MY FIRST ATTEMPT ON THE _DESPATCH_
The _Despatch_—A blockade-runner's cargo—The start for the
West Indies—Put back to Queenstown—A terrific gale—Arrival at
Nassau—The dangers of somnambulism—A haunt for buccaneers—A
sleepy settlement—Neutral territory—Southern firms running
the blockade—Nassau as a basis of operations—The _Despatch_
condemned—Efforts to meet a more stringent blockade—"No cure
no pay"—Yellow fever—Seizure of the _Despatch_—A scheme
for her rescue—Her release.
Were it only for the glimpse it gives of the state of the mercantile
marine thirty years ago, my first voyage would be worth relating. Those
who do not know how things were before the Plimsoll Act had made a
revolution in Merchant Shipping would hardly believe what a man even in
my position was expected to undergo without complaint.
The steamer that had been purchased as a blockade-runner, like most
others at this time, was quite unfit for the purpose. To explain that
she was a second-hand Irish cattle boat will convey to those who have
voyaged in St. George's Channel a fair idea of what she was. Those who
have not must understand that the average quality and condition of such
craft are very low, and the _Despatch_ was not above the average. Her
boilers were nearly worn out; her engines had been sadly neglected; and
added to this, she drew far too much water for the hazardous entrances
of the blockaded ports. But so indifferent were the ships at this time
composing the blockading squadrons, so insufficient their numbers, and
so inefficient their crews, that during the first year small sailing
vessels of light draught and ordinary trading steamers were employed for
the purpose of running the blockade.
As has been shown, anything was thought good enough for a
blockade-runner then, and no time was lost in getting a cargo on board
the _Despatch_. In choosing this there was not much difficulty. In
January a vessel flying the Confederate colours had put into Liverpool;
she had run the blockade out and was thus able to bring us, not only the
latest news of the Federal fleet, but also full information of the kind
of cargo that would be most welcome in the Southern ports.
The chief requirements were war materials of every sort, cloth for
uniforms, buttons, thread, boots, stockings, and all clothing,
medicines, salt, boiler-iron, steel, copper, zinc, and chemicals. As it
did not pay merchants to ship heavy goods, the charge for freight per
ton at Nassau being £80 to £100 in gold, a great portion of the cargo
generally consisted of light goods, such as silks, laces, linens,
quinine, etc., on which immense profits were made. At this time there
were no mills, and practically no manufactories in the Confederate
States, so their means of production were _nil_. With the progress of
the war their need of war material increased so sorely that in 1864 the
Confederate Government limited the freight-room on private account, and
prohibited the importation of luxuries on the ground that if allowed to
come in and be purchased the resources of the country would thereby be
absorbed.
As soon as her lading was complete a start was made. And what a start it
was! It almost takes one's breath away in these be-legislated days to
think what the _Despatch_ must have looked like as she dropped down the
Mersey. Her owners had taken advantage of their timely information to
load her down, as low as she would float, with a cargo consisting of
ponderous cases and barrels of war material as well as light goods; her
deck was piled as high as the rail with coal, which had to be taken for
the voyage to Nassau, so as to avoid calling at any intermediate port;
and she steamed out to brave the Atlantic with barely one foot of
freeboard to her credit.
Fortunately at the outset the weather kept fair, or my career must have
had a very premature end; but thanks to an unusually fine February we
wallowed along pretty comfortably, till we had made some 400 miles to
the south-west of Ireland. Here, however, through the carelessness of
the engineers, the water was allowed to get so low in the boilers that
the crowns to the furnaces of one of them were "brought down." This
means that only by a miracle was an explosion escaped, and that the
_Despatch_ was entirely incapacitated from proceeding on her voyage.
There was nothing to do but to put back for repairs, under one boiler,
and we laid her head for Queenstown, thanking our stars it was no worse.
It was three weeks before we could get to sea again, and then it was
only to find ourselves once more on the brink of destruction. Before we
had passed the Azores we came in for a terrific gale, which our
overladen vessel was in no condition to meet; she speedily sprang a
leak, so serious that in a very short time four of the eight furnaces
were extinguished and the firemen were toiling at the rest up to their
knees in water. For hours we looked for her to founder at any moment, as
the gray breakers came rolling upon us, but somehow we managed to keep
her afloat, and in due course were ploughing through the sunny waters of
New Providence, and came to rest in the pretty harbour of Nassau.
In those days I was a confirmed somnambulist, and one stormy night
considerably astonished the officer of the watch by suddenly appearing
on the bridge at midnight in bare feet and sleeping attire. Gripping him
by the arm I yelled, "For God's sake respect the spars," and turning on
my heel returned to my cabin along the slippery deck, with the steamer
pitching and rolling in half a gale of wind. Of course the man thought I
was mad, but was too astonished to seize me; perhaps it was fortunate he
did not do so, as to have been suddenly awakened in such a situation
might have been anything but pleasant. I have for many years given up
this dangerous habit. My last escapade occurred a long time ago, when
one afternoon on board a P. & O. steamer, while taking a siesta, I
suddenly jumped through the upper half door of my deck cabin and
appeared in very light attire, to the astonished gaze of some fifty
passengers who were on the quarter-deck. Fortunately a friend who was
travelling with me managed to clasp me round the waist before I could
jump overboard, and conducted me to my cabin none the worse, except for
a skinned nose and barked shins. My fellow-passengers, however, were
evidently suspicious regarding my condition of mind, and looked very
much askance when I appeared at dinner, thinking no doubt that I was a
lunatic and my friend my keeper.
If that voyage had been almost enough to extinguish all the ardour I had
for the life before me, Nassau was enough to set it well aflame again.
The very thought of the place and of the exciting life there in those
days, through the brief fever of its prosperity, sets my fancy tingling
even now.
Those few short years of extravagant importance—so sudden, so fitful, so
completely passed away—are like a dream, and it seems almost impossible
to revive a picture of what Nassau was when it found itself the base of
operations against the great blockade. For centuries the little town had
slumbered in complete obscurity. Depopulated and abandoned in the old
days by the Spaniards, it had been occupied in Stuart times by
Englishmen, and became a haunt of buccaneers. Then followed a century or
so when it was a counter for diplomatists, and buccaneers settled down
into wreckers, scraping together hard-earned living from the hurricanes'
leavings, and filling up the dull months between the stormy seasons with
a little fruit raising and sponge fishing. Thus ingloriously had it
faded into the obscurest of colonial capitals, with a population of some
3000 or 4000 souls. There lived and ruled the Governor of the Bahamas,
and there lived the Chief Justice and the Bishop; these with their
modest following, and the officers of a West India regiment and a few of
the leading merchants and their families, made up almost all there was
of society! Little more eventful ever broke the monotony of their feuds
and friendships than the visit of one of the ships forming the West
Indian squadron. Their Lilliputian politics went on from year to year,
undisturbed and uncared for; there was nothing to mark their place in
the world but a dusty pigeon-hole somewhere in the Colonial Office,
which was filled, and emptied, and filled again. Every one was poor and
every one lazily hopeless of any further development; a few schooners
that came and went at infrequent intervals sufficed for all the trade
there was, and the whole air of the sleepy settlement had been one of
indolent acquiescence in its own obscurity.
Then past all expectations came the war, and gold poured into its
astonished lap. When first I saw the low line of houses nestling in the
tropical vegetation of their gardens a change had already taken place.
The blockade had been on foot a bare year, but even then the quiet
little port had asserted its new importance and was overflowing with the
turmoil of life. Many influential firms connected with the Southern
States, and also English ones, had established agencies there, and
almost every day steamers managed by those agents left the harbour to
try their luck at evading the blockade or arrived with cargoes of cotton
from the beleagured ports. Of course, seeing that Nassau was only some
560 miles from Charleston and 640 from Wilmington, and that, moreover,
the chain of the Bahama islets extended some hundred miles in the
direction of those ports, thus providing the extra protection of neutral
territory for that distance, Nassau was _par excellence_ the base for
approaching the blockaded Atlantic ports of the South. Bermuda was its
rival, but only in a lesser degree, as it was further off, and its
conveniences as regards communication and accommodation were less. It is
some 690 miles distant from Wilmington, the course being somewhat to the
northward of west, and in the autumn especially it was seldom possible
to get over without encountering a gale of wind. The one thing necessary
for the blockading vessels being speed, their hulls were of the lightest
description; this, coupled with the fact that they were always loaded
down deep with coal, made a gale of wind an even worse enemy to
encounter than a Federal cruiser.
Havana was the best base for the Gulf ports, but as New Orleans was
captured early on in the war, Galveston and Mobile were the only two
blockaded ports that could be approached from it; and seeing the
difficulty there was in procuring cotton at those places and of
disposing of inward cargoes, the trade done with them was a flea-bite
compared with that from Charleston and Wilmington. At one time the trade
of these two ports assumed very large proportions; the number of vessels
employed in it was astonishing, and no sooner was one sunk, stranded,
burnt, or captured than two more seemed to take her place.
Of Southern firms Messrs. Fraser, Trenholm, and Co. did the largest
business, as they were not only engaged largely on their own account in
blockade-running enterprises, but they were also agents for the Southern
States Government. Their representative in Nassau, Mr. J. B. Lafitte, a
charming man in every respect, occupied a most prominent position,—in
fact more prominent than that of the Governor himself, and certainly he
was remunerated better.
After Fraser, Trenholm, and Co. came the English firm of Alex. Collie
and Co., at that time one of great repute, represented by my friend L.
G. Watson, and they from time to time were possessed of a large fleet of
runners commanded mostly by naval officers. After them came the house I
represented, which from first to last owned some fifteen steamers; and
after them a number of small firms, owning perhaps one, possibly two,
boats apiece, so that in the aggregate the number of boats and the
capital employed was enormous.
So nicely has Nature dispersed the Bahamas that they afforded neutral
water to within fifty miles of the American coast, and no sooner was the
blockade declared than the advantages of Nassau as a basis of operations
were recognised and embraced. The harbour was alive with shipping, the
quays were piled with cotton, the streets were thronged with busy life.
So far grown and established indeed did I find the business of
blockade-running, that I was seized with a sense of being late in the
field and with a desire to rush in and reclaim lost time. Fortunately
there was little to delay us, so, full of impatience and excitement, we
set about preparing for a run. Our supplies were ready, and in the
harbour lay a barque which had been sent out to act as my coal
store-ship, and afterwards she was to carry home any cotton we should
succeed in getting out. Nothing seemed wanting for a start, but I was
doomed to disappointment. No sooner did I begin to pick up the lore of
the place than the unpleasant truth came out.
Even in the early days there were men whose tales of successful trips
gave them a reputation as "blockade experts," and every one of them
condemned the _Despatch_ as wholly unfit for the work. The blockade was
already gaining system and coherence; the Northerners, no longer content
with simply blockading the Confederate ports, had established a chain of
powerful cruisers which patrolled the seas from the American coast to
the very entrance of Nassau harbour. The old _Despatch_ was much too
slow to stand a ghost of a chance of escaping them, moreover she drew so
much water that the Charleston bar was the only one she could hope to
get over, and it was now so strictly watched that a craft so unhandy was
certain to be captured in the attempt.
After all I had gone through it was a bitter pill to swallow, but it was
impossible for a man entirely without experience, as I was then, to
ignore the exasperating unanimity of the experts; therefore after
consultation with the local agent of my firm I resolved to sell my
cargoes on the spot and get both vessels home to the best advantage.
Still I was not without consolation. Although within a year of the
beginning of the blockade the North, in pursuit of a steady policy, had
secured various bases on the blockaded coast for the use of their
squadrons, which were rapidly being augmented by improved types of
vessels, and had thereby reduced considerably the number of points to be
watched, and though the business of blockade-running was now becoming
risky, no time was lost in endeavouring to meet the new demands on our
energy and skill. If the Federals were learning the business, so were
we. It was clear that the blockade-runners must not only be increased in
numbers but must be improved in type. The day of sailing vessels and
ordinary trading steamers was over; accordingly steamers of great speed
were ordered to be built expressly for the service.
I knew that at home one of the first vessels specially built for
blockade-running had been laid down and was rapidly being completed,
also that she was to be placed under my charge as soon as ready.
Accordingly, towards the end of the year, after making my preliminary
arrangements, I went home full of hope, although sadly impatient at the
year's delay caused by all the mistakes and disasters.
Before getting there, however, I had an anxious time to pass through; it
was necessary to provide some employment for the _Despatch_ and her
consort the barque _Astoria_, and as no direct freight could be obtained
for either I had to cast about for intermediate work for them. The
sailing vessel I despatched to New York, and in an evil moment I made a
contract, on the "no cure no pay" principle, for the _Despatch_ to tow a
disabled steamer to the same port, arranging to go myself in the mail
steamer so as to meet both ships there.
After I had completed my Nassau business I did so, and on my arrival at
New York I was disgusted to find both vessels in quarantine with yellow
fever on board; also that the _Despatch_ had dropped her tow off
Port-Royal in a gale of wind and come on without her.
This was a pretty mess for a youngster to be in, in a strange port like
New York, where everything connected with Nassau was looked upon with
suspicion, and the fear of yellow fever was rampant. It was my first
intimate acquaintance with the disease, but, fortunately, the cooler
climate in time worked its own cure, and, after encountering innumerable
quarantine difficulties, both vessels were given pratique, but not
before several deaths had occurred.
In the interim the _Despatch_ was seized for $30,000 at the suit of the
owners of the steamer which she had attempted to tow, as damages for
letting her go; and she was only released from quarantine to find
herself in the clutches of the Marshal of the port. As I had no means
for providing the required security, the captain and I formed rather a
mad scheme to rescue her from his clutches. The captain was to get her
under weigh quietly, taking the Marshal's officer with him, while I
remained behind to lull suspicion. Early one misty morning he
accomplished this successfully and began to steam slowly down the Bay,
but the revenue cutter lying close alongside gave the alarm, and the
forts opened fire at once. For a time he held on, and was nearly out of
range when the pilot, fearing, I presume, for his share in the
transaction, declined to go further, and there was nothing for it but
ignominiously to return. Of course all this made my position worse, but,
to make a long story short, a kind friend, a prominent New York banker,
went bail for me, and the _Despatch_ was released and loaded for home.
Finally I compromised the case for about $2000. The barque I sent on to
St. John, and, following her myself by steamer, I chartered her to carry
home a cargo of timber.