_Successive gales--Uncomfortable quarters--Weather moderates--Blowing
again--The Emily Farnum and the Brilliant--Neutral cargo--Ransomed--In
flames--The Wave Crest--The Dunkirk--Religious smuggling--A deserter
caught--A court martial--The Tonawanda--Precautions--The Manchester
burnt--Hope--Parting company--The Lamplighter--A hurricane--Great
danger--A cyclone--Safely passed_.
After this burst of good fortune in the way of prizes, during which the
Alabama had destroyed upwards of 230,000 dollars' worth of United States
property--or an amount very nearly equal to her own entire cost--in
eleven days, a lull was experienced. A succession of gales from various
points of the compass now prevailed with more or less violence for seven
or eight days, during a great portion of which the Alabama was lying to,
in a heavy sea under close-reefed maintopsail and reefed trysails.
These were hard times for the prisoners; huddled together on deck, with
no shelter but an extemporized tarpaulin tent between them and the
pelting of the pitiless storm, which drenched the decks alternately with
salt water and fresh, as the heavy rain-squalls came down, or the sea,
glittering with phosphoric light, came dashing over the weather
bulwarks. There was, however, no alternative. The berth-deck was already
fully occupied by the Alabama's own crew, and the unlucky prisoners were
compelled to make the best of their uncomfortable position, and console
themselves with the hope that some vessel with a neutral cargo might
fall on the same ill-fortune with themselves, and afford them a chance
of being paroled and sent ashore.
As the sun crossed the line the weather moderated, and by the 25th of
September all was again calm and fair, and the crew busy caulking the
decks, which had leaked terribly during the gales. They were followed by
a succession of calms and light baffling winds, the delay occasioned by
which was turned to advantage in practising the crew at the battery, and
with small arms.
With the commencement of another month the rough weather returned. The
2nd October was a real ugly-looking day, with dense black clouds and a
Newfoundland north-easter blowing freshly. No observation was to be had,
the thick clouds altogether shutting out the sun, and the ship being in
the current of the Gulf Stream, the most she could do was to guess at
her position within some thirty or forty miles.
On the 3rd the weather moderated, and fortune again smiled upon the
Alabama. The morning watch was not yet over when two sails were
descried, the one ahead, the other on the lee bow, each of which in its
turn was overhauled and captured; the one proving to be the Emily
Farnum, from New York for Liverpool; the other, the Brilliant, from the
same port for London, with a valuable cargo of grain and flour.
The cargo of the Emily Farnum being neutral property, the vessel was
released as a cartel, the prisoners from the Brilliant being transferred
to her, as also those already on board from the other prizes, a change,
as may well be imagined, sufficiently acceptable to those unfortunate
beings who had now been exposed for nearly three weeks to all the
vicissitudes of an autumn in the North Atlantic. This done, the Emily
Farnum was permitted to proceed upon her way. The Brilliant was then
stripped of everything that could be of use to her captors, set on fire,
and left to her fate.[8] From the papers taken on board of this vessel
the crew of the Alabama learned the good news of the Confederate
victories in Virginia, and also of the successful run of the
screw-steamer Florida into a Confederate port. The two vessels also
brought to the Alabama a prize, in the persons of four new recruits,
which, in the short-handed condition of the ship, was of more real value
to her than the vessels themselves.
[Footnote 8: One of the Alabama's officers writes in his private
journal:--
"It seemed a fearful thing to burn such a cargo as the Brilliant had,
when I thought how the Lancashire operatives would have danced for joy
had they it shared amongst them. I never saw a vessel burn with such
brilliancy, the flames completely enveloping the masts, hull, and
rigging in a few minutes, making a sight as grand as it was appalling."]
The barque Wave Crest, of and from New York, for Cardiff, with a cargo
of grain, was the Alabama's next victim. She was chased and captured on
the 7th of October, and having no evidence of the neutral ownership of
her cargo, was condemned and set on fire, after serving for some time as
a target, at which her captors might practise their firing. She was
still blazing merrily, when another vessel was descried from the
masthead, and at 9.30 P.M. of a beautiful moonlight night, a blank shot
from the Alabama brought up the smart little brigantine Dunkirk, from
New York, for Lisbon, also loaded with grain. A boat was sent on board
of her, and her papers handed over to one of the Alabama's officers. No
evidence of neutrality, however, was to be found, and before midnight
she too was a blazing wreck, and her captain and crew prisoners on board
the Confederate steamer.
The Dunkirk proved noteworthy in two ways. On searching through her
papers, it appeared that besides her ostensible cargo she was also
employed in what may be termed a kind of religious smuggling. Some
Portuguese copies of the New Testament were discovered, together with a
number of tracts in the same language, tied up in large bundles, on the
back of one of which was the endorsement:--"Portuguese Tracts; from the
'American Tract Society,' for distribution among Portuguese passengers,
and to give upon the coast to visitors from the shore, &c. When in port,
please keep conspicuously on the cabin table for all comers to read;
but be very careful not to take any ashore, as the laws do not allow
it."
It appeared, however, that the conscience of the society had pricked
them for this concession to the majesty of the law, and a pen had been
carefully run through the last sentence. A little lower down, upon the
same packet, was written, "As may be convenient, please report (by
letter, if necessary) anything of interest which may occur in connexion
with the distribution; also take any orders for Bibles, and forward them
to John S. Peerin, Marine Agent, New York Bible Society, No. 7 Beekman
Street."
The other noteworthy fact in connexion with the Dunkirk was the capture
on board of her of one of the seven sailors who had deserted from the
Sumter whilst lying at Cadiz ten months before. This man, whose name was
George Forrest, was at once recognised, and on the day but one after his
capture on board the enemy's vessel, a court-martial, consisting of the
first lieutenant (president); senior second lieutenant; master, chief
engineer, and lieutenant of marines, with the captain's clerk as
judge-advocate, was assembled in the wardroom to try the prisoner for
the crime of desertion. The evidence was, of course, simple enough, and
the man was found guilty, and sentenced to lose all pay, prize money,
etc., already due to him, and to fulfil his original term of service,
forfeiting all pay and allowances, except such as should be sufficient
to provide necessary clothing and liberty money.
That same afternoon another sail was descried and chased, and just
before sunset the Alabama came up with and brought to, the fine packet
ship Tonawanda, of Philadelphia, belonging to Cope's Liverpool line, and
bound from Philadelphia to Liverpool with a full cargo of grain, and
some seventy-five passengers. Here was a serious matter of
embarrassment; of the seventy-five passengers, some thirty or more were
women, and what to do with such a prize it was hard to know. It was, of
course, impossible to take the prisoners on board; yet Captain Semmes
was, not unnaturally, reluctant to release so fine a vessel if he could
by any possibility so arrange matters as to be able to destroy her. It
was therefore determined to place a prize crew on board, and keep the
ship in company for a time, in hopes that ere long some other vessel of
less value to the enemy, or guarded from destruction by a neutral cargo
might, by good luck, be captured, and thus afford an opportunity of
sending the prisoners away upon cartel.
Accordingly, a bond was taken of the captain for eighty thousand
dollars, as a measure of precaution, in case it should be found
necessary to let the ship go without further parley, and a prize master
having been put on board the Tonawanda, was ordered to keep company, and
her captor started off on a chase after a brig, which on being
overhauled proved to be English. One transfer, however, was made from
the prize, being nothing less than a well-grown and intelligent negro
lad, named David White, the slave of one of the passengers, who was
transferred to the Alabama as waiter to the wardroom mess, where he
remained until the closing scene off Cherbourg, by no means disposed, so
far as his own word may be taken for it, to regret the change of
masters.
The following day, as an additional security, the master of the
Tonawanda was brought as a hostage on board the Confederate steamer, the
prisoners from the last two ships burned being at the same time
transferred to the prize. In this manner the two vessels cruised in
company for two or three days--an anxious time enough for the crew and
passengers of the unlucky Tonawanda, who spent most of their time in
eagerly scanning the horizon, in the hope that some armed vessel of
their own nation might appear in sight, and rescue them from their
unpleasant predicament. No such luck, however, was to be theirs; but on
the 11th October, a fresh addition was made to their numbers in the crew
of the Manchester, a fine United States ship from New York to Liverpool,
the glare of which as she, like so many others, was committed to the
flames, by no means alleviated their anxiety, as they thought how soon a
similar fate might befall their own vessel, should fortune not interpose
to arrest the disaster.
At length, on the 13th October, excitement prevailed on board of both
vessels, and the hopes of the anxious passengers on board the Tonawanda
rose to fever pitch, as a large vessel was seen bearing down under
topsails only, her easy-going style of sailing seeming to prove
conclusively to a sailor's eye, that she must be either a whaler or a
man-of-war. On board the Alabama the former was the favorite
supposition, and hopes ran high of another glorious bonfire fed by tons
of brightly burning sperm oil. The aspirations of the Tonawanda were
naturally in favor of the man-of-war, and it was with difficulty that
considerations of prudence restrained the open exhibition of their
delight as the stranger drew near, and the long pendant floating proudly
from her masthead seemed to assure them that their hopes were to be
fulfilled.
But disappointment was equally in store for all. The big easy-going ship
proved to be nothing more or less than an ordinary Spanish merchantman,
who, with more regard for personal appearance than maritime etiquette,
had quietly appropriated to herself the distinguishing ornament of a
man-of-war. So the guns of the Alabama, which had been cast loose and
loaded, were again secured, and the crew dismissed from quarters; while
the disconsolate Tonawandas, balked of their fondly anticipated rescue,
shook their fists at the deceptive Spaniard, and went below to digest as
best they might their grievous disappointment.
At last, however, this time of suspense was over, and kind fortune came
to their assistance in the shape of a threatening gale of so ugly an
appearance that the captain determined not to run the risk of parting
company, and thus altogether losing his awkward, but not the less
valuable prize. Accordingly, having accepted from the master a ransom
bond for eighty thousand dollars, he dismissed him to his ship, and amid
the wildest demonstrations of delight from the closely-packed prisoners
on board, the Tonawanda filled away, and was seen no more.
The wind now freshened to a tolerably fresh gale. Not sufficient,
however, for the next two days to prevent the Alabama from chasing and
capturing, on the 15th October, the United States barque Lamplighter, of
Boston, from New York to Gibraltar, with a cargo of tobacco, which,
however, as it proved, was never destined to soothe the _ennui_ of the
British soldier at that not very lively station. The sea was running
high, and the boats had a rough time of it in boarding the barque, and
returning with prisoners, &c. However, it was managed at last; the
unlucky vessel was fired, and after burning fiercely for some time, went
headforemost to the bottom, leaving behind her a savoury cloud that
almost tempted her destroyers to regret their work.
And now it proved indeed fortunate for the prisoners who had so lately
been discharged, that they were not doomed to weather out on the
Alabama's deck the gale that came upon her. The 17th of October saw the
culminating of the bad weather that had prevailed during the last four
or five days, and for some hours the Alabama was exposed to a perfect
hurricane. The storm did not last long, but for about four hours it blew
furiously. It was not yet at its height, and the ship was still carrying
her close reefed maintopsail with reefed main trysail and fore topmast
staysail, when a sharper lurch than usual threw a sudden strain upon the
bumpkin to which the weather main brace was led, and in a moment it had
snapped in two. The mainyard no longer supported by the brace, and
pressed by the whole power of the straining topsail, flew forward and
upward till it was bent nearly double, when with a loud crash it parted
in the slings, splintering the topsail into ribands with a noise like
thunder.
The ship was now in the greatest peril, for there was no longer
sufficient after canvas to keep her head to the wind against the
powerful pressure of the foretopmast staysail, and in another moment she
must have fallen into the trough of the sea, and probably been at the
least dismasted, if not altogether swamped. But the quick eye of the
captain of the foretop saw the danger, and springing to the staysail
halyards he cut the sail away, and the ship relieved of pressure
forward, again came up to the wind.
The main trysail was now lowered, though not without splitting the sail,
and a small three-cornered storm trysail hoisted in its place. Even
under this minimum of canvas the tremendous pressure of the gale upon
her spars forced her down in the water several streaks, and the idlers
and boys were lashed for safety under the weather bulwarks, life-lines
being stretched before them to prevent them from falling to leeward.
So far as it was possible under the circumstances to estimate the
probable extent of this cyclone, its greatest diameter would appear to
have been from about one hundred and sixty to two hundred miles, whilst
the diameter of the vortex, through a considerable portion of which, if
not actually through the centre, the Alabama appears to have passed,
would probably be from about thirty to five-and-thirty or perhaps forty
miles.
The Alabama took the gale at S.W., the wind hauling afterwards to S.,
and the vessel passing completely through the vortex. During that time
it lulled for about half or three-quarters of an hour, then hauled in a
few minutes to about N.N.W., which was the severest portion of the gale,
commencing with the squall by which the mainyard was carried away. The
barometer sank as low as 28.64. At 2 P.M. it had risen to 29.70, but
fell again a little, and then rose gradually. The rise and fall of the
barometer were both very rapid.
During the violence of the gale, the birds flew very low, and with great
rapidity, and some rain fell, though not a great deal. The surface of
the sea was one sheet of foam and spray, the latter completely blinding
all on deck. A curious result of the gale was a huge knot into which a
strip of the maintopsail, the clew line, and chain sheet had twisted
themselves in a hundred involutions, defying any attempt at extrication
except by aid of the knife.
During this tremendous storm the Alabama behaved splendidly, proving
herself as fine a sea-boat as ever swam.
By the evening the storm had lulled, but the sea was still running
fearfully high, and it was not until the next day that it was possible
to set about repairing the damage suffered in this by far the severest
trial through which the Alabama had as yet passed.