Trial of the Officers and Crew of the Privateer Savannah on the Charge of Piracy Part 20

_Q._ You spoke of some other owner?

_A._ Yes; Messrs. Hatch and Shaler.

_Q._ Are they American citizens?

_A._ Yes.

_Q._ Did you know all the owners?

_A._ Yes.

_Q._ Were they all American citizens?

_A._ Yes.

_Q._ When did you put Meyer in charge of the vessel?

_A._ On the 26th or 27th of April last.

_Q._ Where?

_A._ In Philadelphia.

_Q._ Where did you sail from?

_A._ From Cardenas, in Cuba, on a round charter which I made at Cardenas myself with J. L. Morales & Co., consigned to S. H. Walsh & Co.

_Q._ The owners.h.i.+p remained the same?

_A._ Just the same.

_Q._ Was there any change up to the time of her capture?

_A._ No, sir.

_Thies N. Meyer_, examined by District Attorney Smith.

_Q._ You were Captain of the brig Joseph at the time of her capture?

_A._ I was.

_Q._ What American port had you sailed from?

_A._ Philadelphia.

_Q._ Where did you go to?

_A._ Cardenas, in Cuba.

_Q._ What port did you sail for from Cardenas?

_A._ Back to Philadelphia.

_Q._ What cargo had you?

_A._ Sugar.

_Q._ By whom was it owned?

_A._ By J. M. Morales & Co., of Cardenas.

_Q._ When did you leave the port of Cardenas?

_A._ 28th May, 1861.

_Q._ And you were captured by the Savannah on the 3d June?

_A._ Yes.

_Q._ State the particulars of the capture by the Savannah of the brig Joseph from the time she first hove in sight?

_A._ Mr. Bridges, my mate, called me some time between 6 and 7 o'clock in the morning, and told me there was a suspicious looking vessel in sight, and he wished me to look at her. I went on deck and asked him how long he had seen her, he told me he had seen her ever since day-light. When I took the spy-gla.s.s and looked at her I found that she was a style of vessel that we do not generally see so far off as that.

I hauled my vessel to E.N.E., and when I found that she was gaining on me I hauled her E. by N. and so until she ran E. About 8 o'clock she came near enough for me to see a rather nasty looking thing amid-s.h.i.+ps, so that I mistrusted something; but when I saw the American flag hanging on her main rigging, on her port side, I felt a little easier--still, I rather mistrusted something, and kept on till I found I could not get away at all. When she got within half a gun shot of me I heaved my vessel to, hoping the other might be an American vessel.

_Q._ Had she any gun on board?

_A._ I saw a big gun amid-s.h.i.+ps, on a pivot.

_Q._ How far on was she when you saw the gun?

_A._ About a mile and a half or two miles; I could see it with the spy-gla.s.s very plainly.

_Q._ Can you give us the size of the gun?

_A._ Not exactly; I believe it was an old eighteen pound cannonade.

_Q._ How was it mounted?

_A._ On a kind of sliding gutter, which goes on an iron pivot: it was on a round platform on deck, so that it could be hauled round and round.

_Q._ So that it could be pointed in any direction?

_A._ Yes, in any direction. After she came up alongside of me, Captain Baker asked me where I was from, and where bound, and ordered me with my boat and papers on board his vessel. I asked him by what authority he ordered me on board, and he said, by authority of the Confederate States. I lowered my boat and went on board with two of my men. When I got alongside, Captain Baker helped me over the bulwarks, or fence, and said he was sorry to take my vessel, but he had to retaliate, because the North had been making war upon them. I told him that that was all right, but that he ought to do it under his own flag. He then hoisted his own flag, and ordered a boat's crew to go on board the brig. Some of them afterwards returned, leaving six on board the brig.

_Q._ Did Captain Baker take your papers?

_A._ Yes.