the
contrary, consigned to the order of the shippers; thus leaving the
possession and control of the property in the hands of the shippers.
Farther: The shippers, instead of sending this grain to the pretended
owners in a general ship consigned to them, they paying freight as
usual, have chartered the whole ship, and stipulated themselves for
the payment of all the freights. If this property had been, _bona
fide_, the property of the parties in Belfast, named in the
depositions, it would undoubtedly have gone consigned to them in a
bill of lading authorizing them to demand possession of it; and the
agreement with the ship would have been that the consignees and
owners of the property should pay the freight upon delivery. But even
if this property were purchased, as pretended, by Messrs. Craig &
Nicoll for the parties named, still, their not consigning it to them
and delivering them the proper bill of lading, passing the
possession, left the property in the possession and under the
dominion of Craig & Nicoll, and as such liable to capture. See 3
Phillimore on International Law, 610, 612, to the effect that if the
goods are going on account of the shipper or subject to his order or
control, they are good prize. They cannot even be sold and
transferred to a neutral _in transitu_. They must abide by their
condition at the time of the sailing of the ship.
The property attempted to be covered by the Messrs. Montgomery Bros,
is shipped by Montgomery Bros., of New York, and consigned to
Montgomery Bros., in Belfast. Here the consignment is all right. The
possession of the property has legally passed to the Belfast house.
But when there are two houses of trade doing business as partners,
and one of them resides in the enemy's country, the other house,
though resident in a neutral country, becomes also enemy, _quoad_ the
trade of the house in the enemy's country, and its share in any
property belonging to the joint concern is subject to capture,
equally with the share of the house in the enemy's country. To this
point see 3 Phillimore, 605. Cargo condemned.
The next batch of prizes consisted of the Crenshaw, captured on the 26th
of October, the Lauretta captured on the 28th, and the Baron de Castine on
the 29th. The Crenshaw brought New York papers containing resolutions
denouncing the "pirates," which had been introduced in the New York
Chamber of Commerce by a Mr. Low, who was a member of that body, and had
lost considerable property on account of the depredations of the Alabama.
The cargoes of the Crenshaw and Lauretta were covered by certificates of
foreign ownership, but these were bunglingly gotten up, and evidently made
only for the purpose of avoiding condemnation, and Captain Semmes, being
well versed in international law, was able to pick flaws in all of them.
The Baron de Castine was an old and not very valuable vessel, bound with
lumber from the coast of Maine to Cuba. She was released on a ransom
bond, and carried the crews of the Lafayette, Crenshaw, and Lauretta,
together with the derisive compliments of Captain Semmes to Mr. Low, into
the port of New York, then distant only two hundred miles. The other
prizes were burned.
The advent of the Baron de Castine carried fresh dismay to the shipping
interests along the Atlantic coast. The news that a foreign consular
certificate could not be relied upon to furnish protection seemed to sound
the death knell of trade carried on in American ships. The representatives
of the foreign governments whose seals had been defied were appealed to
for assistance in putting an end to the career of the "pirate." The New
York Commercial Advertiser published the following article:
Some important facts have just been developed in relation to the
operations of the rebel privateer Alabama, and the present and
prospective action of the British and other foreign governments,
whose citizens have lost property by the piracies of her commander.
The depredations of the vessel involve the rights of no less than
three European governments--England, Italy and Portugal--and are
likely to become a subject of special interest to all maritime
nations.
[Illustration: DESTROYING THE GRAIN FLEET.]
Already the capture and burning of the ship Lafayette, which
contained an English cargo, has been the occasion of a
correspondence between the British consul at this port, Mr.
Archibald, and Rear Admiral Milne, commanding the British squadron on
the American coast; and it is stated (but we cannot vouch for the
truth of the statement) that the admiral has dispatched three war
vessels in pursuit of the pirate. The consul has also, we understand,
communicated the facts of the case to the British government and Her
Majesty's minister at Washington. What action will be taken by the
British government remains to be seen.
The Lafayette sailed from this port with a cargo of grain for
Belfast, Ireland. The grain was owned by two English firms of this
city, and the facts were properly certified on the bills of lading
under the British seal. * * *
But another case (that of the bark Lauretta) is about to be submitted
for the consideration of the British authorities, as well as those of
Italy and Portugal. The facts establish a clear case of piracy. The
Lauretta, which had on board a cargo consisting principally of flour
and staves, was burned by Semmes on the 28th of October. She was
bound from this port for the island of Madeira and the port of
Messina, Italy. Nearly a thousand barrels of flour and also a large
number of staves were shipped by Mr. H. J. Burden, a British subject
residing in this city, to a relative in Funchal, Madeira. The bill of
lading bore the British seal affixed by the consul, to whom the
shipper was personally known. The other part of the cargo was shipped
by Chamberlain, Phelps & Co. to the order of parties in Messina, and
this property was also covered by the Italian consular certificates.
The Portuguese consul at this port also sent a package under seal to
the authorities at Maderia, besides giving a right to enter the port
and sending an open bill of lading.
Captain Wells' account of the manner in which Semmes disposed of
these documents, and which he has verified under oath, is not only
interesting, but gives an excellent idea of the piratical intentions
of the commander of the Alabama.
The papers of the bark were, at the command of Semmes, taken by
Captain Wells on board the Alabama. There was no American cargo and
therefore no American papers, except those of the vessel. These, of
course, were not inquired into. Semmes took first the packet which
bore the Portuguese seal, and with an air which showed that he did
not regard it as of the slightest consequence, ripped it open, and
threw it upon the floor, with the remark that he "did not care a d--n
for the Portuguese." The Italian bill of lading was treated in a
similar manner, except that he considered it unworthy even of a
remark.
Taking up the British bill of lading and looking at the seal, Semmes
called upon Captain Wells, with an oath, to explain. It was evidently
the only one of the three he thought it worth his while to respect.
"Who is this Burden?" he inquired sneeringly. "Have you ever seen
him?"
"I am not acquainted with him, but I have seen him once, when he came
on board my vessel," replied Captain Wells.
"Is he an Englishman--does he look like an Englishman?"
"Yes," rejoined the captain.
"I'll tell you what," exclaimed the pirate, "this is a d--d pretty
business--it's a d--d Yankee hash, and I'll settle it,"--whereupon he
proceeded to rob the vessel of whatever he wanted, including Captain
Wells' property to a considerable amount; put the crew in irons;
removed them to the Alabama; and concluded by burning the vessel.
These facts will at once be brought before the British consul. The
preliminary steps have been taken. The facts will also be furnished
the Portuguese consul, who announces his intention of placing them
before his government; and besides whatever action the Italian consul
here may choose to take, the parties in Messina, to whom the property
lost on the Lauretta was consigned, will of course do what they can
to maintain their own rights. The case is likely to attract more
attention than all the previous outrages of the Alabama, inasmuch as
property rights of the subjects of other nations are involved, and
the real character of Semmes and his crew becomes manifest.
Captain Semmes makes this sarcastic comment upon the foregoing article:
I was not quite sure when I burned the Lafayette that her cargo
belonged to the shippers, British merchants resident in New York. The
shippers swore that it did not belong to them, but to other parties
resident in Ireland, on whose account they had shipped it. I thought
they swore falsely, but, as I have said, I was not quite certain. The
Advertiser sets the matter at rest. It says that I was right. And it
claims, with the most charming simplicity, that I was guilty of an
act of piracy, in capturing and destroying the property of neutral
merchants, domiciled in the enemy's country, and assisting him to
conduct his trade!
The alleged destruction of British property on board American ships
attracted much less attention in England than in the United States. The
Liverpool Chamber of Commerce caused a letter to be addressed to the
British foreign office asking for information in regard to the matter, to
which the following reply was made:
Sir; I am directed by Earl Russell to reply to your letters of the
6th inst., respecting the destruction by the Confederate steamer
Alabama of British property embarked in American vessels and burned
by that steamer. Earl Russell desires me to state to you that British
property on board a vessel belonging to one of the belligerants must
be subject to all the risks and contingencies of war, so far as the
capture of the vessel is concerned. The owners of any British
property, not being contraband of war, on board a Federal vessel
captured and destroyed by a Confederate vessel of war, may claim in a
Confederate Prize Court compensation for the destruction of such
property.
As the "Confederate prize court" which condemned the Alabama's prizes
habitually walked about under her commander's hat, and as there was
considerable doubt as to where a court competent and willing to review the
decisions made, might be located, there was not much comfort in this
letter for American ship owners or their prospective customers.
But the shippers of merchandise were not the only persons to whom the
Baron de Castine's news brought fear and anxiety. The inhabitants of
unprotected or but slightly protected towns along the coast already saw in
imagination the Alabama steaming in upon them, demanding ransom, and
leaving their homes in ashes. Captain Semmes loved to threaten New York,
and one of the masters last released seems to have gone ashore with the
belief that the Alabama's next move would be to throw a few shells into
that city. But a descent upon the coast would have put Secretary Welles in
possession of a knowledge of her whereabouts, whereas at sea her commander
could usually calculate the time when the news of her movements would
reach the nearest telegraph office, and shift her position just before the
time when a powerful enemy would be likely to arrive.