THE _BANSHEE'S_ FIRST RUN IN
The approach to Wilmington—Fort Fisher—Tactics of the
blockading squadron—Reason of the _Banshee's_
success—The look-out man—The dangers of blockade-running—The
favourite course into Wilmington—All lights out—An anxious
moment—Taking soundings—In the midst of the enemy—A false
reckoning—The big hill—Attacked by gun-boats—Fort Fisher wide
awake—Safely over the bar—The days of champagne cocktails.
Wilmington was the first port I attempted; in fact with the exception of
one run to Galveston it was always our destination. It had many
advantages. Though furthest from Nassau it was nearest to headquarters
at Richmond, and from its situation was very difficult to watch
effectively. It was here moreover, that my firm had established its
agency as soon as they had resolved to takeup the blockade-running
business. The town itself lies some sixteen miles up the Cape Fear
river, which falls into the ocean at a point where the coast forms the
sharp salient angle from which the river takes its name. Off its mouth
lies a delta, known as Smith's Island, which not only emphasises the
obnoxious formation of the coast, but also divides the approach to the
port into two widely separated channels, so that in order to guard the
approach to it a blockading-force is compelled to divide into two
squadrons.
[Illustration: PLAN OF WILMINGTON HARBOUR.]
At one entrance of the river lies Fort Fisher, a work so powerful that
the blockaders instead of lying in the estuary were obliged to form
roughly a semicircle out of range of its guns, and the falling away of
the coast on either side of the entrance further increased the extent of
ground they had to cover. The system they adopted in order to meet the
difficulty was extremely well conceived, and, did we not know to the
contrary, it would have appeared complete enough to ensure the capture
of every vessel so foolhardy as to attempt to enter or come out.
Across either entrance an inshore squadron was stationed at close
intervals. In the daytime the steamers composing this squadron anchored,
but at night they got under weigh and patrolled in touch with the
flagship, which, as a rule, remained at anchor. Further out there was a
cordon of cruisers, and outside these again detached gun-boats keeping
at such a distance from the coast as they calculated a runner coming out
would traverse between the time of high water on Wilmington bar and
sunrise, so that if any blockade-runner coming out got through the two
inner lines in the dark she had every chance of being snapped up at
daybreak by one of the third division.
Besides these special precautions for Wilmington there must not be
forgotten the ships engaged in the general service of the blockade,
consisting, in addition to those detailed to watch Nassau and other
bases, of free cruisers that patrolled the Gulf-stream. From this it
will be seen readily, that from the moment the _Banshee_ left Nassau
harbour till she had passed the protecting forts at the mouth of Cape
Fear river, she and those on board her could never be safe from danger
or free for a single hour from anxiety. But, although at this time the
system was already fairly well developed, the Northerners had not yet
enough ships at work to make it as effective as it afterwards became.
The _Banshee's_ engines proved so unsatisfactory that under ordinary
conditions nine or ten knots was all we could get out of her; she was
therefore not permitted to run any avoidable risks, and to this I
attribute her extraordinary success where better boats failed. As long
as daylight lasted a man was never out of the cross-trees, and the
moment a sail was seen the _Banshee's_ stern was turned to it till it
was dropped below the horizon. The lookout man, to quicken his eyes, had
a dollar for every sail he sighted, and if it were seen from the deck
first he was fined five. This may appear excessive, but the importance
in blockade-running of seeing before you are seen is too great for any
chance to be neglected; and it must be remembered that the pay of
ordinary seamen for each round trip in and out was from £50 to £60.
Following these tactics we crept noiselessly along the shores of the
Bahamas, invisible in the darkness, and ran on unmolested for the first
two days out, though our course was often interfered with by the
necessity of avoiding hostile vessels; then came the anxious moment on
the third, when, her position having been taken at noon to see if she
was near enough to run under the guns of Fort Fisher before the
following daybreak, it was found there was just time, but none to spare
for accidents or delay. Still the danger of lying out another day so
close to the blockaded port was very great, and rather than risk it we
resolved to keep straight on our course and chance being overtaken by
daylight before we were under the Fort.
Now the real excitement began, and nothing I have ever experienced can
compare with it. Hunting, pig-sticking, steeple-chasing, big-game
shooting, polo—I have done a little of each—all have their thrilling
moments, but none can approach "running a blockade"; and perhaps my
readers can sympathise with my enthusiasm when they consider the dangers
to be encountered, after three days of constant anxiety and little
sleep, in threading our way through a swarm of blockaders, and the
accuracy required to hit in the nick of time the mouth of a river only
half a mile wide, without lights and with a coast-line so low and
featureless that as a rule the first intimation we had of its nearness
was the dim white line of the surf.
There were of course many different plans of getting in, but at this
time the favourite dodge was to run up some fifteen or twenty miles to
the north of Cape Fear, so as to round the northernmost of the
blockaders, instead of dashing right through the inner squadron; then to
creep down close to the surf till the river was reached: and this was
the course the _Banshee_ intended to adopt.
We steamed cautiously on until nightfall: the night proved dark, but
dangerously clear and calm. No lights were allowed—not even a cigar; the
engine-room hatchways were covered with tarpaulins, at the risk of
suffocating the unfortunate engineers and stokers in the almost
insufferable atmosphere below. But it was absolutely imperative that not
a glimmer of light should appear. Even the binnacle was covered, and the
steersman had to see as much of the compass as he could through a
conical aperture carried almost up to his eyes.
With everything thus in readiness we steamed on in silence except for
the stroke of the engines and the beat of the paddle-floats, which in
the calm of the night seemed distressingly loud; all hands were on deck,
crouching behind the bulwarks; and we on the bridge, namely, the
captain, the pilot, and I, were straining our eyes into the darkness.
Presently Burroughs made an uneasy movement—"Better get a cast of the
lead, Captain," I heard him whisper. A muttered order down the
engine-room tube was Steele's reply, and the _Banshee_ slowed and then
stopped. It was an anxious moment, while a dim figure stole into the
fore-chains; for there is always a danger of steam blowing off when
engines are unexpectedly stopped, and that would have been enough to
betray our presence for miles around. In a minute or two came back the
report, "sixteen fathoms—sandy bottom with black specks." "We are not as
far in as I thought, Captain," said Burroughs, "and we are too far to
the southward. Port two points and go a little faster." As he explained,
we must be well to the northward of the speckled bottom before it was
safe to head for the shore, and away we went again. In about an hour
Burroughs quietly asked for another sounding. Again she was gently
stopped, and this time he was satisfied. "Starboard and go ahead easy,"
was the order now, and as we crept in not a sound was heard but that of
the regular beat of the paddle-floats still dangerously loud in spite of
our snail's pace. Suddenly Burroughs gripped my arm,—
"There's one of them, Mr. Taylor," he whispered, "on the starboard bow."
In vain I strained my eyes to where he pointed, not a thing could I see;
but presently I heard Steele say beneath his breath, "All right,
Burroughs, I see her. Starboard a little, steady!" was the order passed
aft.
A moment afterwards I could make out a long low black object on our
starboard side, lying perfectly still. Would she see us? that was the
question; but no, though we passed within a hundred yards of her we were
not discovered, and I breathed again. Not very long after we had dropped
her Burroughs whispered,—
"Steamer on the port bow."
And another cruiser was made out close to us.
"Hard-a-port," said Steele, and round she swung, bringing our friend
upon our beam. Still unobserved we crept quietly on, when all at once a
third cruiser shaped herself out of the gloom right ahead and steaming
slowly across our bows.
"Stop her," said Steele in a moment, and as we lay like dead our enemy
went on and disappeared in the darkness. It was clear there was a false
reckoning somewhere, and that instead of rounding the head of the
blockading line we were passing through the very centre of it. However,
Burroughs was now of opinion that we must be inside the squadron and
advocated making the land. So "slow ahead" we went again, until the
low-lying coast and the surf line became dimly visible. Still we could
not tell where we were, and, as time was getting on alarmingly near
dawn, the only thing to do was to creep down along the surf as close in
and as fast as we dared. It was a great relief when we suddenly heard
Burroughs say, "It's all right, I see the 'Big Hill'!"
The "Big Hill" was a hillock about as high as a full-grown oak tree, but
it was the most prominent feature for miles on that dreary coast, and
served to tell us exactly how far we were from Fort Fisher. And
fortunate it was for us we were so near. Daylight was already breaking,
and before we were opposite the fort we could make out six or seven
gunboats, which steamed rapidly towards us and angrily opened fire.
Their shots were soon dropping close around us: an unpleasant sensation
when you know you have several tons of gunpowder under your feet. To
make matters worse, the North Breaker shoal now compelled us to haul off
the shore and steam further out. It began to look ugly for us, when all
at once there was a flash from the shore followed by a sound that came
like music to our ears—that of a shell whirring over our heads. It was
Fort Fisher, wide awake and warning the gunboats to keep their distance.
With a parting broadside they steamed sulkily out of range, and in half
an hour we were safely over the bar. A boat put off from the fort and
then,—well, it was the days of champagne cocktails, not whiskies and
sodas—and one did not run a blockade every day. For my part, I was
mightily proud of my first attempt and my baptism of fire.
Blockade-running seemed the pleasantest and most exhilarating of
pastimes. I did not know then what a very serious business it could be.