Memoirs of Service Afloat, During the War Between the States Part 16

colors. She was a heavy s.h.i.+p, but being a sailing vessel, we had nothing to fear, even if she should prove to be an enemy. Indeed, it would have been only sport for us, to fall in with one of the enemy's old time sailing-frigates. Our agile little steamer, with her single long-range gun, could have knocked her into pie, as the printers say, before the majestic old thing could turn round. It was in the morning watch, when holystones and sand, and scrubbing-brushes and soap were the order of the hour, and we surprised the stranger, consequently, in her morning dishabille, for her rigging was filled with scrubbed hammocks, and a number of well-filled clothes-lines were stretched between her main and mizzen shrouds. She proved to be Spanish; and was steering apparently for the island of Cuba. We observed to-day in lat.i.tude 20 7'; the longitude, as told by our faithful chronometer, being 57 12'.

By the way, one of my amus.e.m.e.nts, now, was to wind and compare a number of chronometers, daily. The nautical instruments were almost the only things, except provisions, and clothing for the crew, that we could remove from our prizes. I never permitted any other species of property to be brought on board. We had no room for it, and could not have disposed of it, except by violating the laws of neutral nations, and converting our s.h.i.+p into a trader; neither one of which comported with the duties which I had in hand, viz., the rapid destruction of the enemy's commerce. I should have had no objection to receiving, on deposit, for safe keeping, any funds that I might have found on board the said prizes, but the beggarly Yankee masters never carried any. A few hundred dollars for s.h.i.+p's expenses was all that was ever found, and sometimes not even this--the master having, generally, an order on his consignee, for what moneys he might need. I sometimes captured these orders, and a stray bill of exchange for a small amount, but of course I could make no use of them. The steams.h.i.+p has not only revolutionized commerce, and war, but exchanges. Long before the arrival of the tardy sailing-s.h.i.+p, at her destined port, with her ponderous cargo, the nimble mail-steamer deposits a duplicate of her invoice, and bill of lading, with the merchant to whom she is consigned; and when the s.h.i.+p has landed her cargo, the same, or another steamer, takes back a bill of exchange, for the payment of the freight.

The masters of my prizes frequently remonstrated against my capturing their chronometers; in some instances claiming them as their own individual property. When they would talk to me about private property, I would ask to whom their s.h.i.+ps belonged--whether to a private person, or the Government? They at once saw the drift of the question, and there was an end of the argument. I was making war upon the enemy's commerce--and especially upon the s.h.i.+p, the vehicle of commerce, and the means and appliances by which she was navigated. If her chronometers, s.e.xtants, telescopes, and charts were left in possession of the master, they would be transferred to, and used in the navigation of some other s.h.i.+p. The fact that these instruments belonged to other parties, than the s.h.i.+p-owners, could not make the least difference--s.h.i.+p and instruments were all private property, alike, and alike subject to capture. Silly newspaper editors have published a good deal of nonsense, mixed with a good deal of malice, on this subject. It is only their nonsense that I propose to correct--their abuse was something to be expected under the circ.u.mstances.

Being dependent upon the patronage of s.h.i.+p-owners and s.h.i.+p-masters, for the prosperity of their papers, abuse of the _Sumter_, during the war, came as naturally to them, as whittling a stick.

No prisoner of mine was ever disturbed in the possession of his strictly personal effects. Under this head were included his watch, and his jewelry, as well as his wardrobe. Every boarding-officer had orders to respect these, nor do I believe that the orders were ever violated. I will not detain the reader to contrast this conduct, with the shameful house-burnings, robberies, and pilferings, by both officers and men, that accompanied the march of the enemy's armies, through the Southern States.

It would be well for human nature, if the record made by these men, lost to every sense of manliness and shame, could be obliterated; but as the wicked deeds of men live after them, our common history, and our common race will long have to bear the disgrace of their acts.

Soon after pa.s.sing the Spanish s.h.i.+p, sail ho! was cried from the mast-head, in a sharp, energetic voice, as though the look-out had, this time, scented real game. The chase was one of those well-known schooners, twice before described in these pages, as being unmistakable--hence the energy that had been thrown into the voice of the look-out. She soon came in sight from the deck, when we gave chase. In a couple of hours we had come up with, and hove her to, with a gun. She proved to be the _Arcade_, from Portland, Me., with a load of staves, bound to Guadeloupe, where she intended to exchange her staves for rum and sugar. The owner of the staves had not thought it worth while to certify, that his property was neutral, and so we had no difficulty with the papers. We had not made much of a prize. The little craft was sailed too economically to afford us even a spare barrel of provisions. The number of mouths on board were few, and the rations had been carefully adjusted to the mouths. And so, having nothing to transfer to the _Sumter_, except the master and crew, we applied the torch to her, in a very few minutes. The staves being well seasoned, she made a beautiful bonfire, and lighted us over the seas, some hours after dark.

During the night, the wind lulled, and became variable, and we hauled down the fore and aft sails, and brought the s.h.i.+p's head to the north-east. The prize had no newspapers on board, but we learned from the master, that the great naval expedition, which the enemy had been sometime in preparing, and about which there had been no little mystery, had at last struck at Port Royal, in South Carolina. An immense fleet of s.h.i.+ps of war, with thirty-three transports, and an army of 15,000 men, had been sent to capture a couple of mud forts, armed with 24 and 32-pounders, and garrisoned with three or four hundred raw troops. Our next batch of newspapers from New York, brought us the despatches of Commodore Dupont, the commander of this expedition, exceeding in volume anything that Nelson or Collingwood had ever written. Plates, and diagrams showed how the approaches had been buoyed, and the order of battle was described, with minute prolixity. I cannot forbear giving to the reader, the names of the s.h.i.+ps, that partic.i.p.ated in this great naval victory, with their loss in killed and wounded, after an engagement that lasted four mortal hours. The s.h.i.+ps were the _Wabash_, the _Susquehanna_, the _Mohican_, the _Seminole_, the _p.a.w.nee_, the _Unadilla_, the _Ottawa_, the _Pembina_, the _Isaac Smith_, the _Bienville_, the _Seneca_, the _Curlew_, the _Penguin_, the _Augusta_, the _R. B. Forbes_, the _Pocahontas_, the _Mercury_, the _Vandalia_, and the _Vixen_--total 19. The killed were 8--not quite half a man apiece; and the seriously wounded 6!

_November 27th._--Morning thick, with heavy clouds and rain, clearing as the day advanced. Afternoon clear, bright weather, with a deep blue sea, and the trade-wind blowing half a gale from the north-east. At six P. M., put all sail on the s.h.i.+p, and let the steam go down. We had already consumed half our fuel, and it became necessary to make the rest of our way to Europe under sail. Our boilers had been leaking for several days, and the engineer availed himself of the opportunity to repair them. The weather is sensibly changing in temperature. We are in lat.i.tude 22 22', and the thermometer has gone down to 78--for the first time, in five months. We have crossed, to-day, the track of the homeward-bound s.h.i.+ps, both from the Cape of Good Hope, and Cape Horn, but have seen no sail. We cannot delay to cruise in this track, as we have barely water enough, on board, to last us across the Atlantic.

_November 28th._--Weather changeable, and squally--wind frequently s.h.i.+fting during the day, giving indications of our approach to the northern limit Of the trade-wind, crossing which we shall pa.s.s into the variables.

_November 29th._--Thick, ugly weather--this term ugly being very expressive in the seaman's vocabulary. The wind is veering, as before, blowing half a gale, all the time, and a cold rain is pouring down, at intervals, causing the sailors to haul on their woollen jackets, and hunt up their long-neglected sou'westers. We observed in lat.i.tude 25 51'

to-day; the longitude being 57 36'.

_November 30th._--The morning has dawned bright, and beautiful, with a perfectly clear sky. The boisterous wind of yesterday has disappeared, and we have nearly a calm--the sea wearing its darkest tint of azure. We are, in fact, in the calm-belt of Cancer, and having no fuel to spare, we must be content to creep through it under sail, as best we may. A sail has been reported from aloft. It is a long way off, and we forbear to chase.

_December 1st._--Another beautiful, bright, morning, with a gla.s.sy sea, and a calm. This being the first of the month, the sailors are drawing their clothing, and "small stores" from the paymaster, under the supervision of the officers of the different divisions. The paymaster's steward is the shopman, on the occasion, and he is "serving" a jacket to one, a s.h.i.+rt to another, and a pair of shoes to a third. His a.s.sortment is quite varied, for besides the requisite clothing, he has tobacco, and pepper, and mustard; needles, thimbles, tape, thread, and spool-cotton; ribbons, b.u.t.tons, jack-knives, &c. Jack is not allowed to indulge in all these luxuries, _ad lib._ He is like a school-boy, under the care of his preceptor; he must have his wants approved by the officer of the division to which he belongs. To enable this officer to act understandingly, Jack spreads out his wardrobe before him, every month. If he is deficient a s.h.i.+rt, or a pair of trousers, he is permitted to draw them; if he has plenty, and still desires more, his extravagance is checked. These articles are all charged to him, at cost, with the addition of a small percentage, to save the Government from loss. When the monthly requisitions are all complete, they are taken to the Captain, for his approval, who occasionally runs his pencil through a _third_, or a _fourth_ pound of tobacco, when an inveterate old chewer, or smoker is using the weed to excess; he rarely interferes in other respects. On the present occasion, woollen garments are in demand; Jack, with a prudent forethought, preparing himself for the approaching change in the climate.

Much of the clothing, which the sailor wears, is made up with his own hands. He is entirely independent of the other s.e.x, in this respect, and soon becomes very expert with the needle.

The 3d of December brought us another prize. The wind was light from the south-east, and the stranger was standing in our direction. This was fortunate, as we might hope to capture him by stratagem, without the use of steam. The _Sumter_, when not under steam, and with her smoke-stack lowered, might be taken for a clumsy-looking bark. Throwing a spare sail over the lowered smoke-stack, to prevent it from betraying us, we hoisted the French flag, and stood on our course, apparently unconscious of the approaching stranger. We were running free, with the starboard studding-sails set, and when the stranger, who, by this time, had hoisted the United States colors, crossed our bows, we suddenly took in all the studding-sails, braced sharp up, tacked, and fired a gun, at the same moment. The stranger at once hauled up his courses, and backed his main-topsail. He was already under our guns. The clumsy appearance of the _Sumter_, and the French flag had deceived him. The prize proved to be the _Vigilant_, a fine new s.h.i.+p, from Bath, Maine, bound to the guano island of Sombrero, in the West Indies; some New Yorkers having made a lodgment on this barren little island, and being then engaged in working it for certain phosphates of lime, which they called mineral guano. We captured a rifled 9-pounder gun, with a supply of fixed ammunition, on board the _Vigilant_, and some small arms. We fired the s.h.i.+p at three P. M., and made sail on our course. The most welcome part of this capture was a large batch of New York newspapers, as late as the 21st of November. The Yankees of that ilk had heard of the blockade of the "Pirate _Sumter_," by the _Iroquois_, but they hadn't heard of Captain Palmer's rueful breakfast on the morning of the 24th of November.

These papers brought us a graphic description of the gallant ram exploit, of Commodore Hollins, of the Confederate Navy, at the mouth of the Mississippi, on the 12th of October. This exploit is remarkable as being the first practical application of the iron-clad ram to the purposes of war. Some ingenious steamboat-men, in New Orleans, with the consent of the Navy Department, had converted the hull of a steam-tug into an iron-clad, by means of bars of railroad iron fastened to the hull of the boat, and to a frame-work above the deck fitted to receive them; a stout iron prow being secured to the bow of the boat, several feet below the water-line.

In this curious nondescript, which the enemy likened to a smoking mud-turtle, the gallant Commodore a.s.saulted the enemy's fleet, lying at the old anchorage of the _Sumter_, at the "Head of the Pa.s.ses," consisting of the _Richmond_, _Vincennes_, _Preble_, and _Water Witch_. The a.s.sault was made at four o'clock in the morning, and caused great consternation and alarm among the enemy. The _Richmond_, lying higher up the Pa.s.s than the other s.h.i.+ps, was first a.s.saulted--some of her planks being started, below the water-line, by the concussion of the ram, though the blow was broken by a coal-schooner, which, fortunately for her, was lying alongside. As the ram drew off, a broadside of the _Richmond's_ guns was fired into her, without effect. After this harmless broadside, the s.h.i.+ps all got under way, in great haste, and fled down the Pa.s.s, the ram pursuing them, but Hollins was unable, from the effect of the current, and the speed of the fleeing s.h.i.+ps, to get another blow at them. The _Richmond_ and the _Vincennes_ grounded, for a short time, on the bar, in their hurry to get out, but the former was soon got afloat again. In the confusion and panic of the moment, the _Vincennes_ was abandoned by her captain, who left a slow match burning. Commodore Hollins, finding that nothing more could be accomplished, threw a few sh.e.l.ls at the alarmed fleet, and withdrew. The _Vincennes_, not blowing up, and the enemy recovering from his panic, her captain was ordered to return to her, and she was finally saved with the rest of the fleet. This little experiment was the _avant courier_ of a great change, in naval warfare--especially for harbor and coast defence. The enemy, with his abundant resources, greatly improved upon it, and his "monitor" system was the result.

_December 4th._--Weather clear, and becoming cool--thermometer, 76. We have run some 140 miles to the eastward, during the last twenty-four hours, under sail, and as we are dragging our propeller through the water, I need not tell the reader what a smacking breeze we have had. It is delightful to be making so much easting, under sail, after having been buffeted so spitefully, by the east wind, for the last five months, whenever we have turned our head in that direction. Ten of the crew of the _Vigilant_ are blacks, and as our s.h.i.+p is leaking so badly that the constant pumping is f.a.gging to the crew, I have set the blacks at the pumps, with their own consent. The fact is, some of these fellows, who are runaway slaves, have already recognized "master," and whenever I pa.s.s them, grin pleasantly, and show the whites of their eyes. They are agreeably disappointed, that they are not "drawn, hung, and quartered,"

and rather enjoy the change to the _Sumter_, where they have plenty of time to bask in the sun, and the greasiest of pork and beans without stint. In arranging the _Vigilant's_ crew into messes, a white bean and a black bean have been placed, side by side, at the mess-cloth, my first lieutenant naturally concluding, that the white sailors of the Yankee s.h.i.+p would like to be near their colored brethren. Caesar and Pompey, having an eye to fun, enjoy this arrangement hugely, and my own crew are not a little amused, as the boatswain pipes to dinner, to see the gravity with which the darkies take their seats by the side of their white comrades.

This was the only mark of "citizens.h.i.+p," however, which I bestowed upon these sons of Ham. I never regarded them as prisoners of war--always discharging them, when the other prisoners were discharged, without putting them under parole.

_December 5th._--Weather thick and ugly--the wind hauling to the north, and blowing very fresh for a while. Reefed the topsails. At noon, the weather was so thick, that no observations could be had for fixing the position of the s.h.i.+p--lat.i.tude, by dead reckoning, 30 19'; longitude 53 02'. During the afternoon and night, it blew a gale from N. E. to E. N. E.

Furled the mainsail, and set the reefed trysail instead; and the wind still increasing, before morning we hauled up and furled the foresail. For the next two or three days, we had a series of easterly gales, compelling me to run somewhat farther north than I had intended. We carried very short sail, and most of the time we were shut down below--that is, such of the crew as were not on watch--with tarpaulin-covered hatches, and a cold, driving rain falling almost incessantly. What with the howling of the gale, as it tears through the rigging, the rolling and pitching of the s.h.i.+p, in the confused, irregular sea, and the jog, jog, jog of the pumps, through half the night, I have had but little rest.

_December 8th._--This is an anniversary with me. On this day, fifteen years ago, the United States brig-of-war _Somers_, of which I was the commander, was capsized and sunk, off Vera Cruz, having half her crew, of 120 officers and men, drowned. It occurred during the Mexican war. I was left alone to blockade the port of Vera Cruz--Commodore Connor, the commander of the squadron, having gone with his other s.h.i.+ps on an expedition to Tampico. There being every appearance of a norther on that eventful morning, I was still at my anchors, under _Isla Verde_, or Green Island, where I had sought refuge the preceding night. Suddenly a sail was reported, running down the northern coast, as though she would force the blockade. It would never do to permit this; and so the little _Somers_--these ten-gun brigs were called coffins in that day--was gotten under way, and under her topsails and courses, commenced beating up the coast, to intercept the stranger. I had gone below, for a moment, when the officer of the deck, coming to the companion-way, called to me, and said that "the water looked black and roughened ahead, as though more wind than usual was coming." I sprang upon deck, and saw, at the first glance, that a norther was upon us. I immediately ordered everything clewed down and brailed up, but before the order could be executed, the gale came sweeping on with the fury of a whirlwind, and in less time than I have been describing the event, the little craft was thrown on her beam-ends, her masts and sails lying flat upon the surface of the sea, and the water pouring in at every hatchway and scuttle. I clambered to the weather side of the s.h.i.+p, and seeing that she must go down in a few minutes, set my first lieutenant at work to extricate the only boat that was available--the weather-quarter boat, all the others being submerged--from her fastenings, to save as much life as possible. This was fortunately done, and the boat being put in charge of a mids.h.i.+pman, the non-combatant officers, as the surgeon and paymaster; the mids.h.i.+pmen, and such of the boys of the s.h.i.+p as could not swim, were permitted to get into her. So perfect was the discipline, though death, within the next ten minutes, stared every man in the face, that there was no rush for this boat. A large man was even ordered out of her, to make room for two lads, who could not swim, and he obeyed the order as a matter of course! This boat having shoved off from the sinking s.h.i.+p, the order was given, "Every man save himself, who can!" whereupon there was a simultaneous plunge into the now raging sea, of a hundred men and more, each struggling for his life.

The s.h.i.+p sank out of sight in a moment afterward. We were in twenty fathoms of water. Divesting myself of all my clothing, except my s.h.i.+rt and drawers, I plunged into the sea with the rest, and, being a good swimmer, struck out for and reached a piece of grating, which had floated away from the s.h.i.+p as she went down. Swimming along, with one arm resting on this grating, I felt one of my feet touch something, and, at the same moment, heard a voice exclaiming, "It is I, Captain; it is Parker, the second lieutenant--give me a part of your grating, I am a good swimmer, and we shall get along the better together." I, accordingly, shared my grating with Parker, and we both struck out, manfully, for the sh.o.r.e, distant no more than about a mile; but, unfortunately, the now raging gale was sweeping down parallel with the coast, and we were compelled to swim at right angles with the waves and the wind, if we would save ourselves; for once swept past the coast of the island, and the open sea lay before us, whence there was no rescue!

As we would rise upon the top of a wave, and get a view of the "promised land," the reader may imagine how anxious our consultations were, as to whether we were gaining, or losing ground! In the meantime, the boat, which had shoved off from the s.h.i.+p, as described, had reached the island, half-swamped, and discharging her pa.s.sengers, and freeing herself from water as soon as possible, pushed out again into the raging caldron of waters, under the gallant mids.h.i.+pman, who had charge of her, in the endeavor to rescue some of the drowning crew. She came, by the merest accident, upon Parker and myself! We were hauled into her more dead than alive, and after she had picked up two, or three others--all that could now be seen--she again returned to the sh.o.r.e. My first lieutenant, Mr. G.

L. Claiborne, was saved, as by a miracle, being dashed on sh.o.r.e--he having struck out, in the opposite direction, for the mainland--between two ledges of rock, separated only by a span of sand beach. If he had been driven upon the rocks, instead of the beach, he must have been instantly dashed in pieces. The reader will, perhaps, pardon me, for having remembered these eventful scenes of my life, as I wrote in my journal, on board the leaky little _Sumter_, amid the howling of another gale, _the_ "_eighth day of December_."

On _this_ eighth day of December, 1861, however, the record is very different, it being as follows: "At ten A. M. descried a sail from the deck, startlingly close to; so thick has been the weather. The stranger being a bark, taunt-rigged, with sky-sail poles, and under top-sails, we mistook him at first for a cruiser, and raised our smoke-stack, and started the fires in the furnaces. Having done this, we approached him somewhat cautiously, keeping the weather-gauge of him, and showed him the United States colors. He soon hoisted the same. Getting a nearer view of him, we now discovered him to be a whaler. The engineer at once discontinued his "firing up," and the smoke-stack was again lowered, to its accustomed place. Upon being boarded, the bark proved to be the _Eben.

Dodge_, twelve days out, from New Bedford, and bound on a whaling voyage to the Pacific Ocean. She had experienced a heavy gale, had sprung some of her spars, and was leaking badly--hence the easy sail she had been under.

Although the sea was still very rough, and the weather lowering, we got on board from the prize, some water, and provisions, clothing, and small stores. The supply of pea-jackets, whalers' boots, and flannel over-s.h.i.+rts, which our paymaster had been unable to procure in the West Indies, was particularly acceptable to us, battling, as we now were, with the gales of the North Atlantic, in the month of December. We brought away from her, also, two of her fine whale-boats, so valuable in rough weather; making room for them on deck, by the side of the _Sumter's_ launch. The crew of the _Dodge_, consisting of twenty-two persons, made a considerable addition to our small community. We fired the prize at half-past six, P. M., as the shades of evening were closing in, and made sail on our course. The flames burned red and lurid in the murky atmosphere, like some Jack-o'-lantern; now appearing, and now disappearing, as the doomed s.h.i.+p rose upon the top, or descended into the abyss of the waves.

Having now forty-three prisoners on board, and there never being, at one time, so many of the _Sumter's_ crew on watch, it became necessary for me to think of precautions. It would be easy for forty-three courageous men, to rise upon a smaller number, sleeping carelessly about the decks, and wrest from them the command of the s.h.i.+p. Hitherto I had given the prisoners the run of the s.h.i.+p, putting no more restrictions upon them, than upon my own men, but this could no longer be. I therefore directed my first lieutenant to put one-half of the prisoners in single irons--that is, with manacles on the wrists only--alternately, for twenty-four hours at a time. The prisoners, themselves, seeing the necessity of this precaution, submitted cheerfully to the restraint--for as such only they viewed it--and not as an indignity.

We received another supply of late newspapers, by the _Dodge_. They were still filled with jubilations over Dupont's great naval victory. We learned, too, that New England had been keeping, with more than usual piety and pomp, the great National festival of "Thanksgiving," which the Puritan has subst.i.tuted for the Christian Christmas. The pulpit thundered war and glory, the press dilated upon the wealth and resources of the Universal Yankee _Nation_, and hecatombs of fat pigs and turkeys fed the hungry mult.i.tudes--pulpit, press, pig, and turkey, all thanking G.o.d, that the Puritan is "not like unto other men."

_December 10th._--The weather remains still unsettled. The wind, during the last five or six days, has gone twice around the compa.s.s, never stopping in the west, but lingering in the east. The barometer has been in a constant state of fluctuation, and there will, doubtless, be a grand climax before the atmosphere regains its equilibrium. These easterly winds are r.e.t.a.r.ding our pa.s.sage very much, and taxing our patience.

Observed, to-day, in lat.i.tude 32 39'; the longitude being 49 57'.

The next day, the weather culminated, sure enough, in a gale. The barometer began to settle, in the morning watch, and dense black clouds, looking ragged and windy, soon obscured the sun, and spread an ominous pall over the entire heavens. I at once put the s.h.i.+p under easy sail; that is to say, clewed up everything but the topsails and trysails, and awaited the further progress of the storm. The wind was as yet light, but the barometer, which had stood at 29 70' at eight o'clock, had fallen to 29 59' by two P. M. The dense canopy of clouds now settled lower and lower, circ.u.mscribing more and more our horizon, and presently fitful gusts of wind would strike the sails, pressing the s.h.i.+p over a little. It was time to reef. All hands were turned up, and the close reefs were taken, both in topsails and trysails; the jib hauled down and stowed, and the top-gallant yards sent down from aloft. The squalls increasing in frequency and force, the gale became fully developed by three P. M. The wind, which we first took from about E. S. E., backed to the N. E., but did not remain long in that quarter, returning to east. It now began to blow furiously from this latter quarter, the squalls being accompanied by a driving, blinding rain; the barometer going down, ominously down, all the while.

As the night closed in, an awful scene presented itself. The aspect of the heavens was terrific. The black clouds overhead were advancing and retreating like squadrons of opposing armies, whilst loud peals of thunder, and blinding flashes of lightning that would now and then run down the conductor, and hiss as they leaped into the sea, added to the elemental strife. A streaming scud, which you could almost touch with your hand, was meanwhile hurrying past, screeching and screaming, like so many demons, as it rushed through the rigging. The sea was mountainous, and would now and then strike the little _Sumter_ with such force as to make her tremble in every fibre of her frame. I had remained on deck during most of the first watch, looking anxiously on, to see what sort of weather we were going to make. The s.h.i.+p behaved n.o.bly, but I had no confidence in her strength. Her upper works, in particular, were very defective. Her bends, above the main deck, were composed of light pine stanchions and inch plank, somewhat strengthened in the bows. Seeing the fury of the gale, and that the barometer was still settling, I went below about midnight, and turned in to get a little rest, with many misgivings. I had scarcely fallen into an uneasy slumber, when an old quartermaster, looking himself like the demon of the storm, with his dishevelled hair and beard dripping water, and his eyes blinking in the light of his lantern, shook my cot, and said, "We've stove in the starboard bow-port, sir, and the gun-deck is all afloat with water!" Here was what I had feared; unless we could keep the water out of the between-decks, all the upper works, and the masts along with them, would be gone in a trice. I hurried at once to the scene of disaster, but before I could reach it, my energetic and skilful first lieutenant had already, by the aid of some planks and spare spars, erected a barricade that would be likely to answer our purpose.

The gale lulled somewhat in an hour or two afterward, and I now got some sleep. I was on deck again, however, at daylight. The same thick gloom overspread the heavens, the scud was flying as furiously, and as low as before, and the gale was raging as fiercely as ever. But we had one great comfort, and that was _daylight_. We could see the s.h.i.+p and the heavens--there was nothing else visible--and this alone divested the gale of half its terrors. At last, at six A. M., the barometer reached its lowest point, 29.32, which, in the lat.i.tude we were in, was a very low barometer. Any one who has watched a barometer under similar circ.u.mstances, will understand the satisfaction with which I saw the little tell-tale begin to rise. It whispered to me as intelligibly as if it had been a living thing, "the gale is broken!" We had been lying to, all this time, under a close-reefed main-topsail. We now bore up under a reefed foresail, and kept the s.h.i.+p on her course, east by south. She scudded as beautifully as she had lain to, darting ahead like an arrow, on the tops of the huge waves that followed her like so many hungry wolves, and shaking the foam and spray from her bows, as if in disdain and contempt of the lately howling storm.

_December 13th._--Weather clear, with pa.s.sing clouds. Wind fresh from the south-west, but abating, with a rapidly rising barometer. The cyclone, for such evidently the late gale was, had a diameter of from three hundred and fifty to four hundred miles. We took it in its northern hemisphere--the gale travelling north. Hence it pa.s.sed over us in nearly its entire diameter--the vortex at no great distance from us. Observed in lat.i.tude 33 28'; the longitude being 47 03'. Repairing damages. The s.h.i.+p leaks so badly as to require to be pumped out twice in each watch. During the heaviest of the gale, the masters and mates of the captured s.h.i.+ps offered their services, like gallant men, to a.s.sist in taking care of the s.h.i.+p. We thanked them, but were sufficiently strong-handed ourselves.

_December 14th._--We had an alarm of fire on the berth deck last night.

The fire-bell, sounded suddenly in a sleeping city, has a startling effect upon the aroused sleepers, but he who has not heard it, can have no conception of the knell-like sound of the cry of fire! shouted from the lungs of an alarmed sailor on board a s.h.i.+p, hundreds of miles away from any land. It is the suddenness with which the idea of danger presents itself, quite as much as the extent of the danger, which intimidates.

Hence the panics which often ensue, when a s.h.i.+p is discovered to be on fire. s.h.i.+ps of war, as a rule, are not the subjects of panics. Discipline keeps all the pa.s.sions and emotions under control, as well those which arise from fear, as from lawlessness. We had no panic on board the _Sumter_, although appearances were sufficiently alarming for a few moments. A smoke was suddenly seen arising through one of the ventilators forward, in the dead hour of the night, when except the sentry's lantern and the lamp in the binnacle, there should be no other fire in the s.h.i.+p.

The mids.h.i.+pman of the watch, upon rus.h.i.+ng below, found one of the prisoners' mattresses on fire. The flames were soon smothered, and the whole danger was over before the s.h.i.+p's crew were fairly aroused. Some prisoner, in violation of orders, had lighted his pipe for a smoke, after hours, and probably gone to sleep with it in his mouth. The prisoner could not be identified, but there were two sentinels on post, and these in due time paid the penalty of their neglect.

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 Pa.s.sES FROM THE DESERT PARTS OF THE SEA, INTO A TRACT OF COMMERCE ONCE MORE--BOARDS A LARGE FLEET OF s.h.i.+PS IN ONE DAY, BUT FINDS NO ENEMY AMONG THEM--ARRIVAL AT CADIZ.

The punishment administered to the two delinquent sentinels mentioned in the last chapter, had the most salutary effect. Seamen are very much like children, requiring the reins to be tightened upon them from time to time.

I made it a rule on board the _Sumter_, that punishment should follow the offence, with _prompt.i.tude_, and _certainty_, rather than severity; and this excellent rule had already performed marvels, in the matter of disciplining my s.h.i.+p.

_Sunday, December 15th._--A fine bright morning, with a moderate breeze from the north-west, and the weather just cool enough to be delightfully bracing. We mustered the crew this morning, and read the articles of war for the first time in three weeks, owing to the bad weather. I did not inspect the s.h.i.+p below, according to custom, the sea being still rough, and the water ankle-deep on the gun-deck in consequence. Our new prisoners always looked upon the muster ceremonies on board the _Sumter_, with curiosity, as though they were surprised to find so much order and discipline, and so much attention to dress and ceremony, on board the "pirate" of which they had read, and whose "cut" they had so often admired, in their truth-loving and truth-telling newspapers. The lat.i.tude, to-day, is 34, and the longitude 42 05'.

We were quite surprised to find so much bad weather in the parallel, on which we were crossing the Atlantic. I had purposely chosen this parallel, that my little c.o.c.k-boat of a s.h.i.+p might not be knocked in pieces, by the storms of the North Atlantic, and yet the reader has seen how roughly we have been handled. Nor were the fates more propitious for the next few days. Gale followed gale, with angry skies, and cloud and rain; there sometimes being lightning around the entire horizon, with now rolling, now cras.h.i.+ng thunder. I had intended when I left the West Indies to touch at Fayal, in the Azores, for coal and water, but I found these islands so guarded and defended, by the Genius of the storm, that it would require several days of patience and toil, to enable me to reach an anchorage in one of them. I therefore determined to pa.s.s them, and haul up for the southern coast of Spain, running finally into Cadiz.

Christmas day was pa.s.sed by us on the lonely sea, in as doleful a manner as can well be conceived. The weather is thus described in my journal.

"Thermometer 63; barometer 29.80. Heavy rain squalls--weather dirty, with lightning all around the horizon, indicating a change of wind at any moment. Under short sail during the night." The only other record of the day was that we "spliced the main brace;" that is, gave Jack an extra gla.s.s of grog. Groups of idle sailors lay about the decks, "overhauling a range of their memories;" how they had spent the last Christmas-day, in some "Wapping," or "Wide Water street," with the br.i.m.m.i.n.g goblet in hand, and the merry music of the dance sounding in their ears. Nor were the memories of the officers idle. They clasped in fancy their loved ones, now sad and lonely, to their bosoms once more, and listened to the prattle of the little ones they had left behind. Not the least curious of the changes that had taken place since the last Christmas day, was the change in their own official positions. They were, most of them, on that day, afloat under the "old flag." That flag now looked to them strange and foreign. They had some of their own countrymen on board; not, as of yore, as welcome visitors, but as prisoners. These, too, wore a changed aspect--enemy, instead of friend, being written upon their faces. The two "rival nations," spoken of by De Tocqueville, stood face to face. Nature is stronger than man. She will not permit her laws to be violated with impunity, and if this war does not separate these _two nations_, other wars will. If we succeed in preserving the principle of State sovereignty--the only principle which can save this whole country, North and South, from utter wreck and ruin--all will be well, whatever combinations of particular States may be made, from time to time. The States being free, liberty will be saved, and they will gravitate naturally, like unto like--the Puritan clinging to the Puritan, and the Cavalier to the Cavalier. But if this principle be overthrown, if the mad idea be carried out, that all the American people must be moulded into a common ma.s.s, and form one consolidated government, under the rule of a _majority_--for no const.i.tution will then restrain them--Const.i.tutional liberty will disappear, and no man can predict the future--except in so far, that it is impossible for the Puritan, and the Cavalier to live together in peace.

On the next day, we witnessed a curious natural illusion. The look-out called land ho! from the mast-head. The officer of the watch saw the land at the same time from the deck, and sent a mids.h.i.+pman below to inform me that we had made "high land, right ahead." I came at once upon deck, and there, sure enough, was the land--a beautiful island, with its blue mountains, its plains, its wood-lands, its coast, all perfect. It was afternoon. The weather had been stormy, but had partially cleared. The sun was near his setting, and threw his departing rays full upon the newly discovered island, hanging over it, as a symbol that, for a time, there was to be a truce with the storm, a magnificent rainbow. So beautiful was the scene, and so perfect the illusion--there being no land within a couple of hundred miles of us--that all the crew had come on deck to witness it; and there was not one of them who would not have bet a month's pay that what he looked upon was a reality.

The chief engineer was standing by me looking upon the supposed landscape, with perfect rapture. Lowering the telescope through which I had been viewing it, I said to him, "You see, now, Mr. F., how often men are deceived. You would no doubt swear that that is land." "Why should I not, sir?" said he. "Simply," rejoined I, "because it is Cape Fly-away." He turned and looked at me with astonishment, as though I were quizzing him, and said, "You surely do not mean to say, Captain, that that is not land; it is not possible that one's senses can be so much deceived." "Like yourself, I should have sworn it was land, if I did not know, from the position of the s.h.i.+p, that there is no land within a couple of hundred miles of us." Reaching out his hand for my gla.s.s, I gave it to him, and as he viewed the island through it, I was much amused at his e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.ns of admiration, now at this beauty, and now at that. "Why," said he, "there is the very coast, sand beach and all, with beautiful bays and indentations, as though inviting the _Sumter_ to run in and anchor." As the sun sank lower and lower, withdrawing now one ray, and now another, first the rainbow began to disappear, and then the lower strata of the island to grow a little gray, and then the upper, until, as the sun dipped, the whole gorgeous fabric, of mountain, woodland, plain, and coast, was converted into a leaden-colored cloud-bank. The engineer handing me my gla.s.s, said, "Captain, I will be a cautious witness hereafter, in a court of justice, when I am questioned as to a fact, which has only been revealed to me through a single sense." "I see," I replied, "that you are becoming a philosopher. Many metaphysicians have maintained that all nature is a mere phantasmagoria, so far as our senses are capable of informing us."

For the last two weeks, we had been crossing a desert tract of the ocean, where a sail is seldom seen. We now began to approach one of the beaten highways, over which a constant stream of travel is pa.s.sing--the road leading from the various ports of Europe to the equator and the coast of Brazil, and thence east and west, as may be the destination of the wayfarer.

_December 28th._--A fine, bright day, with the wind light from the south-west. At daylight, "Sail ho!" came ringing from the mast-head. The sail crossing our bows, we took in our studding-sails, hauled up south-east, to intercept her, and got up steam. Our lat.i.tude being 35 17', and longitude 20 53', we were within striking distance of Cadiz or Gibraltar, and could afford now to use a little steam. The chase did not reward us, however, as she proved to be English--being the s.h.i.+p _Richibucto_, from Liverpool, for Vera Cruz, laden with salt. We received from her some English newspapers, which gave us several items of interesting intelligence. All England was in mourning for the death of Prince Albert. The _Trent_ affair was causing great excitement, and the Confederate States steamer _Nashville_, Captain Pegram, had arrived at Southampton, having burned a large Yankee s.h.i.+p, the _Harvey Birch_. This s.h.i.+p having been burned in the English Channel, much attention was attracted to the act; especially as the s.h.i.+p was tea-laden, and supposed to be worth near half a million of dollars.

The next day was rainy, with a light wind from the south-east. Only two sails were seen, and to neither of them did we give chase; but on the morning of the 30th of December, we fell in with a perfect stream of s.h.i.+ps. "Sail ho!" was shouted at daylight from the mast-head, and repeated at short intervals, until as many as twenty-five were reported. We at once got up steam, and commenced chasing; but though we chased diligently, one s.h.i.+p after another, from eight o'clock in the morning until four in the afternoon, we did not overhaul a single s.h.i.+p of the enemy! We actually boarded sixteen sail, a number of others showing us their colors. The s.h.i.+ps boarded were of the following nationalities:--Four Dutch, seven English, two French, one Swedish, one Prussian, one Hamburg. Here was quite a representation of the nations of Europe, and I amused myself taking the vote of these s.h.i.+ps, according to our American fas.h.i.+on, upon the war. Their sentiments were elicited as follows:--I would first show them the United States colors, pretending to be a Federal cruiser; I would then haul down these colors, and show them the Confederate flag. The result was that but one s.h.i.+p--the Prussian--saluted the United States flag, and that all the other s.h.i.+ps, with one or two exceptions, saluted the Confederate States flag. We were then beating the enemy, and the nations of the earth were wors.h.i.+pping success.

So large a fleet of s.h.i.+ps--not being a convoy--so far out at sea, was quite a curiosity, and may serve to show the landsman how accurately we have mapped out, upon the ocean, the princ.i.p.al highways of commerce.

There were no mile-posts on the road these s.h.i.+ps were travelling, it is true, but the road was none the less "blazed" out, for all that--the blazes being on the wind and current charts. The night succeeding this busy day set in cloudy and ugly, with a fresh breeze blowing from the eastward; and so continuous was the stream of s.h.i.+ps, all sailing in the contrary direction from ourselves, that we had serious apprehensions of being run over. To guard against this, we set our side-lights, and stationed extra look-outs. Several s.h.i.+ps pa.s.sed us during the night, hurrying forward on the wings of the wind, at a rapid rate, and sometimes coming so close, in the darkness, as almost to make one's hair stand on end. The next morning the weather became clear and beautiful, and the stream of s.h.i.+ps had ceased.

The reader may be curious to know the explanation of this current of s.h.i.+ps. It is simple enough. They were all Mediterranean s.h.i.+ps. At the strait of Gibraltar there is a constant current setting into the Mediterranean. This current is of considerable strength, and the consequence is, that when the wind also sets into the strait--that is to say, when it is from the westward--it is impossible for a sailing-s.h.i.+p to get out of the strait into the Atlantic. She is obliged to come to anchor in the bay of Gibraltar, and wait for a change of wind. This is sometimes a long time in coming--the westerly winds continuing here, not unfrequently, two and three weeks at a time. As a matter of course, a large number of s.h.i.+ps collect in the bay, waiting for an opportunity of exit. I have seen as many as a hundred sail at one time. In a few hours after a change of wind takes place, this immense fleet will all be under way, and such of them as are bound to the equator and the coast of Brazil, the United States, West Indies, and South America, will be found travelling the blazed road of which I have spoken; some taking the forks of the road, at their respective branching-off places, and others keeping the main track to the equator. Hence the exodus the reader has witnessed.