We sail for Wilmington.--Thick Weather on the Coast.--Anchored
among the Blockading Fleet.--The "Mound."--Running the Blockade by
Moonlight.--A Device to mislead the Enemy.--The man Hester.
After discharging our cargo of cotton and loading with supplies for the
Confederate Government, chiefly for the army of Northern Virginia, we
sailed for Wilmington in the latter part of the month of March. Our
return voyage was uneventful, until we reached the coast near
Masonborough Inlet, distant about nine miles north of the "New Inlet"
bar. The weather had been pleasant during the voyage, and we had sighted
the _fires_ from the salt works along the coast, but before we could get
hold of the land, a little before midnight, a densely black cloud made
its appearance to the north and east; and the rapidity with which it
rose and enlarged, indicated too surely that a heavy gale was coming
from that quarter. We had been unable to distinguish any landmark before
the storm burst in all its fury upon us, and the rain poured in
torrents. Our supply of coals was too limited to enable us, with
prudence, to put to sea again; and of course, the marks or ranges for
crossing the bar would not be visible fifty yards in such thick weather.
Being quite confident of our position, however, I determined to run down
the coast, and anchor off the bar till daylight. Knowing the "trend" of
the land north of New Inlet bar, the engine was slowed down and the lead
kept going on both sides. The sounding continued quite regular three and
three and a quarter fathoms, with the surf thundering within a stone's
throw on our starboard beam, and nothing visible in the blinding
torrents of rain. I knew that if my calculated position was correct, the
water would shoal very suddenly just before reaching the bar; but a
trying hour or more of suspense had passed before the welcome fact was
announced by the leadsmen. The course and distance run, and the
soundings up to this point proved, beyond doubt, that we had now reached
the "horse shoe" north of New Inlet bar. At the moment when both of the
leadsmen almost simultaneously called out "and a quarter less three,"
the helm was put hard a-starboard, and the Lee's bow was pointed
seaward. We could not prudently anchor in less than five fathoms water,
as the sea was rising rapidly; and that depth would carry us into the
midst of the blockading fleet at anchor outside. It seemed an age before
the cry came from the leadsmen "by the mark five." The Lee was instantly
stopped, and one of the bower anchors let go, veering to thirty fathoms
on the chain. The cable was then well stoppered at the "bitts," and
unshackled; and two men stationed at the stopper, with axes, and the
order to cut the lashings, instantly, when so ordered; the fore-staysail
was loosed, and hands stationed at the halliards; and the chief engineer
directed to keep up a full head of steam. The night wore slowly away;
and once or twice we caught a glimpse, by a flash of lightning, of the
blockading fleet around us, rolling and pitching in the heavy sea. The
watch having been set, the rest of the officers and crew were permitted
to go below, except the chief engineer and the pilot. We paced the
bridge, anxiously waiting for daylight. It came at last, and there,
right astern of us, looming up through the mist and rain, was the
"Mound." We had only to steer for it, to be on our right course for
crossing the bar. The stoppers were cut, the engine started ahead, and
the fore stay-sail hoisted. As the chain rattled through the hawse-hole,
the Lee wore rapidly around, and the Confederate flag was run up to the
peak as she dashed toward the bar with the speed of a greyhound slipped
from the leash. The bar was a sheet of foam and surf, breaking sheer
across the channel; but the great length of the Lee enabled her to ride
over three or four of the short chopping seas at once, and she never
touched the bottom. In less than half an hour from the time when we
slipped our chain under the guns of the fleet, we had passed beyond Fort
Fisher, and were on our way up the river to Wilmington.
The "Mound" was an artificial one, erected by Colonel Lamb, who
commanded Fort Fisher. Two heavy guns were mounted upon it, and it
eventually became a site for a light, and very serviceable to
blockade-runners; but even at this period, it was an excellent landmark.
Joined by a long low isthmus of sand with the higher main land, its
regular conical shape enabled the blockade-runners easily to identify it
from the offing; and in clear weather, it showed plain and distinct
against the sky at night. I believe the military men used to laugh slyly
at the Colonel for undertaking its erection, predicting that it would
not stand; but the result showed the contrary; and whatever difference
of opinion may have existed with regard to its value as a military
position, there can be but one as to its utility to the
blockade-runners, for it was not a landmark, alone, along this
monotonous coast; but one of the range lights for crossing New Inlet bar
was placed on it. Seamen will appreciate at its full value, this
advantage; but it may be stated, for the benefit of the unprofessional
reader, that while the compass bearing of an object does not enable a
pilot to steer a vessel with sufficient accuracy through a narrow
channel, _range lights_ answer the purpose completely. These lights were
only set after signals had been exchanged between the blockade-runner
and the shore station, and were removed immediately after the vessel had
entered the river. The range lights were changed as circumstances
required; for the New Inlet channel, itself, was and is constantly
changing, being materially affected both in depth of water, and in its
course, by a heavy gale of wind or a severe freshet in Cape Fear River.
The "Lee" continued to make her regular trips either to Nassau or
Bermuda, as circumstances required, during the summer of 1863; carrying
abroad cotton and naval stores, and bringing in "hardware," as munitions
of war were then invoiced. Usually the time selected for sailing was
during the "dark of the moon," but upon one occasion, a new pilot had
been detailed for duty on board, who failed in many efforts to get the
ship over the "rip," a shifting sand bar a mile or more inside the true
bar. More than a week of valuable time had thus been lost, but the
exigencies of the army being at that time more than usually urgent, I
determined to run what appeared to be a very great risk. The tide
serving at ten o'clock, we succeeded in crossing the rip at that hour,
and as we passed over New Inlet bar, the moon rose in a cloudless sky.
It was a calm night too, and the regular beat of our paddles through the
smooth water sounded to our ears ominously loud. As we closely skirted
the shore, the blockading vessels were plainly visible to us, some at
anchor, some under way; and some of them so near to us that we saw, or
fancied we saw, with our night glasses, the men on watch on their
forecastles; but as we were inside of them all, and invisible against
the background of the land, we passed beyond them undiscovered. The roar
of the surf breaking upon the beach, prevented the noise of our paddles
from being heard. The Lee's head was not pointed seaward, however, until
we had run ten or twelve miles along the land so close to the breakers
that we could almost have tossed a biscuit into them, and no vessel was
to be seen in any direction. Discovery of us by the fleet would probably
have been fatal to us, but the risk was really not so great as it
appeared; for, as I had been informed by a blockade-runner who had been
once captured and released, being a British subject, the vigilance on
board the blockading fleet was much relaxed during the moonlit nights.
The vessels were sent to Beaufort to coal at these times. My informant
was an officer of the British Navy, and was the guest, for a few days
after his capture, of Captain Patterson then commanding the blockading
fleet off the Cape Fear. Speaking of the arduous service, P. remarked to
him, that he never undressed nor retired to bed, during the dark nights;
but could enjoy those luxuries when the moon was shining. On this hint I
acted.
It was about this time that I adopted an expedient which proved of great
service on several occasions. A blockade-runner did not often pass
through the fleet without receiving one or more shots, but these were
always preceded by the flash of a calcium light, or by a blue light; and
immediately followed by two rockets thrown in the direction of the
blockade-runner. The signals were probably concerted each day for the
ensuing night, as they appeared to be constantly changed; but the
rockets were invariably sent up. I ordered a lot of rockets from New
York. Whenever all hands were called to run through the fleet, an
officer was stationed alongside of me on the bridge with the rockets.
One or two minutes after our immediate pursuer had sent up his rockets I
would direct ours to be discharged at a right angle to our course. The
whole fleet would be misled, for even if the vessel which had discovered
us were not deceived, the rest of the fleet would be baffled.
While we were lying at anchor in the harbor of St. George's, during one
of our trips, I was notified by the Governor of the island, that an
officer of the Confederate Navy, then held as a prisoner on board one of
H. B. M.'s ships of war at the naval anchorage, would be delivered up to
me for transportation to the Confederacy, if I would assume the charge.
This officer was charged with the murder of a messmate on board the
Confederate States steamer Sumter, while lying at Gibraltar. The demand
for his extradition, made by the Confederate Government, had been
complied with by the British Government after much delay; and he was
turned over to me for transportation to the Confederacy. Although the
crime appeared to have been committed under circumstances of peculiar
atrocity--it being alleged that the victim was asleep at the time he was
shot--I so far respected the commission which the criminal bore, as to
place him upon parole. Upon reporting his arrival at Wilmington to the
Secretary of the Navy, the latter directed me to release him, upon the
ground that it would be impossible to convict him by court-martial, all
of the witnesses to the transaction being abroad. The man, Hester, was
therefore released, and was never heard of again, I believe, during the
war; but he has added to his evil reputation since its close, by plying
the infamous trade (under the guise of United States Secret Service
agent) of false informer and persecutor in several of the Southern
States. The General Government failed to exercise its usual careful
discrimination in making this appointment! The base renegades are many
degrees worse even than the unprincipled adventurers from the North who
have so long preyed upon the South. The latter are only thieves and
robbers; the former are, in addition, unnatural monsters, who hate their
own people and are guilty of the crime of Judas, who betrayed his Lord
for thirty pieces of silver.