RECREATION AT ARCAS KEYS.
The Alabama coasted along the secluded north shore of Jamaica for the next
forty-eight hours, while the engine was undergoing repair. It was now the
12th day of December, and Captain Semmes proceeded to carry out his plan
of getting into the Gulf of Mexico without being seen. On the 13th he
writes in his journal:
Weather fine. Passed the west end of Jamaica about noon.
Ship-cleaning day. Nothing in sight, and I desire to see nothing
(unless it be a homeward bound California Steamer) at present, as it
is important I should make the run I contemplate without being
traced. I should like to touch at the Caymans for fruits and
vegetables for the crew, but forbear on this account.
And on the 15th he makes this entry:
Fresh trade; ship running along under topsails. This running down,
down, before the ever constant trade wind, to run up against it by
and by under steam is not pleasant. Still, God willing, I hope to
strike a blow of some importance and make my retreat safely out of
the gulf.
Have a care, Captain Semmes! Rear Admiral Wilkes, with the Wachusett and
the Sonoma, is hot on your trail, and his scent is improving. He is only
three days behind the Agrippina at the Grand Cayman, where thrifty Captain
McQueen has touched to do a little trading on his own account.
[Illustration: U. S. STEAMSHIP WACHUSETT.]
December 17th to 19th the Alabama struggled with a three days' gale about
midway between the westerly end of Cuba and the coast of Honduras. In this
gale the Wachusett burst her boiler tubes and the Sonoma rolled away her
smokestack, but this fortunately did not go overboard, and when the
weather cleared it was put in place again. On the 20th the Alabama's
lookout sighted the islands near the north-east point of Yucatan, and the
same night Captain Semmes groped his way through the Yucatan Channel by
means of the lead, finding himself next morning in the Gulf of Mexico,
without having seen a human being by whom the whereabouts of his vessel
could be reported. On the 23d the Agrippina was overhauled, and the two
vessels ran together to the Arcas Keys.
These little islands are of coral formation, and are three in number,
forming a triangle. The Alabama and her consort found very good anchorage
inside the triangle, with no danger from gales unless they should blow
from the southeast, which Captain Semmes decided would be unlikely at this
time of the year. Here he made his preparations to pounce upon the Banks
transport fleet. The remainder of the coal which had been left in the
Agrippina's hold at Blanquilla, was now transferred to the Alabama's
bunkers, and Captain McQueen was directed to proceed to England for
another supply. The next rendezvous was never reached by the Agrippina,
however, and from this time forward Captain Semmes had to supply himself
with coal as best he could. The Alabama was careened and her bottom
scrubbed as well as possible under the circumstances, and various repairs
were made to the sails and about decks.
The water was very transparent, and the anchor could be plainly seen at
seven fathoms depth. Fish and turtles were observed swimming about, and
all the wonders of coral architecture were visible below. There was no
vegetation on the islands except sea kale and a few stunted bushes and
cactus. Birds were in abundance, and the whole surface of the island was
covered with their nests, containing eggs and young birds in all stages of
growth. The older birds were very tame and usually refused to leave the
nests until pushed off.
Two days after the arrival of the Alabama was Christmas day, and the crew
were given shore liberty. Captain Semmes makes this entry in his journal:
Christmas day, the second Christmas since we left our homes in the
Sumter. Last year we were buffetting the storms of the North Atlantic
near the Azores. Now we are snugly anchored in the Arcas; and how
many eventful periods have passed in the interval. Our poor people
have been terribly pressed in this wicked and ruthless war, and they
have borne privations and sufferings which nothing but an intense
patriotism could have sustained. They will live in history as a
people worthy to be free, and future generations will be astonished
at the folly and fanaticism, want of principle and wickedness,
developed by this war among the Puritan population of the North; and
in this class nine-tenths of the native population of the northern
states may be placed, to such an extent has the "Plymouth Rock"
leaven "leavened the whole loaf." A people so devoid of Christian
charity, and wanting in so many of the essentials of honesty, cannot
but be abandoned to their own folly by a just and benevolent God. Our
crew is keeping Christmas by a run on shore, which they all seem to
enjoy exceedingly. It is indeed very grateful to the senses to ramble
about over even so confined a space as the Arcas, after tossing about
at sea in a continual state of excitement for months. Yesterday was
the first time I touched the shore since I left Liverpool on the 13th
of August last, and I was only one week in Liverpool after a voyage
of three weeks from the Bahamas, so that I have in fact been but one
week on shore in five months. My thoughts naturally turn on this
quiet Christmas day, in this lonely island, to my dear family. I can
only hope, and trust them to the protection of a merciful Providence.
The only sign of a holiday on board tonight is the usual "splicing of
the main brace," _anglice_, giving Jack an extra allowance of grog.
Meanwhile "Jack's" thoughts were taking quite a different turn, if reports
are to be trusted. Shore leave with no opportunity for a drunken carousal,
was to him like the play of Hamlet with the principal character altogether
omitted.
"Liberty on Christmas, the old pirate!" cried one of the crew, kicking up
the carpet of sea kale. "Well, here goes for a quiet life. I can lick any
man in the starboard watch."
His challenge was immediately accepted, and the net result was a number of
broken heads and several men nearly incapacitated for duty.
The largest island contained a salt water lake, which was connected by an
outlet with the sea at high tide, and at other times had a depth of about
two and one-half feet of water. This pond was alive with fish, and on one
occasion a group of junior and petty officers were fishing here in one of
the small boats, when a shark was discovered swimming leisurely along with
a fin exposed and evidently gorged with fish. The chief engineer, Miles J.
Freeman, was bathing, and had waded about a hundred yards from the shore,
when his attention was called to the man eater by the party in the boat.
The shark had no intention of attacking him, but the engineer did not stop
to investigate the state of his sharkship's appetite, and struck out
lustily for the shore. Not feeling that he was making satisfactory
progress, he got on his feet and tried to wade. The water was just at that
depth where no method of locomotion seems best, and so he floundered
along, sometimes swimming, sometimes trying to run, until he finally
reached the shore and threw himself on the sand utterly exhausted, while
the party in the boat held their sides and screamed with laughter.
An Irishman named Michael Mars pushed the boat toward the shark, and
jumping into the water, plunged his sheath knife into the belly of the big
fish. The shark snapped his great jaws and slapped the water with his
tail, but, disregarding all orders to get into the boat and let the shark
alone, Mars kept up the fight until his enemy was vanquished, and the body
was towed ashore in triumph.
After some days the sojourners discovered that by driving off the birds
from a certain area and breaking all the stale eggs, the nests were soon
supplied with fresh ones by these prolific layers, and a palatable
addition to ship fare was the result.
Meanwhile Admiral Wilkes was cruising off the westerly end of Cuba,
thinking the Alabama would probably be there, trying to intercept the
homeward bound California steamer. Doubtless she would have been there,
had it not seemed to her commander that a more important duty called him
to the gulf. Admiral Wilkes reasoned that the Agrippina could never have
reached an easterly port against the heavy gale, and decided to look into
the harbor of Mugeres Island in the narrowest part of Yucatan Channel, in
the hope of finding her. Here he discovered a vessel which was at first
thought to be the Alabama, but which proved to be the Virginia, formerly
the Noe-Daquy, which was being fitted up to run the blockade. A Mexican
officer had seized her, on the ground that she was engaged in the slave
trade, and was not disposed to permit her being sent before a prize court
at Key West. The complications arising in the case of this vessel kept
Admiral Wilkes at Mugeres Island until January 18th, except that he made
one trip to Havana for coal. Two days' sail to the westward would have
brought him to the Arcas Keys, but he had no means of knowing that the
Alabama had passed into the gulf.