Chapter I: Preface

A number of publications have appeared, first and last, concerning the author and his career, as was naturally to have been expected. The _Alabama_ was the first steamship in the history of the world--the defective little _Sumter_ excepted--that was let loose against the commerce of a great commercial people. The destruction which she caused was enormous. She not only alarmed the enemy, but she alarmed all the other nations of the earth which had commerce afloat, as they could not be sure that a similar scourge, at some future time, might not be let loose against themselves. The _Alabama_, in consequence, became famous. It was the fame of steam. As a matter of course, she attracted the attention of the book-makers--those cormorants ever on the lookout for a "speculation." A number of ambitious _literateurs_ entered the seductive field. But it was easier, as they soon found, to enter the field than to explore it, and these penny-a-liners all made miserable failures,--not even excepting the London house of Saunders, Otley & Co., to whom the author was induced to loan his journals, in the hope that something worthy of his career might be produced. To those who have chanced to see the "Log of the _Sumter_ and _Alabama_," produced by that house, it will be unnecessary to say that the author had no hand in its preparation. He did not write a line for it, nor had he any interest whatever in the sale of it, as the loan of his journals had been entirely gratuitous. So far as his own career was concerned, the author would gladly have devolved the labor of the historian on other shoulders, if this had been possible. But it did not seem to be possible, after the experiments that had been made. With all the facilities afforded the London house referred to, a meagre and barren record was the result. The cause is sufficiently obvious. The cruise of a ship is a biography. The ship becomes a personification. She not only

"Walks the waters like a thing of life,"

but she speaks in moving accents to those capable of interpreting her. But her interpreter must be a seaman, and not a landsman. He must not only be a seaman, he must have made the identical cruise which he undertakes to describe. It will be seen, hence, that the career of the author was a sealed book to all but himself. A landsman could not even interpret his journals, written frequently in the hieroglyphics of the sea. A line, or a bare mark made by himself, which to other eyes would be meaningless would for him be fraught with the inspiration of whole pages.

Besides, the _Alabama_ had an inside as well as an outside life. She was a microcosm. If it required a seaman to interpret her as to her outside life, much more did it require one to give an intelligible view of the little world that she carried in her bosom. No one but an eye-witness, and that witness himself a sailor, could unveil to an outside world the domestic mysteries of the every-day life of Jack, and portray him in his natural colors, as he worked and as he played. The following pages may, therefore, be said to be the first attempt to give anything like a truthful picture of the career of the author upon the high seas, during the late war, to the public. In their preparation the writer has discarded the didactic style of the historian, and adopted that of memoir writing, as better suited to his subject. This style gave him more latitude in the description of persons and events, and relieved him from some of the fetters of a mere writer of history. There are portions of the work, however, purely historical, and these have been treated with the gravity and dignity which became them. In short, the author has aimed to produce what the title of his book imports--an historical memoir of his services afloat during the war. That his book will be generally read by the Northern people he does not suppose. They are scarcely in a temper yet to read anything he might write. The wounds which he has inflicted upon them are too recent. Besides, men do not willingly read unpalatable truths of themselves. The people of America being sovereign, they are like other sovereigns,--they like those best who fool them most, by pandering to their vices and flattering their foibles. The author, not being a flatterer, cannot expect to be much of a favorite at the court of the Demos.

A word now as to the feeling with which the author has written. It has sometimes been said that a writer of history should be as phlegmatic and unimpassioned as the judge upon the bench. If the reader desires a dead history, in other words, a history devoid of the true spirit of history, the author assents to the remark. But if he desires a living, moving, breathing picture of events--a _personam_ instead of a _subjectam_, the picture must not be undertaken by one who does not feel something of that which he writes. Such a terrible war as that through which we have passed could not be comprehended by a stolid, phlegmatic writer, whose pulse did not beat quicker while he wrote. When all the higher and holier passions of the human heart are aroused in a struggle--when the barbarian is at your door with the torch of the incendiary in one hand, and the uplifted sword of diabolical revenge in the other,--_feeling_ is an important element in the real drama that is passing before the eyes of the beholder. To attempt to describe such a drama with the cold words of philosophy, is simply ridiculous. If the acts be not described in words suited to portray their infamy, you have a lie instead of history. Nor does it follow that feeling necessarily overrides judgment. All passions blind us if we give free rein to them; but when they are held in check, they sharpen, instead of obscuring the intellect. In a well-balanced mind, feeling and judgment aid each other; and he will prove the most successful historian who has the two in a just equipoise. But though the author has given vent occasionally to a just indignation, he has not written in malice. He does not know the meaning of the word. He has simply written as a Southern man might be supposed to think and feel, treading upon the toes of his enemies as tenderly as possible. If he has been occasionally plain-spoken, it is because he has used the English language, which calls a rogue a rogue, notwithstanding his disguises. When the author has spoken of the Yankee and his "grand moral ideas," he has spoken rather of a well-known type than of individual men. If the reader will bear these remarks in mind as he goes along, he will find them a key to some of the passages in the book. In describing natural phenomena, the author has ventured upon some new suggestions. He submits these with great diffidence. Meteorology is yet a new science, and many developments of principles remain to be made.

ANCHORAGE, NEAR MOBILE, ALA.,
_December, 1868_.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I. PAGE

A Brief Historical Retrospect 17

CHAPTER II.

The Nature of the American Compact 24

CHAPTER III.

From the Foundation of the Federal Government down to 1830,
both the North and the South held the Constitution to be a
Compact between the States 36

CHAPTER IV.

Was Secession Treason? 46

CHAPTER V.

Another Brief Historical Retrospect 52

CHAPTER VI.

The Question of Slavery as it affected Secession 62

CHAPTER VII.

The Formation of the Confederate Government, and the
Resignation of Officers of the Federal Army and Navy 71

CHAPTER VIII.

Author proceeds to Montgomery, and reports to the New
Government, and is dispatched northward on a Special Mission 81

CHAPTER IX.

The Commissioning of the Sumter, the First Confederate States
Ship of War 93

CHAPTER X.

The Preparation of the Sumter for Sea--She drops down between
the Forts Jackson and St. Philip--Receives her Sailing Orders--
List of her Officers 97

CHAPTER XI.

After long Waiting and Watching, the Sumter runs the Blockade
of the Mississippi, in open Daylight, pursued by the Brooklyn 108

CHAPTER XII.

Brief Sketch of the Officers of the Sumter--Her First Prize,
with other Prizes in Quick Succession 120

CHAPTER XIII.

Rapid Work--Seven Prizes in Two Days--The Sumter makes her
First Port, and what occurred there 132

CHAPTER XIV.

The Sumter on the Wing again--She is put wholly under Sail for
the first time--Reaches the Island of Curacoa, and is only able
to enter after a Diplomatic Fight 144

CHAPTER XV.

The Sumter at Curacoa--Her Surroundings--Preparations for Sea--
Her Captain solicited to become a Warwick--Her Departure--The
Capture of other Prizes--Puerto Cabello, and what occurred there 155

CHAPTER XVI.

Steaming along the Coast of Venezuela--The Coral Insect, and
the Wonders of the Deep--The Andes and the Rainy Season--The
Sumter enters the Port of Spain in the British Island of
Trinidad 170

CHAPTER XVII.

On the Way to Maranham--The Weather and the Winds--The Sumter
runs short of Coal, and is obliged to "bear up"--Cayenne and
Paramaribo, in French and Dutch Guiana--Sails again, and
arrives at Maranham, in Brazil 188

CHAPTER XVIII.

The Sumter at Maranham--More Diplomacy necessary--The Hotel
Porto and its Proprietor--A week on Shore--Ship coals and
sails again 210

CHAPTER XIX.

The Sumter at Martinique--Proceeds from Fort de France to St.
Pierre--Is an Object of much Curiosity with the Islanders--News
of the Arrest of Messrs. Mason and Slidell, on board the British
Mail Steamer, The Trent--Mr. Seward's extraordinary Course on
the Occasion 232

CHAPTER XX.

Arrival at St. Pierre of the Enemy's Steam-sloop Iroquois--How
she violates the Neutrality of the Port--Arrival of the French
Steamer-of-War Acheron--The Iroquois blockades the Sumter--
Correspondence with the Governor--Escape of the Sumter 252

CHAPTER XXI.

The Sumter pursues her Voyage across the Atlantic--Capture and
Burning of the Arcade, Vigilant, and Ebenezer Dodge--A Leaky
Ship and a Gale--An Alarm of Fire! 268

CHAPTER XXII.

Voyage across the Atlantic pursued--Christmas-day on board the
Sumter--Cape Fly-away, and the Curious Illusion produced by
it--The Sumter passes from the Desert Parts of the Sea into a
Tract of Commerce once more--Boards a large Fleet of Ships in
one Day, but finds no Enemy among them--Arrival at Cadiz 283

CHAPTER XXIII.

Annoyance of the Spanish Officials--Short Correspondence with
the U. S. Consul--The Telegraph put in Operation by the
Officials between Cadiz and Madrid--The Sumter is ordered to
leave in twenty-four Hours--Declines Obedience to the Order--
Prisoners land, and Ship Docked after much ado--Deserters--
Sumter leaves Cadiz 297

CHAPTER XXIV.

The Sumter off Cadiz--The Pillars of Hercules--Gibraltar--
Capture of the Enemy's Ships Neapolitan and Investigator--A
Conflagration between Europe and Africa--The Sumter anchors in
the Harbor of Gibraltar; the Rock; the Town; the Military; the
Review, and the Alameda 306

CHAPTER XXV.

The Sumter still at Gibraltar--Ship crowded with Visitors--A
Ride over the Rock with Colonel Freemantle--The Galleries and
other Subterranean Wonders--A Dizzy Height, and the Queen of
Spain's Chair--The Monkeys and the Neutral Ground 320

CHAPTER XXVI.

The Sumter in Trouble--Finds it impossible to coal, by reason
of a Combination against her, headed by the Federal Consul--
Applies to the British Government for Coal, but is refused--
Sends her Paymaster and Ex-Consul Tunstall to Cadiz--They are
arrested and imprisoned in Tangier--Correspondence on the
Subject--The Sumter laid up and sold 329

CHAPTER XXVII.

Author leaves Gibraltar and arrives in London--Mr. Commissioner
Mason--Confederate Naval News--Short Sojourn in London--Author
embarks on board the Steamer Melita for Nassau--Receives new
Orders from the Navy Department--Returns to Liverpool 346

CHAPTER XXVIII.

A Brief _Resume_ of the History of the War, from the date of
the commissioning the Sumter, to the commissioning of the
Alabama--Secretary Mallory and the Difficulties by which he was
surrounded--The Reorganization of the Confederate States Navy 361

CHAPTER XXIX.

The Legality of the Equipment of the Alabama, and a few
Precedents for her Career, drawn from the History of the War
of 1776 370

CHAPTER XXX.

The Equipment of the Alabama illustrated by that of sundry
Colonial Cruisers during the War of 1776--Benjamin Franklin and
Silas Deane sent to Paris as Chiefs of a Naval Bureau--The
Surprise and the Revenge--Captains Wickes and Conyngham, and
Commodore John Paul Jones 388

CHAPTER XXXI.

Author leaves Liverpool to join the Alabama--Arrives at
Terceira--Description of the Alabama--Preparing her for Sea--
The Portuguese Authorities--The commissioning of the Ship--A
Picture of her Birth and Death--Captain Bullock returns to
England--The Alabama on the High Seas 400

CHAPTER XXXII.

The Alabama a Ship of War, and not a Privateer--Sketch of the
Personnel of the Ship--Putting the Ship in Order for Service--
Sail and Steam--The Character of the Sailor--The First Blow is
struck at the Whale Fishery--The Habitat and Habits of the
Whale--Capture of the Ocmulgee 414

CHAPTER XXXIII.

Capture of the Starlight; Ocean Rover; Alert; Weather Gauge--A
Chase by Moonlight--Capture of the Altamaha; Virginia; Elisha
Dunbar--A Rough Sea, Toiling Boats, and a Picturesque
Conflagration in a Gale 428

CHAPTER XXXIV.

The Yankee Colony of the Island of Flores--What the Captains of
the Virginia and Elisha Dunbar said of the Alabama when they
got back among their Countrymen--The Whaling Season at the
Azores at an End--The Alabama changes her Cruising Ground--What
she saw and what she did 445

CHAPTER XXXV.

Capricious Weather of the Gulf Stream--Capture of the
Packet-Ship Tonawanda; of the Manchester and Lafayette--A
Cyclone, the Alabama's First Gale--How she behaved 463

CHAPTER XXXVI.

The Physiognomy of Ships--Capture of the Lafayette--Decree of
the Admiralty Court on board the Alabama in her Case, and in
that of the Lauretta--The Criticisms of the New York Press--
Further Evidence of the Rotary Nature of the Winds--The
Lauretta captured--The Crenshaw captured--The New York Chamber
of Commerce cries aloud in Pain--Capture of the Baron de
Castine, and of the Levi Starbuck--Capture of the T. B.
Wales--Lady Prisoners 479

CHAPTER XXXVII.

The Calm-Belts and the Trade-Winds--The Arrival of the Alabama
at the Island of Martinique--The Curiosity of the Islanders to
see the Ship--A Quasi Mutiny among the Crew, and how it was
quelled 498

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

The Alabama at Martinique--Is blockaded by the Enemy's Steamer
San Jacinto--How she escaped the Old Wagon--The Island of
Blanquilla, the Alabama's new Rendezvous--Coaling Ship--A
Yankee Skipper and his Alarm--How the Officers and Men amused
themselves at this Island--The Alabama sails again--Capture of
the Parker Cooke, Union, and Steamer Ariel 514

CHAPTER XXXIX.

The Alabama is disabled by an Accident, and stops to repair her
Machinery--Proceeds to her New Rendezvous at the Arcas Islands,
and thence to Galveston--Engagement with the United States
Steamer Hatteras, which she sinks 536

CHAPTER XL.

The Alabama proceeds to Jamaica, where she lands her Prisoners
and refits--Her Commander visits the Country--Intercourse with
the English Naval Officers--Earl Russell's Letter--Preparations
for Sea--A Boat Race by Moonlight, in which Strange Tactics are
practised--Captain Blake of the Hatteras complains of "Dixie"
being played by the English Bands--How the Matter is settled 551

CHAPTER XLI.

Departure from Jamaica--Capture of the Golden Rule--Coasting
the Island of Hayti--Capture of the Castelaine--The Old City of
St. Domingo and its Reminiscences--The Dominican Convent and
the Palace of Diego Columbus--Capture of the Palmetto, the
Olive Jane, and the Golden Eagle--How the Roads are blazed out
upon the Sea--Captain Maury 563

CHAPTER XLII.

The Crossing of the 30th Parallel--The Toll-Gate upon the Sea--
How the Travellers pass along the Highway--Capture of the
Washington; John A. Parks; the Bethia Taylor; the Punjaub; the
Morning Star; the Kingfisher; the Charles Hill; and the Nora--
Alabama crosses the Equator--Capture of the Louisa Hatch--
Arrival at Fernando de Noronha 581

CHAPTER XLIII.

Fernando de Noronha--Its Famous Peak--Is a Penal Settlement of
Brazil--A Visit from the Governor's Ambassadors--A Visit to the
Governor in return--The Aristocracy of the Island--Capture of
the Lafayette and the Kate Cory--Burning of these two Ships
with the Louisa Hatch--Prisoners sent to Pernambuco--The Cloud
Ring and the Rainy and Dry Seasons 596

CHAPTER XLIV.

The Alabama leaves Fernando de Noronha for a Cruise on the
Coast of Brazil--Enters the great Highway, and begins to
overhaul the Travellers--Capture of the Whalers Nye; Dorcas
Prince; Union Jack; Sea Lark--A Reverend Consul taken
Prisoner--Alabama goes into Bahia--What occurred there--Arrival
of the Georgia--Alabama proceeds to Sea again--Capture of the
Gildersleeve; the Justina; the Jabez Snow; the Amazonian; and
the Talisman 610

CHAPTER XLV.

The Alabama continues her Cruise on the Coast of Brazil--
American Ships under English Colors--The Enemy's Carrying-Trade
in Neutral Bottoms--The Capture of the Conrad--She is
commissioned as a Confederate States Cruiser--The Highways of
the Sea, and the Tactics of the Federal Secretary of the Navy--
The Phenomena of the Winds in the Southern Hemisphere--Arrival
at Saldanha Bay, on the Coast of Africa 626

CHAPTER XLVI.

The connecting Thread of the History of the War taken up--A
brief Review of the Events of the last twelve Months, during
which the Alabama has been commissioned--The Alabama arrives at
Cape Town--Capture of the Sea-Bride--Excitement thereupon--
Correspondence between the U. S. Consul and the Governor on the
Subject of the Capture 642

CHAPTER XLVII.

A Gale at Cape Town--The Alabama gets under way for Simon's
Town--Capture of the Martha Wenzell--The Tuscaloosa--Her
Status as a Ship of War considered--She proceeds to Sea--The
Alabama follows her--They, with the Sea-Bride, rendezvous at
Angra Pequena 660

CHAPTER XLVIII.

The Alabama on the Indian Ocean--The Passengers questioned, and
contracted with--The Agulhas Current--The brave West Winds--A
Theory--The Islands of St. Peter and St. Paul--The Tropic of
Capricorn--The South-east Trade-Winds, and the Monsoons--The
Alabama arrives off the Strait of Sunda--Capture of the
Amanda--Runs in and anchors under the Coast of Sumatra 674

CHAPTER XLIX.

The Alabama passes through the Strait of Sunda, seeing nothing
of the Wyoming--Burns the Winged Racer just inside of the
Strait--The Malay Boatmen, and their Alarm--Alabama makes for
the Gaspar Strait, and burns the Contest, after an exciting
Chase--She passes through the Carimata Passage--Discharges her
Prisoners into an English Ship--Miniature Sea-Serpents--The
Currents--Island of Pulo Condore--Arrives at Singapore 690

CHAPTER L.

The Alabama at Singapore--Panic among the Enemy's Shipping in
the China Seas--The Multitude flock to see the Alabama--Curious
Rumor concerning a Portion of her Crew--The Author rides to the
Country and spends a Night--The Chinese in possession of the
Business of Singapore--Alabama leaves Singapore--Capture of the
Martaban, alias Texan Star--Alabama touches at Malacca--Capture
of the Highlander, and Sonora--Alabama once more in the Indian
Ocean 708

CHAPTER LI.

The Alabama crosses the Bay of Bengal--The Pilgrims to Mecca,
and how they received her Boarding-Officer--The Burning of the
Emma Jane--The Town of Anjenga, and the Hindoos--The Great
Deserts of Central Asia, and the Cotton Crop of Hindoston--The
Alabama crosses the Arabian Sea--The Animalculae of the Sea--The
Comoro Islands--Johanna, and its Arab Population--The Alabama
passes through the Mozambique Channel--Arrives at the Cape of
Good Hope 722

CHAPTER LII.

The Alabama again in Cape Town--The Seizure of the Tuscaloosa,
and the Discussion which grew out of it--Correspondence between
the Author and Admiral Walker--Action of the Home Government,
and Release of the Tuscaloosa 738

CHAPTER LIII.

The Alabama at the Cape of Good Hope--Leaves on her Return to
Europe--Capture of the Rockingham, and of the Tycoon--She
crosses the Equator into the Northern Hemisphere, and arrives
at Cherbourg on the 11th of June, 1864--The Engagement between
the Alabama and the Kearsarge 744

CHAPTER LIV.

Other Incidents of the Battle between the Alabama and the
Kearsarge--The Rescue of a Portion of the Crew of the Alabama
by the English Steam-Yacht Deerhound--The United States
Government demands that they be given up--The British
Government refuses Compliance--The rescued Persons not
Prisoners--The Inconsistency of the Federal Secretary of the
Navy 761

CHAPTER LV.

The Federal Government and the English Steam-Yacht Deerhound--
Mr. Seward's Despatch--Mr. Lancaster's Letter to the "Daily
News"--Lord Russell's Reply to Mr. Adams, on the Subject of his
Complaint against Mr. Lancaster--Presentation of a Sword to the
Author by the Clubs of England; of a Flag by a Lady 774

CHAPTER LVI.

Author makes a Short Visit to the Continent--Returns to London,
and embarks on his Return to the Confederate States--Lands at
Bagdad, near the Mouth of the Rio Grande--Journey through
Texas--Reaches Louisiana; crosses the Mississippi, and reaches
his Home after an Absence of four Years 789

CHAPTER LVII.

Author sets out for Richmond--Is two Weeks in making the
Journey--Interview with President Davis; with General Lee--
Author is appointed a Rear-Admiral, and ordered to command the
James River Squadron--Assumes Command--Condition of the Fleet--
Great Demoralization--The Enemy's Armies gradually increasing
in Numbers--Lee's Lines broken 799

CHAPTER LVIII.

The Evacuation of Richmond by the Army--The Destruction of the
James River Fleet--The Sailors of the Fleet converted into
Soldiers--Their helpless Condition without any Means of
Transportation--The Conflagration of Richmond, and the Entry of
the Enemy into the Confederate Capital--The Author improvises a
Railroad Train, and escapes in it, with his Command, to
Danville, Va. 807

CHAPTER LIX.

Interview with President Davis and Secretary Mallory--Author's
Command organized as a Brigade of Artillery--The Brigade
marches to Greensboro', N. C.--Capitulation between General
Joseph E. Johnston and General Sherman--Dispersion of
Johnston's Command in Consequence--Author returns Home, and is
arrested--Conclusion 817

MEMOIRS OF SERVICE AFLOAT.