IN AMBUSH ON THE HIGHWAY.
The next field of the Alabama's operations was to be the great highway of
commerce off the coast of Brazil, and the mid-Atlantic to the northward.
Hardly a day out from Port Royal she fell in with the Golden Rule, and
made a bonfire of her. This vessel had on board an outfit of masts and
rigging for a United States gun boat, which had been dismantled in a gale.
The flames from the bark were distinctly visible on the islands of Jamaica
and San Domingo. The next night the torch was applied to the Chastelaine
near the Dominican coast. The prisoners from these two vessels were landed
at San Domingo.
February 2d there was an alarm of fire on board, caused by the
carelessness of one of the petty officers, who had carried a lighted
candle into the spirit room, producing an explosion. No great damage was
done, however. The Alabama shaped her course northward from San Domingo
and crossed the Tropic of Cancer with a good breeze, a rather unusual
experience. Early on the morning of February 3d the Alabama gave chase to
the schooner Palmetto, but the latter made good use of a favorable breeze,
and was not overhauled until one o'clock in the afternoon. The cargo of
the prize consisted largely of provisions, of which the Alabama
appropriated a goodly supply, and then the torch was applied.
The Alabama was now working her way eastward on the thirtieth parallel of
latitude, and had got well into the middle of the Atlantic. The Azores,
where she had begun her adventurous career, were only a few degrees to the
north and east. On February 21st a light breeze was blowing from the
southeast when the lookout reported a sail in sight and then another and
then a third and a fourth. The Alabama gave chase to the one first
announced, but she ran away before the wind, and, fearing that the others
would escape, Captain Semmes gave his attention to two which had every
appearance of being Union, and which had been in close company. In order
to distract the cruiser's attention, the two ships fled in opposite
directions, but, the wind continuing light, the Alabama soon overhauled
the one which sailed eastward; and, putting Master's Mate Fullam with a
prize crew on board, with orders to follow, gave chase to the other, then
some fifteen miles distant. The cruiser came up with the second ship about
three o'clock p. m. She was the Olive Jane, of New York, homeward bound
from Bordeaux with a cargo of French wines and brandies, sardines, olives
and other delicacies. Her master was ordered on board the Alabama with his
ship's papers, and soon stood in the presence of Captain Semmes. No
certificates of foreign ownership were found, and the verbal assurance of
the master that the French owner of certain casks of wine had pointed out
his property before the ship sailed, counted for nothing. Fifth Lieutenant
Sinclair was ordered with a boat's crew to proceed on board the prize and
secure a quantity of the provisions, and then to set fire to her, but on
no account to permit any intoxicants to be brought away. The young
lieutenant assumed the task with many misgivings. To take such a
susceptible boat's crew into a hold filled with wines and brandies and
forbid them to touch a drop would be to invite a riot. Having reached the
deck of the prize Sinclair took his coxswain aside and explained to him
the nature of the cargo and the scheme which he had in mind. The boat's
crew were invited to lunch at the cabin table on the viands prepared for
New York's aristocracy, with sundry bottles of brandy, burgundy and claret
added thereto, and then appealed to not to get their officer into trouble
by becoming intoxicated. The sailors being thus put upon their honor, not
a single cask of wine was broken open nor a bottle conveyed to the
Alabama. As the work of securing the provisions proceeded, numerous
temporary adjournments to the cabin took place, but when the time came for
applying the torch, the crew returned to their ship, feeling a little gay
perhaps, but amply able to clamber up the cruiser's side without
assistance.
The Olive Jane, having been seen to be well on fire, the Alabama made her
way back to the first prize, which, in charge of the prize crew, was doing
her best to follow. This vessel was the Golden Eagle. She had sailed in
ballast from San Francisco, had taken on a cargo of guano on a small
island in the Pacific Ocean, rounded Cape Horn, crossed the equator and
the calm belt, and was just catching the breezes which were expected to
waft her to her destination at Cork, Ireland, when she fell in with the
merciless destroyer, and was condemned to be burned.
The Alabama was now approaching a locality where active operation might be
looked for. Says Captain Semmes:
We were now in latitude 30 deg. and longitude 40 deg., and * * * on the
charmed "crossing," leading to the coast of Brazil. By "crossing" is
meant the point at which the ship's course crosses a given parallel
of latitude. We must not, for instance, cross the thirtieth parallel,
going southward, until we have reached a certain meridian--say that
of forty degrees west. If we do, the north-east trade wind will pinch
us, and perhaps prevent us from weathering Cape St. Roque. And when
we reach the equator there is another crossing recommended to the
mariner, as being most appropriate to his purpose. Thus it is that
the roads upon the sea have been blazed out, as it were--the blazes
not being exactly cut upon the forest trees, but upon parallels and
meridians.
The Alabama was now kept exceedingly busy examining flags and papers of
the passers by, to make sure that no Yankee should get past her unawares.
February 27th the Washington fell into the Alabama's net, but she had a
cargo of guano belonging to the Peruvian government; and her master having
given a ransom bond of $50,000 and taken the Alabama's prisoners on board,
was suffered to proceed on his voyage. March 1st the Bethia Thayer, with
more Peruvian guano, was also released on bond. The next victim was the
John A. Parks, of Hallowell, Maine, with a cargo of lumber for ports in
Argentine or Uruguay. The cargo was certified in proper form to be English
property, but some tell-tale letters in the mail bag showed that these
certificates had been obtained for the sole purpose of preventing
confiscation in case of capture, and ship and cargo were consigned to the
flames.
The Alabama now ran southward to the equator. In the vicinity of the line
she was seldom out of sight of vessels, and frequently there were a half
dozen or more within sight at one time. United States vessels were apt
to avoid the "crossings," however, and had taken to the fields and back
alleys, as it were. In some cases they sailed hundreds of miles out of
their way in order to keep out of the ordinary track of commerce, where it
was suspected that a Confederate cruiser might be lying in wait.
[Illustration: HAVOC IN THE SOUTH ATLANTIC.]
About midnight on March 15th the sky being cloudy, the lookout called,
"Sail ho! close aboard," and a large ship passed by running on the
opposite tack. The Alabama wheeled to follow, and succeeded in getting
within range just before daybreak. A gunshot induced the chase to heave
to. She proved to be the Punjaub, of Boston, on her way from Calcutta to
London with a cargo of jute and linseed, which was properly certified as
British property. She was released on a ransom bond, and took with her the
last batch of prisoners, consisting of the crew of the John A. Parks. On
the morning of March 23d the Morning Star was captured. She also was on
her way from India to England with a neutral cargo, and not being able to
find any flaw in her papers, Captain Semmes released her on a ransom
bond. On the afternoon of the same day the Kingfisher, a whaling schooner,
of Fairhaven, Massachusetts, was captured and burned. Two days later two
large ships were seen approaching in close company. At the sight of the
Alabama they separated and made more sail, but were both overhauled and
proved to be American. The Charles Hill was bound from Liverpool to
Argentine with salt. The Nora, also laden with salt, was bound from
Liverpool to Calcutta. Probably both cargoes were actually owned by
English citizens, but no proper proof of that fact being found among their
papers, both vessels were condemned. The whole night and most of the
following day were consumed in getting about forty tons of coal out of the
prizes, after which they were burned. Nine men from these two ships
enlisted on the Alabama.
On April 4th the Alabama chased a fine large ship all day, and, the wind
having failed, sent a boarding crew in a whale boat to her at five o'clock
p. m., although she was still two miles distant. Just before dark the ship
was seen to turn her head toward the Alabama, and in a few hours she was
alongside. The prize was the Louisa Hatch, of Rockland, Maine, with a
cargo of coal, and bound from Cardiff, Wales, to the island of Ceylon.
There was a certificate of foreign ownership among her papers, but not
being sworn to, it was treated as so much waste paper. Coal on the coast
of Brazil was worth seventeen dollars per ton. The Alabama's supply of
that necessary article was running low, but the Agrippina was expected
soon, and the appointed rendezvous was close at hand. The character of the
Agrippina, however, as a supply ship to the Alabama was becoming pretty
well known, and it was stated that at least one Union captain had
threatened to treat her as a hostile craft, notwithstanding her English
flag. It was therefore quite possible that she might not be able to reach
the place designated by Captain Semmes for the transfer of her cargo. On
the other hand, Captain Semmes knew from experience that to transfer coal
from the Louisa Hatch to the Alabama in the open sea would be a slow and
difficult process in the best weather, and impossible in even a moderate
wind.
Under the circumstances he determined to take the prize in tow and enter
the port of Fernando de Noronha, an island belonging to Brazil, and used
as a penal colony by that government, and run the risk of official
interference. It was fortunate for the Alabama that the Louisa Hatch was
not destroyed. The Agrippina was several weeks behind the appointed time
In reaching the coast of Brazil. Besides her cargo of coal she had on
board two more guns for the Alabama's armament. Those guns were never
delivered, and the Alabama went into her final combat with her original
eight guns only.
Captain Semmes ran boldly into the harbor of Fernando de Noronha in the
afternoon of April 10th, 1863, followed by the Louisa Hatch, and after
dark began taking coal from the prize. The next day he visited the
governor of the island, and found that official disposed to be very
friendly. He took the Confederate captain on a tour of inspection about
the island, and invited him to dine with the aristocracy of the place,
consisting chiefly of gentlemanly forgers and other polite convicts,
together with a few army officers from the battalion under his command.
To the mind of the gentleman of Southern breeding the climax of
incongruity was reached when he was introduced to the governor's mulatto
wife. The opinion of Captain Semmes in regard to the black and mixed
inhabitants of Brazil may be gathered from the following excerpt from his
memoirs:
The effete Portuguese race has been ingrafted upon a stupid, stolid
Indian stock in that country. The freed negro is, besides, the equal
of the white man, and as there seems to be no repugnance on the part
of the white race--so called--to mix with the black race, and with
the Indian, amalgamation will go on in that country, until a mongrel
set of curs will cover the whole land. This might be a suitable field
enough for the New England school-ma'am and carpet-bagger, but no
Southern gentleman should think of mixing his blood or casting his
lot with such a race of people.
The fiery "Southern gentleman" was, however, able for the time being to
accommodate his feelings to the requirements of diplomacy, and his
sentiments did not prevent him from making himself agreeable to the
handsome mulatto lady and patting the kinky heads of her children. From
this time forward the influence of the governor's wife was thrown on the
side of an exceedingly liberal interpretation of the law of nations,
wherever the Confederate captain was concerned, that lady little
imagining the storm which was gathering about her husband's head, as a
result of too much official complaisance.
The Alabama remained at this island until April 22d. As the anchorage was
nothing but an open roadstead, it was soon found that the swell of the sea
was too great to permit the two vessels to lie side by side without
damage; and resort was had to the tedious operation of transferring the
coal in boats, thus consuming five days. Meanwhile Captain Semmes was
enjoying fat turkeys, fruit and bouquets sent him by the governor and his
wife, or making agreeable visits to the government house and other places
on the island.
April 15th two vessels were discovered to the southward, and soon after
two whale boats were seen approaching from that direction. Each was in
charge of the captain of one of the vessels in the offing, and they seemed
somewhat apprehensive as to the company into which they had fallen. One of
them hailed the Louisa Hatch and inquired her name and the port she was
from, to which questions correct answers were given by Master's Mate
Fullam, the prize officer in charge. The other captain broke in by asking
if the steamer in the harbor was not the Alabama.
"Certainly not," was the reply, "she is the United States steamer
Iroquois."
"Have you any news of the Alabama?"
"Yes; we have heard of her being in the West Indies, at Jamaica and Costa
Rica."
The prize master then engaged them in conversation, with the idea of
detaining them until the Alabama could get up steam, which he felt sure
would be done with all speed. Considerably reassured, the whaling captains
accepted an invitation to go on board the prize, and had approached within
a few yards when the officer in the forward boat uttered a cry of alarm.
"Give way, men; give way for your lives," he shouted, and hastily turned
the boat's head toward the shore.
To the frantic appeals of the other captain to explain his conduct he
would only point to the mizzen rigging of the ship and ejaculate:
"There! there!"
Closer inspection revealed a small Confederate flag which a puff of wind
had just displayed. The fears of the excited captain were soon realized.
The Alabama steamed out of the anchorage and before dark had fired the
bark Lafayette (the second vessel of this name destroyed) and returned
with the Kate Cory in tow. Captain Semmes says that these two ships were
captured outside the three-mile limit, but the crews of the captured
vessels assert that they were clearly in Brazilian waters. The easy going
governor contented himself with a written statement of Captain Semmes that
the captures were made outside of the marine league. Fullam wrote in his
diary:
Whilst at Bahia I was shown a letter from the master of one of the
whaling barks to an agent, in which he wrote that he would spare no
money or time to follow to the uttermost ends of the earth, and bring
to justice the man who had so cruelly deceived him. This sentence had
reference to my denial of the Alabama and the substitution of the U.
S. steamer Iroquois for that of C. S. steamer Alabama. The
ingratitude of some people!
The prisoners were paroled and sent to Pernambuco in a Brazilian schooner.
Captain Semmes waited a week longer for the Agrippina, and then steamed
out into the track of commerce once more.