No. 2. 3 8 4-. / x-*' v *-^^->-?3K--v-s.. J}*"~& a **'i THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. THE STORY OF A SAILOR'S LIFE. BY E. SHIPPEN, U. S. N. WITH ILLUSTRATIONS. PHILADELPHIA: J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO. 1879. Copyright, 1878, by J. B. LIPPINCOTT & Co. PEEFAOE. NEAELY all the incidents and scenes depicted in this book have been derived from the -writer's own experience or from the relations of actors and eye- witnesses. Nothing in it is matter of pure invention except as to arrangement and the connecting links necessary to preserve the continuity of the narrative, fragments of which have given entertainment to so many listeners, old and young, as to encourage the hope that in a connected form it might interest a wider circle. The chapters describing the fight be- tween the Monitor and the Merrimac, and the capture of Fort Fisher, have, in a slightly altered form, already appeared in Lippineott's Magazine, where they were divested of their connection with the hero of the narrative, and became a strictly accurate account of facts which came under the writer's observation. 2051349 CONTENTS. CUAPTEB PAGE I. MY BIRTH AND EARLY EDUCATION ... 9 II. MY PARENTS DIE, LEAVING ME ADRIFT ON THE WORLD 16 III. I ENLIST IN THE AMERICAN NAVY, AND GO TO THE UNITED STATES .... 27 IV. WE PASS DOWN THE CHINA AND JAVA SEAS. 34 V. HOMEWARD BOUND 41 VI. HAVING WORKED LIKE HORSES, WE SPEND LIKE ASSES, AND SOON SHIP AGAIN ... 49 VII. I LOSE MY SHIP, AND ENTER THE NAVY ONCE MORE 60 VIII. A CRUISE ON THE COAST OF AFRICA . . 70 IX. FROM ST. JAGO TO MONROVIA AND CAPE PAL- MAS 83 X. I AM PROMOTED TO BE COXSWAIN, AND WE CRUISE SOUTH OF THE LINE ... 94 XI. CHASING SLAVERS AT THE CONGO . . . 108 XII. "WE LEAVE THE COAST OF AFRICA AND GO " UP THE STRAITS" AGAIN 126 XIII. I GO TO JERUSALEM, AND MEET WITH A NEARLY FATAL ACCIDENT 141 XIV. I AM INVALIDED HOME, GET WELL, AND JOIN THE MERCHANT SERVICE .... 155 XV. MUTINY ON THE HIGH SEAS .... 168 XVI. ADRIFT ONCE MORE, i TAKE TO COASTING . 178 XVII. I FALL UPON MY FEET, AND ALSO FALL IN LOVE 190 XVIII. I MAKE A VOYAGE TO THE RIVER OF PLATE . 202 XIX. I FALL INTO THE COMMAND OF THE SHIP, BUT SUFFER A GREAT MISFORTUNE AT THE SAME TIME 214 1* 6 Q CONTENTS. CHAPTER PAGE XX. MY FIRST VOYAGE AS CAPTAIN . . . 224 XXI. ON MY BEAM ENDS AGAIN, BUT BIGHT MY- SELF BY BUYING A VESSEL OF MY OWN . 238 XXII. HOMEWARD BOUND, i LOSE MY MASTS, AND NEARLY LOSE THE SHIP .... 248 XXIII. THE TRAVELLER IS TOTALLY LOST, AND I COME HOME AS PASSENGER . . . 255 XXIV. I ENTER THE NAVY AGAIN, THIS TIME AS AN OFFICER 264 XXV. THE FIRST DAY OF THE BATTLE AT HAMP- TON ROADS 277 XXVI. THE SECOND DAY'S FIGHT. THE MERRIMAC AND MONITOR 287 XXVII. I AM ORDERED ON DUTY AGAIN. CAPTURE A BLOCKADE-RUNNER AND TAKE HER HOME. 294 XXVIII. A " CUTTING OUT" PARTY .... 304 XXIX. I AM TAKEN PRISONER. ABOUT THE WORST SCRAPE OF MY LIFE 313 XXX. MY EXPERIENCE AS A PRISONER . . . 323 XXXI. WE DIG OUT OF PRISON. WORK HARD FOR LIBERTY. AND ARE RECAPTURED . . 334 XXXII. I AM EXCHANGED, AND GET HOME AGAIN . 347 XXXIII. THE FIRST BATTLE OF FORT FISHER . . 359 XXXIV. THE END OF THE WAR, AND OF MY NAVAL SERVICE ..... 371 LIST OF ILLUSTEATIOE"S. PAGE " THE PURSER'S STEWARD THEN BEGAN TO CALL THE GROG-LIST" Frontispiece. " THE BOATSWAIN'S MATE WAS MILDLT CAUTIONED TO ' DO HIS DUTY' " 32 " TWO LARGE WAR CANOES, FILLED WITH NEGROES, CAME DASHING OFF FROM THE GREBO TOWN" . . 90 " THE MATE JUMPED BACK, AND, DRAWING A REVOLVER, SHOT GREEN DEAD" 173 " TRAINING THE HOWITZER UPON THEM, i FIRED INTO THE MIDST OF THE GROUP" , 311 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. CHAPTER I. MY BIETH AND EARLY EDUCATION. MY name is William Joseph Carlyon, by birth an English subject : but, by service and adoption, an Amer- ican. I was born in the Palawan Passage, in the East Indies, on board a small " country ship," of which my father was master, in the year 1831. The vessel was then on the passage from Calcutta to China. So I was born at sea, and have been seafaring ever since. My father was a Cornish man ; and, for several years before my birth, he had commanded the " Cursetjee Ramonjee," a vessel of about six hundred tons, built in Madras, of teak-wood, with most of her rigging of coir. i2^c-(L~<0-0Ls^i*is/- She was outlandish-looking enough, when compared with the slashing Americans, and trim frigate-built English East-Indiamen, which she met in the Hooghly or the Canton River. But she was a good strong vessel, and reasonably fast and weatherly. The captain, my father, and his two mates were English, while the ship's company consisted of about forty Lascars, headed by their " serang," or boatswain. A* 9 10 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. These Lascars have to be about double in number, as compared with an English or American crew ; for, though active as monkeys, they are weak and trifling. No men can get aloft quicker to furl a top-sail, for they use their toes almost like fingers, but when it comes to lifting and stowing a heavy sail, it takes as many of them as can get upon the yard. They live mostly on rice and curry and hard bread, and so are cheap to feed, while they are paid much less than white sailors. My mother accompanied my father in his voyages. She was a Cornish woman, who had been brought out to India, as maid, by a colonel's lady. She came from the same neighborhood as my father, and they knew each other's kin; so, after an accidental meeting, in Calcutta, they began a courtship, and were married in a short time after their acquaintance began. I have heard my mother say that the colonel's lady was very angry, and talked much of her ingratitude, and of the expense of her passage out. But my mother said she did not mind that, as she had served the lady for two years (including the passage, which took six months), while most of the ladies'-maids who came out then to India married almost immediately. Indeed, I believe my mother had had other opportunities to marry quite well; for respectable young Englishwomen, of her class, were not so plenty in India at that day. The vessel which was my birthplace and home was owned by a Parsee firm, whose main house was in Bombay, with a branch in Calcutta, and another in Macao. One or other of the members of the firm frequently made voyages with us ; and we had a very MY BIRTH AND EARLY EDUCATION. H large cabin, a part of which was separated for my mother's use. The ship never went to Bombay, but traded mostly between Calcutta and Macao, or Cumsing-moon ; the most valuable part of her cargo, out, being opium ; and that coming home (as we called Calcutta) being " sycee" silver, received in exchange. Of course this did not take up much room, and so I had generally a fine " larking-place," or play-ground, on the main deck. Sometimes, when there was a great dearth of rice in China, our house would send us down to Lombock or Bali, east of Java, with cotton and silk-stuffs, and money, to buy a whole cargo of rice. On these voy- ages we never had opium, which was too valuable to be risked in the dangerous navigation among the Malay Islands. Besides this, with the rice cargoes we were loaded till our scuppers were awash, and we made tre- mendously long passages up the China Sea, to Macao, if it happened to be in the northeast monsoon. Our Parsee owners were very intelligent, and rather liberal men. I remember them well ; and what my father and mother told me about them. I have read, since then, that the Parsees are followers of Zoroaster, the ancient Persian teacher. They are popularly said to worship fire, and the sun, as a symbol of the Deity. This sect emigrated to India ages ago, when their country was conquered by the followers of Mohammed ; and they settled, for the most part, at Bombay, where they have flourished ever since, and are noted, through- out the East, for their shrewdness, uprightness, intelli- gence, and success in mercantile transactions. They have clear, dark complexions, but not darker 12 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. than many Spaniards; the face always clean shaven, except a jet-black moustache. Generally of good height, while young they are slender and graceful ; but, by the time they are middle-aged, they become portly, with a very dignified bearing. Almost always dressed in white, flowing robes, with a handsome girdle, and wearing a peculiar high dark cap, something like a mitre, they are most striking in appearance. They attend most punctually to their devotions, especially at sunrise and sunset. On board our vessel and on shore, I have hundreds of times seen them bowing and pros- trating toward the rising sun, which they seemed to greet with joy. At sunset they seemed sad, as the sun withdrew his rays. The Parsees have a place (one cannot call it a grave- yard) near Macao where they deposit their dead. The same is found wherever Parsees congregate. The place I speak of was on the top of a hill, not overlooked by any other height. It was full of fine trees, and sur- rounded by a very high wall. Here they expose the bodies of the dead, upon a grating, at the top of a tower. There are numbers of vultures, which appear to live there, and these soon clean the bones, which are then collected and deposited in a vault. I have often seen the outside of the place, and the birds sitting upon the trees. I believe no one is allowed to enter unless of their faith ; but I have been told that it was just a well-kept garden. On one of our trips up the China Sea, from Bali, our young supercargo, a nephew of our owners, was taken very ill with fever. The one prevailing wish, appar- ently, during his illness, was that he might not die MF BIRTH AND EARLY EDUCATION. 13 until we reached Macao, where his body might be eaten by the birds within the sacred enclosure, instead of by the sharks of the China Sea. But he got well long before we arrived. As for sharks, I may say that, in all my experience, I have never seen a living man eaten by sharks. They tear and tug at a dead body, but, as long as a man kicks or strikes out, they seem afraid to touch him. I know that this is contrary to the usual belief, and I only state what I have seen. I must be- lieve that living men are sometimes taken, but I think not nearly so often as is commonly supposed. There was always to be seen, in the shoal part of the China Sea, something much more horrible to me than sharks. These were snakes, which are in great num- bers in the neighborhood of the Natuna Islands, where the sea is very shallow and warm. They are from two or three to six or eight feet long, of a cream or ash color, sometimes mottled with darker shades. They were really shaped more like eels than snakes, and would curl and twist like great worms as they floated along. I have often watched them, with a mixture of childish fascination and repugnance, as we sailed among them for hours. I remember my father's having a small one caught and placed in a barrel with a live chicken, which it bit, and the chicken died in a few minutes. I have also heard of these snakes crawling up the chains of vessels at anchor, at the mouth of the Gulf of Siam, and so among the men who were asleep on deck. The men, feeling something moving, would strike out, in their sleep, when the snake would bite them, frequently with fatal results. These were among the stories I heard, when my father had other " skip- 2 14 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. pers" on board, "spinning yarns," and may not be en- tirely true; but of the chicken being killed by the bite of a small snake, I was myself a witness. But I must return to our voyages. The rice cargoes we always carried in bulk, with merely heavy " dun- nage," to keep it from the bilge-water, and " shifting boards" to keep it from all sliding over to one side when the ship careened. The rice was unhusked, and in that state is called " padi." When we discharged the rice at Macao, or at Whampoa (which is only a few miles below Canton), our Lascars would go down into the hold of the vessel, each having a flat basket, holding about a peck. Squatting down, they scrape these bas- kets full with their hands. Then they put the basket on their heads, and run to " dump" it in the large bucket, to be hoisted on deck and discharged into lighters lying alongside. These Lascars will not use shovels or bar- rows, or any other implements than those they have been accustomed to for countless generations. They are not very strong, either, as I have said, and so it takes about two or three of them to do as much work as one white sailor. Once, one of our Lascars fell and broke his leg. My father sent for a doctor, who lived in a " chop," or floating-house, at Whampoa. At that time no foreigners were allowed to reside on shore at Whampoa, and all who were permanently settled there, in any business, lived in floating-houses, anchored in tfie river. The doctor came in his boat, instead of a gig, put on splints and bandages, and left directions, on going away, that nothing was to be disturbed. The Lascars got it into their heads that he had put some ointment, of lard BIRTH AND EARLY EDUCATION. 15 or pig's grease, under the bandages ; and, as this made the patient " unclean," they would not come near him, but left him without drink all night. The fellow had, in the dark, managed to get a knife, and had ripped off all the bandages and splints, and was found next morn- ing in a very bad way. The doctor came, and it took at least an hour to convince the " serang" and the pa- tient that no ointment or other defiling thing had been applied. The splints and bandages were then re-ap- plied, after a long time in re-setting the leg, and the man got well very soon. Indeed, they almost always recover very soon from injuries, for they live so tem- perately that they seldom have much inflammation. CHAPTER II. MY PARENTS DIE, LEAVING ME ADRIFT ON THE WORLD. I MUST now say something about our opium cargoes. By the time I was ten years old the old " Cursetjee Ramonjee" was at least forty, and the owners sold her. A teak-built ship lasts a long time with good care, and the old " Cursetjee" had made a great deal of money for them. The Parsee firm now transferred my father to a fast new brig, called the "Hooghly," and after that we stuck to the opium trade exclusively : for the brig was sharp-built, and of small capacity for cargo, being expressly built and fitted for an " opium clipper." At this time some of the fastest sailing-vessels in the world were employed in this trade of smuggling opium. The English were then carrying on a war with China, principally about this very question of opium. Of course I had no idea, then, that there was anything wrong in smuggling, especially in smuggling a thing which does so much harm as opium. So, after the change, I only regretted the roomy cabin and " 'tween decks" of the old ship, as well as her slow and easy ways. By this time I was pretty well advanced in reading and writing, which my mother had taught me, while my father had given me lessons in arithmetic. Besides my own language I spoke Hindostanee fluently, and some Malay. Of course the sea was second nature 16 ADRIFT ON THE WORLD. 17 to me, and when my mother and myself sometimes stayed on shore, at Calcutta or Macao, while my father made a voyage in the bad-weather seasons, I was always delighted to get on board ship again on his return. In the " Hooghly," running opium, we had to carry sail hard, and never wait for the " monsoons/' which are winds which blow half the year from northeast, and the other half from southwest. Although opium was con- traband in every sense in China, there was never any difficulty in running into Cumsing-moon, an anchorage between Macao and Canton, where the receiving-ships were. The English men-of-war frequently anchored there, as it was below the very narrow passage to the Canton River, defended by the strong " Bogue" forts. This narrow place was called the " Bocca Tigris," or Tiger's Mouth, and the forts were captured by the English during their first war with China. The receiving-ships were what are called hulks, or old ships with the masts taken out, and then roofed over with a thatch of rice-straw or mats laid on bamboo rafters. On the main deck was a strong grated room, for the opium, and an office, with a large and commo- dious cabin. The kitchen and dining-room were on the upper deck, under the mat or thatched roof. There was always a pretty strong force of men on board these hulks, as much to resist any sudden piratical attack as those of the Chinese government boats. The latter, or " mandarin" boats, never, in fact, troubled the opium hulks, where they were likely to get a warm reception, but contented themselves with lying in wait in the creeks and among the islands, endeavoring to cut off the smuggling boats, which came to the hulks at night 2* 18 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. to purchase opium. The hulks had, generally, many thousand dollars' worth of opium on board, as well as silver received for the drug. It required, therefore, a firm and wide-awake man to command one, and to take care of the property entrusted to him by the large Eng- lish firms which carried on the business. I have often thought since how easy it would have been for the man- darin boats to burn one of these ships ; but I do not remember that such a thing ever took place. Perhaps the mandarin boats got " black-mail" from the smug- glers, or thought they would miss the plunder derived from an occasional capture, and did not like to kill the goose which laid the golden egg. The silver, which was always received for opium, was principally " sycee," as it was called. Much of it was in irregular lumps and pellets, and stamped with its weight and fineness. Sometimes it was cast into differ- ent shapes, a favorite one being a little shoe, with a pointed toe, turned up, and from the size of a charm for the watch-guard to three inches long. There was also a good deal of what were called "chop" dollars. At that time they were always " pillar" or " Carolus" Spanish coins, and were stamped by almost every one whose hands they had passed through with queer little Chinese characters, until they were cut and crushed out of all resemblance to coin, and so ragged that they had to be melted into ingots. Afterwards, when " pillar" dollars grew scarce, Mexican dollars began to be used in China. Now, the United States coin a " trade dollar" especially intended for China. Gold coins do not circulate there, although they do in Japan. Every opium hulk, and, indeed, every mercantile ADRIFT ON THE WORLD. 19 establishment of importance, had a "shroff." This shroff was generally an old man, lean and withered, with huge round eye-glasses fastened by a cord behind his head, and his thin gray " pigtail" sticking out from under a little skull-cap. It is his business to weigh the bullion received, and especially to test the dollars. The rapidity and certainty with which he counts the dollars, and throws aside the counterfeit and doubtful ones, is marvellous. Sometimes, when in doubt, he pauses for a second, chinks the piece on the next one, gives one feel between the finger and thumb, and then away the piece goes, generally into the counterfeit pile. Opium is generally sent from Patna or Benares to Calcutta, ready prepared for the market. It is very different in appearance from the Turkey opium sent to the western countries, being almost black, coarse smell- ing, and sticky. It is made up in balls about the size of a Dutch cheese. Poppy-leaves, plastered on the outside by the sticky juice, form a sort of cover to the ball. Each "chest" contains forty balls, which are worth about fourteen hundred rupees, or about seven hundred dollars. The opium-trade was most lucrative, and many of the great fortunes made in China and India were derived from it. Of course, from my mode of life and from my youth, the " opium war," as it was called, made but little impression upon me. But it was principally carried on in the Canton waters ; and I remember to have seen the "Blenheim," the big English flag-ship, being towed by two paddle-wheel steamers, then a great novelty in that part of the world. I think the latter were called the " Queen" and " Nem- esis," and they carried the flag of the East India 20 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. Company, which at that time had an army and navy of its own. The sights which so attract strangers on their first arrival in Chinese waters had been familiar to me from infancy, and so I have no recollection of them except in a general way. In fact, at that period of my life the world appeared to me to be peopled with men more or less yellow or brown, and a few white men to take command and " horse" them, as we sailors say. But if I am ever to get on, and tell of some of the vicissitudes through which I have since passed, it is time I should leave this part of my life. By the time I was fifteen I had the groundwork of an English education and some knowledge of naviga- tion, acquired from my father. He was in many re- spects a good man, but, like many men in his position in those days, he drank pretty hard, although seldom enough to unfit him for duty. About this time a banking-house in Calcutta, with which he had deposited the earnings of many years, failed, causing him to lose nearly five thousand pounds. The partners absconded, having made away with everything. After receiving this news my poor father drank harder, and died of fever, after a few days' illness, in the new town of Hong-Kong, then building by the English, and he was buried in " Happy Valley," where so many English- men have preceded and followed him. Hong-Kong, now a large and thriving city, was a most deadly place during the early years of its settlement, it is said from the turning up of the soil to form the terraces on which it is built, as well as from the great heat there. The agents of our owners were very kind, but could ADRIFT ON THE WORLD. 21 do little more than pay my mother the balance of wages due my father at the time of his death, and offer us a passage to Calcutta in the brig. This my mother accepted, partly in the hope of rescuing some- thing from the estate of the bankrupt bankers, and partly with a design to get back to England, where she had a brother living in pretty good circumstances. We accordingly sailed from Hong- Kong in August, and had only been out two days when the southwest monsoon failed, and we had calms and baffling airs. Though there was a heavy swell, the surface of the water was gray and greasy-looking, and did not break. There was an oppressive feeling in the air, as if the clouds, or the haze which took the place of clouds, was too low, and a dull rustling and moaning seemed to come from the sea. The former mate of the " Hooghly," who had been promoted to her command on my poor father's death, was an old navigator in those seas, and proceeded to make "all snug" for a "typhoon." Our main try-sail, and fore and main top-mast stay-sails were unbent and sent below, and storm-sails bent in their place. The top-gallant masts were sent on deck, and all the studding-sails and gear, from the tops, were sent below, and the top-sails and fore-sail were set, close reefed. The hatches were "battened" down, by nailing tarpaulins over them; and the water-casks, spars, boats, and everything mov- able, about the decks, were secured by double lash- ings. After rolling about all the afternoon and even- ing, the typhoon struck us about eleven o'clock at night, from the southwest. Fortunately, we were then heading about north, and so we got her off before it. 22 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. The first squall struck us " butt end foremost," as the sailors say ; but, fortunately, nothing parted, and we scudded under the close-reefed top-sails and fore- sail. The wind seemed to scoop the water up and blow it before it with amazing force, but during the height of the gale the sea was quite smooth, the wind blowing too hard for the waves to rise much. It was not very dark, and we could see a small Portuguese " Lorcha," or native schooner, which had been in close company all day, caught on her broadside by the first burst, after which we did not see her again. She was no doubt capsized, and sank at once. We could not assist them, of course, having as much as we could do to take care of ourselves, especially during the first furious burst. Towards morning the wind blew harder, if possible, with terrific squalls, during each of which the wind would shift a little to the northward. At day- light, if one could call a lurid, thick atmosphere, " as thick as pea-soup," daylight, the wind was round to about north, and we, having had all the sails blown away, had nothing to do but watch the wind and scud before it. Thus we were driving in a circle, perfectly at the cyclone's mercy, and only too glad to have a tight hull under our feet. We passed one large ship, hove to, on the starboard tack, and, apparently, making good weather, but we saw nothing else that day. About the same time, while holding on under the weather bulwarks, aft, and looking out as well as we could for the sharp salt-drift, which cut our faces like knives, in one fearful squall the brig almost " broached to," and we saw our starboard quarter boat, a clinker- built gig, lifted bodily away from the davits, and borne ADRIFT ON THE WORLD. 23 across our quarter-deck and away to leeward, like chaff. I suppose the boat's falls and lashings had been chafed off; but, at any rate, the boat blew clear over the brig. This event made little impression at the time, so fear- ful was the hurricane through which we were driving, with no guide except to keep the wind astern. But in Blinking of it since, it appeared to me the best proof I could give of the power of the wind. It must have been about eight P.M. (at any rate, after dark), and as we were heading to the northwest, that the vessel suddenly struck with great violence, both masts going over the side instantly. Fortunately, all hands had long been congregated on the quarter-deck, and as the masts fell forward of the beam, no one was injured. The sea had had a chance to rise as the intervals between the squalls became greater, and a great sea soon lifted us over what appeared to be a sand-bar. This same sea came on board, and carried off three or four of the Lascars, who had not heeded the warning to secure themselves. In a few moments the vessel struck again, but not so hard, and it was evident that we were in the breakers. The brig was in ballast, and light, so the sea forced her higher and higher up, swinging her round, broadside to, and she fell over towards the beach, thus forming a partial protection against the water, which still broke over us at intervals. The " Hooghly" was built for hard service, and was very strong, so she held together pretty well. We were all lashed on the quarter-deck, my poor mother being as- sisted by the captain and mates. Fortunately, it was m not cold. A bottle of arrack and some jaggery, or ^/y^I coarse Malay sugar, we managed to get from the stew- 24 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. ard's pantry, before everything below was washed out. My mother was given some of this, and the rest had a few drops each. It was one of the longest nights I ever passed ; but before morning the gale had broken, and we felt that our lives were saved if we could only obtain assistance. As day broke we could see we were in a sandy bay, with headlands of rocks. Soon aftef sunrise some people appeared on the beach at the head of the bay, where a furious surf was still beating. After discovering us they went off, but soon returned in in- creased numbers with some bullock carts. We could see that some of them were armed with spears, and we began to fear that we had been mistaken as to our course during the gale, and that we had been driven on the coast of the Formosan barbarians. However, they soon went to a sheltered cove on one side of the bay and launched a large boat, carrying about twenty men, and came along side, between us and the beach, shout- ing, in Fo-Kien dialect, for us to make no resistance or we would be speared. It was not likely that such exhausted wretches as we were would make any resist- ance. Indeed, we were but too glad to have any aid. Our cook and steward were Canton men, and answered in the same dialect, and soon discovered that we had been driven into a bay on the south coast of the great island of Hainan, and, as they afterwards told us, in the only place for many miles where we could have touched the shore without being ground to pieces at once on the rocks. I have since had occasion to notice how often vessels about to be wrecked seem to have se- lected for them sandy bays, with rocks far and near on each side. The reason appears to me to be that the ADRIFT ON THE WORLD. 25 current sets into such indentations, and is repelled from the rock-bound coasts. The people of Hainan have had rather a bad reputation as wreckers and pirates, but they are by no means so black as they are painted, and in the course of the morning they landed us all. We were taken to a group of houses not far off, belong- ing to fishermen, where we had fires to dry our clothes, and a good meal of rice, tea, salt fish, and a little "sam- shu," a strong rice spirit. After a night spent on good mats, with bamboo pillows and quilted cotton cover- lids, my mother and the rest of us were able to walk a couple of miles, to a town called " Yai'," where an inferior mandarin was found. The captain bargained with him to send us back to Hong-Kong in a junk which belonged to the island, and was commanded by a half-breed Portuguese, from Macao, called Da Souza. This man had formerly known my father, and he gave my mother his cabin, while the rest of us slept where we could about deck. The captain, with the mate and Chinese steward, remained behind to look after the wreck, the mandarin promising him assistance. "We were to send a man-of-war over from Hong-Kong, and they had hopes that the Chinese would not suspect the presence of the treasure-chest, which was in the vessel's run, and deep buried in the sand. In this they were mistaken, for we afterwards heard that, as soon as we were gone, the steward told the natives of the silver on board the wreck, and they managed to fish it up. Our voyage only lasted three days, and upon our report a man-of-war brig at once sailed, only to find on her arrival that the silver was gone. The mandarin pro- fessed ignorance, and as the captain had said nothing B 3 26 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. to him of the treasure, hoping thereby to more effectu- ally conceal it, there was nothing to be done. The steward had disappeared, and the captain and mate had only to embark for Hong-Kong ; and so this was the last of the " Hooghly." The exposure of this shipwreck, and her grief at my father's death, prostrated my poor mother on her ar- rival at Hong-Kong, and she soon solved all her troubles by dying of fever and going to join my father in " Happy Valley." There was enough left of my father's wages, which my mother had carried about her, to bury her, and I was left with about fifteen shil- lings and a few clothes which the Parsee firm gave me. There was no berth for me in their vessels, for I was not old enough to go as mate ; and their crews consisted entirely of Lascars, and I could not live with them. In fact, I was completely adrift on the world. I had never known any other relations than my parents, and I had very few acquaintances, and still fewer friends. CHAPTER III. I ENLIST IN THE AMERICAN NAVY, AND GO TO THE UNITED STATES. AT this time, while I was still living at the " goclown," or store-houses, of Cursetjee's agents, an American sloop- of-war, named the F , came into Hong-Kong, and I made acquaintance with some of her crew, who were on shore on " liberty." One of her " petty officers," named Erie Kemp, who was captain of the forecastle, appeared to take a great fancy to me ; and, when he heard my story, proposed to me to go off on board the sloop and try to " ship," saying that he would take me for his " chicken." I liked the idea; for, although the Parsees were kind enough, I did not like the idea of living about their kitchen and on their bounty. Ac- cordingly, Erie and I went off to the ship in a " sam- pan," or small native boat, Erie saying that he would have me shipped if he could, and then go on shore again, for the rest of his forty-eight hours' liberty, and " have his drunk out." In those days liberty was not often given to man-of-war's men, and when it was, they were rather expected to get drunk. On nearing the ship, which lay down near " Green Point," rows of grinning faces appeared on the top-gallant forecastle and about the ports ; for the word was quickly passed that Erie Kemp was coming off " clean and sober," and before his liberty was half up. This was so far from 27 28 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. Erie's usual wont, that it excited surprise and curiosity. Even the staid "officer of the deck" arrested his measured pace, and, ascending the " horse-block," took the glass from the quartermaster to verify for himself the unusual report that " Erie Kemp, captain of the forecastle, was coming off in a shore boat, sir, don't appear noways drunk, sir, and has a lad with him, sir !" In fact, it appeared hard to tell whether most astonishment was caused by old Kemp's coming off, voluntarily, before his first day's liberty was up, or at his coming off in a state of comparative sobriety. In those days "general liberty" was always followed by rewards offered for many of the men ; the local police reaping a rich harvest from those who had overstayed their time. These were generally hopelessly intoxi- cated, and were either found in some low grog-shop, or had been locked up in the " calaboose" (as sailors call all jails) for riotous conduct. These men were generally stripped, not only of their money, but the most of their clothes, and so had to be brought on board most pitiable objects, with some old rags of cloth- ing, black eyes, bloody noses, and cut heads. Going on the port side, and the fact that we were there having been reported by the sentry to the corporal of the guard, and by the corporal of the guard to the officer of the deck, we were permitted to go on board. We went to the fife-rail, by the main-mast, the forward limit of the quarter-deck, which is forbidden to all sailors, except those called there by duty. Even then they must pass aft on the port side if at anchor, or on the lee side when under weigh. If a sailor wants to make a report or a complaint, he goes to " the mast," and stands there until ENLISTMENT IN THE AMERICAN NAVY. 29 the officer of the deck sees him and comes to him. The officer on this occasion was a stout pleasant-looking man, who soon found out what Kemp's business was, and calling a midshipman, he sent him down to tell the first lieutenant that a boy was at the mast who -wanted to ship. The midshipman returned soon to say that the first lieutenant was down inspecting the fore- hold, but would be up directly. Presently he made his appearance, and Kemp promptly pulling off his hat. I followed suit. At first the officer seemed disappointed when I told him my age, for I looked older than I really was ; but when he found that I had been brought up at sea, he asked me many questions about myself, as to whether I had run away from some ship, what right I had to enlist, and so forth. Seeming satisfied at last, he told the officer of the deck to send me down to the " sick-bay" to " pass the doctor." The doctor, who proved to be the assistant surgeon, soon appeared, and sent me behind a screen to take off my clothes, after writing down my age, birthplace, and name. Then he looked at and punched me all over, made me cough, walk, kick, and strike, looked at my eyes and teeth, and finally said, " Well, I pass you." I was very glad, for I had begun to think there must be something very bad the matter with me, as he was so long about it. He then entered my height, complexion, color of hair, etc., and went away. I was soon sent for to the ward-room, where the first lieutenant had spread out on the table a large sheet of paper, with many headings and columns, all in type. From this he read to me for a minute, but I was so embarrassed by the novelty of the surroundings that I did not understand much, ex- 3* 30 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. cept that it was the enlistment-sheet, by signing which I bound myself to serve as first-class boy in the United States navy for three years, unless sooner discharged. After I had signed the paper, the officer sent for the purser's steward, and ordered me the necessary outfit of clothing. As Kemp had brought me on board, and was evidently going to make a " chicken" of me, he allowed me to be put into the same mess, with the cau- tion that I was not to be made " steady cook." This mess consisted mostly of petty officers, who are gener- ally old man-of-war's men. He also told me to sell my shore clothes to the bumboat-man, as no enlisted man in the navy is allowed to possess any citizen's clothing. My new rig, being " slops," or ready-made, did not fit me very well; but Kemp, when he came back from " liberty" and got sober, set to work and remade all my trousers and shirts, so that I was soon the neatest-looking lad on board. Being tall and stout I held my own with the rest of the youngsters, too, as regards "hazing" or bullying. From my nautical breeding no ship could seem very strange, but the life was so entirely different from that on board a merchant vessel, that it was some time before I got used to it. When " liberty" was over, and all the stragglers and delinquents had been got on board by the efforts of our midshipmen and the marine sergeants and corporals, assisted by the shore police, there were at least twenty men in irons, or in the " brig," as the place of confine- ment is called in a man-of-war. One fine morning, after divers visits, salutes, and ceremonies, we got under way, and stood out of Hong- Kong and away to the southward, down the China Sea, ENLISTMENT IN THE AMERICAN NAVF. 31 with the northeast monsoon. When once fairly at sea, all hands were called to " witness punishment," and what was called "clear the brig." In those days flog- ging was still the usual punishment in the navy. The United States Congress abolished it in 1850. The ship was running off before the northeast mon- soon, with the port foretop-mast studding-sail set, and going about nine knots, with merely an occasional lee lurch and weather roll, to remind us that she was moving briskly on her course. At the summons of the boatswain and his mates, preceded by a long " call" of their pipes, the crew mustered in the port gangway and about the booms and main-hatch. A midshipman informed the officers that "all hands were called to witness punishment," and they soon appeared on the weather side of the quarter-deck, each with his side- arms, while the marines, with fixed bayonets, were drawn up on the lee side. As soon as the master-at- arms had reported "all hands up," and the officer of the deck had seen that all the officers were present, he saluted the first lieutenant, and reported " everybody present." That officer then ordered the master-at-arms to bring the prisoners to the mast, which he did, as- sisted by the ship's corporal and marine sentries. The first lieutenant then went to the door of the poop-cabin and announced to the captain that all was ready. The captain came out, and proceeding to the forward verge of the quarter-deck, the prisoners immediately pulled off their caps. The captain then proceeded to harangue them, somewhat as follows : " Now, men, here you have been again disgracing the ship and yourselves by drunk- enness, fighting, and breaking your liberty in a foreign 32 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. port. I ought to keep you all in the ' brig' for a month, and then give you a dozen all round. But I don't care to make the well-behaved men do your duty while you are in confinement, so I intend to give the old offenders a dozen, and let those who have not been under pun- ishment before go with a caution." He then took a list from the first lieutenant, and, looking it over, said, " John Peters ;" whereupon Peters, a great hulking foretopman, stepped forward a pace, looking particu- larly sheepish. "Now, Peters, whenever there is a chance to get drunk and break your liberty you do so. I see you have already been punished four times during the cruise. Strip, Peters. Trice him up." The mas- ter-at-arms thereupon assisted the man off with his shirt, leaving him naked to the waist, but throwing the garment loosely over his shoulders. Removing the port gangway ladder, his wrists were made fast, with a lashing, to the brass man-rope eyebolts, and his ankles to a small grating laid on the deck. Thus standing straight up, his arms were stretched considerably above his head. The assistant surgeon then stepped up close on one side of the man to see that the punishment was not excessive. The boatswain had, in the mean time, produced a green baize bag, which contained the " cats.' These consisted of a wooden handle, about fifteen inches long, covered with cloth, with nine tails of white line about as thick as thick pack-cord, twenty inches long, and the ends " whipped," not knotted. One of these cats was handed to the chief boatswain's mate, who was mildly cautioned by the captain to " do his duty, and not favor the man, or he would be triced up himself." "Now, go on with the punishment." At this the ENLISTMENT IN THE AMERICAN NAVY. 33 master-at-arms removed the blue shirt, and, as the boatswain's mate swung round and brought the " cats" down across the man's shoulders, the master-at-arms called out, aloud, "One two," and so on, until " twelve," when the captain said, " Stop. Take him down. Now, Peters, go forward, and try to behave vourself." At the first blow the man winced, the * ' cat making a number of bluish-red streaks on his white skin, but after that, being well used to " being brought to the gangway," he made no sign of pain. The next to be " triced up" was quite a young man, an ordinary seaman, who had been very troublesome when brought on board, and had attacked and beaten the ship's corporal who was confining him. As he had managed to hurt the corporal a good deal, it was shrewdly suspected that he was not really so drunk as he pretended to be, and was merely satisfying an old grudge, intending to plead that he did not know what he was about. He was unused to the cats, and the first stinging, burning blow seemed to startle and alarm him. At the second his face and neck became almost purple. At the third he became pale as death, and began to shriek and beg for mercy. This continued until he had received his " dozen," when he was taken down, his shirt thrown loosely over him, and he was sent below. I never shall forget his face. It was lividly pale, with a fixed stony look, and I do not doubt that that flogging had a permanent eifect, either for good or evil. He deserted the ship not long afterwards. B* CHAPTER IV. WE PASS DOWN THE CHINA AND JAVA SEAS. Two or three others were then flogged in their turn, and the rest of the prisoners dismissed to duty, with the remark from the captain that " he hoped the neces- sity for all this would not occur again." And so the " brig was cleared." Turning to the first lieutenant, the captain then said, " Pipe down, sir." And, touching his hat to the assembled officers, he passed into his cabin. The boatswain's calls sounded, the crew dis- persed, the marines were dismissed, to go below and put away their muskets and belts, and in five minutes everything was going on as usual. No event makes a very lasting impression on board a man-of- war. A man may fall from aloft and be killed. He is sewed into his hammock, weighted at the feet with round shot, or kentledge. A few hours after, all hands are called " to bury the dead." The main-yard is backed to deaden the ship's way, and the body is placed on a board projecting over the gangway, with the jack covering it. The chaplain, if the ship carries one, if not, the captain, or some other officer, reads the funeral service, and at the words " we com- mit his body, to the deep" the board is tilted, and the re- mains strike the water with a dull splash. Sometimes volleys are fired by the marine guard. This over, the 34 THE CHINA AND JAVA SEAS. 35 order sharply comes, " Lay aft to the lee main-braces !" " Brace up the main-yard ! Main-yard's well ! Brace the upper yards ! Upper yards are well ! Pipe down ! Lay up the rigging about the decks !" and little more is thought of the poor fellow who is gone, except, per- haps, by his " chummy," who laments him for a time, but with no outward show. The next day after the punishment, while still running down before the monsoon, we had a sale of dead men's and deserters' clothing. These had been accumulating for some time, and are sold periodically to prevent them from spoiling by damp and moth, and from occupying too much room. They also bring much better prices than they would on shore. The master-at-arms acts as auctioneer, generally se- lecting as his rostrum the fore-hatch, and each one bids for the articles just as at an auction on shore. For a very nice sou'wester, or tarpaulin coat, the bidding will sometimes mount ridiculously high. There is almost always great competition for the "ditty-bag," or box, which contains the embroidery silks, needles, scissors, writing materials, and other articles treasured by sailors. This is generally sold without disclosing the nature of its contents, and the purchase, therefore, has all the excitement of a lottery. The successful bidder is called upon to open it at once, and shouts of laughter greet him if it is found that he has " made a dry haul." When an article is purchased at these sales no money is paid, but the purser's steward takes a list, and the money is charged to each purchaser's account, while the gross amount is credited to the dead man's account, 36 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. with his balance of pay. This is paid to his heirs, if he has any, at the termination of the cruise. I must say I found myself very happy and comfort- able in the old F . I was so well grown and so good a sailor, that the first lieutenant had stationed me in the foretop, where another lad and myself had es- pecially to look out for and loose and furl the fore- royal- and topgallant-sails, and to run on deck for the captain of the top, with errands to the yeoman's store- room for " hanks" of spun-yarn, cans of Stockholm tar, old canvas for parcellings, etc. I had also, as the youngster, to keep the top-chest in order, which chest contained a select assortment of "slush-buckets," bits of leather, marlin-spikes, small " fids," rope-yarn, and other nautical necessaries, and in addition, the cap- tain of the top's own private stock of tobacco, his " ditty-bag," and one or two tarry and greasy packs of cards, and a piece of canvas with squares, painted on it for playing checkers. The cards were contraband, but the checkers were not. Sailors are very fond of checkers, and often are excellent players. Erie Kemp did not lose his interest in me, al- though I was a foretopman. He put me up to many " dodges" for getting on smoothly and avoiding being "brought to the mast." He also showed me how to lash my hammock properly with seven even turns, and just the size to paas through a hoop, the test applied to hammocks before they are stowed in the nettings. The officers, generally, were a good set and good sailors, and the work went well and briskly. I was fortunate in being put in the foretop, where I had the opportunity of learning to be smart aloft : instead of on THE CHINA AND JAVA SEAS. 37 the quarter-deck, where most of the smaller boys were stationed as messengers. These hardly ever went aloft, except when " sent over the mast-head" for exercise. One of our passed midshipmen (who is now a com- modore) took a fancy to me. His station was on the forecastle, and during his watches he questioned me about myself. Finding that I had a good idea of navi- gation, he told me I ought to try to learn more, and lent me a quadrant and a Bowditch's "Epitome." From time to time he gave me some instruction, and made me hand in a " day's work," which he corrected, generally having me in the starboard steerage when the rest of his mess were on deck smoking. Before the ship got home he had given me quite an insight into lunars and chronometer sights, and it is from the in- terest shown in me by this excellent gentleman that I have been able to fill better positions than I should otherwise have done. If I had paid as much attention to his instruction in religious and kindred topics, it would have been better for me. But to return to our cruise. We carried the mon- soon down past the Natunas, when the wind became variable and light, with occasional squalls and rain. We gradually worked south, however, and through the Straits of Gaspar into the Java Sea. This was famil- iar ground to me, but I think no one can ever cease to admire the islands, covered with dense tropical foliage, the distant lofty mountains of Java, or to wonder at the queer build and rig of the Malay boats and prahus. At that time piracy was still quite common in these waters ; but in the presence of a man-of-war the prahus and their crews looked peaceful and innocent 4 38 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. as possible. The current runs fearfully through these straits and passages, and we lost a stream-anchor and hemp cable near " Thwart-the-way," when we attempted to bring to during a calm, the rocky bottom cutting the cable in a twinkling. Finally we anchored in Anjer Roads, twenty-one days from Hong-Kong. An- jer is a village of Java, situated on the sea-shore, near the Straits of Sunda. It is a favorite place for vessels to touch at for water, wood, fowls, fruit, etc. There is a small bastioned fort, a commandant's house, who has a company of Dutch soldiers for garrison, and a noble banian-tree, in the midst of a bamboo village, inhabited by Malays and Chinese settlers. There is also a fine cocoanut-grove, down through which is led a stream of excellent water from the mountains, and afterwards conducted to the beach by a little aqueduct of wood. The next morning after our arrival we got out the launch and first cutter, and, putting the casks into them, proceeded on shore to commence the opera- tion of watering ship. The casks were soon got on the beach ; well rinsed and filled, and the bungs driven hard in. They were then rolled into the water and lashed together into a raft, when the boats slowly towed them alongside. They were then whipped on deck, with much stamping of men and whistling of boat- swain's calls, and the water " started" down to the tanks below by a hose. The next proceeding was to lay in a supply of fire- wood ; and a " wood-barking gang" was sent on shore, in charge of two midshipmen, to bark and pound every bit of wood which was to come on board. This is a necessary precaution in most warm countries, for it THE CHINA AND JAVA SEAS. 39 not only prevents dirt and decaying bark from getting into the hold, but it also starts out all the scorpions and centipedes which are sure to have harbored there. I never knew the sting of these pests to kill any one ; but it is very painful, causing sickness and sometimes an ugly sore. I don't know anything more impudent or " cocky" than a fine lively scorpion just shaken out of a hole in a log. Running round " crab-fashion," with his tail and sting curved over his back, he puts one in mind of an Irishman at a fair imploring somebody to tread on the tail of his coat and " spoiling for a fight." The centipede is more quiet and business-like, and will let you alone if you will let him alone. But it is no joke to strike at one running over you and have his numerous claws dug deep into the skin. They are often eight or nine inches long. Sailors are always ready for any work which takes them on shore and out of the routine of the ship, and so a wood-barking party is always welcome. There is also, for many, the chance of getting grog smuggled to them by some loafer or other ; and the officer in charge has to keep his eyes open, while even then he frequently brings back one or more of his men helplessly drunk in the bottom of the boat, and is safe to get a good blowing-up from the first lieutenant in consequence. In two or three days we had all the wood and water on board, and the next morning was fixed for sailing. The ship had been overrun all the time by Malays and Chinamen selling all manner of things. Shells, feathers, Malay creeses, monkeys, tiny Java deer, parrots, mina- birds, Java sparrows, avadovats, love-birds, and nion- 40 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. gooses, jaggery, or coarse native sugar, in cakes, yams, and fruit of all kinds, especially bananas, pine-apples, mangoes, oranges, mangosteens, and durians, and cocoa- nuts, young and full of milk, which were rafted off, much as our casks of water were, by Malays in tiny canoes. Much Dutch gin and arrack was also smuggled on board, in skins and bladders, and some drunkenness and disorder followed, giving full employment to the police of the ship. When, at sunset, all -was ready for sea, and the mas- ter-at-arms was sent to " see all strangers out of the ship," we were like a floating menagerie. Being home- ward bound, the officers and men were allowed to bring on board any pets they pleased. There were monkeys and parrots without number and of all sizes, two or three mongooses/many cages of birds ; and the captain had a pair of the beautiful Java deer, whose bodies are not so large as a rabbit's. These did not live long, nor did most of the other pets, from crowding and want of proper food. There were strings of cocoanuts, nets of yams and oranges, and bunches of bananas and plan- tains hung under the forecastle and on the main-stay, the boat's spans, and at every other available place ; and on these, for the first few days, the ship's boys and an occasional loose monkey fairly revelled. Then the coops were filled with fowls, and extra crates of them were stowed on the booms; ducks were under the launch, while kids and China pigs ran about loose. In fact, as the chief boatswain's mate expressed it, " the ship was a regular hurrah's nest." CHAPTER V. HOMEWARD BOUND. i AT daylight all hands were called " up anchor," the messenger was passed, and the capstan-bars manned. The fifer struck up " Homeward Bound," and with a stamp and go the anchor was soon at the bows. With a light breeze and fair tide we soon passed Prince's Bay and Java Head, and were feeling the long swell of the great Indian Ocean, our next point being Cape Town. Drills at the great guns and small arms, and the or- dinary routine of the ship, were once more resumed. We sighted the Cocos Islands, a long way off, seem- ing like cocoanut-groves growing out of the water, and after that saw no land for many long days. Few vessels were seen either, for we were out of the track of eastern-bound ships. As I said before, the pets soon began to drop off. I was much interested in one large female monkey, with a young one, which had been brought on board in the wicker trap in which they were caught. They were kept on top of the boom cover, and it was most curious to see how the mother-monkey fed the little one from her cheek-pouches, and washed her baby with water from a cocoanut shell, polishing it off with her hairy arm. The mother was tied, of course, and she would suffer the little one to crawl away from her until only 4* 41 42 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. the end of its long tail was within her reach, when she would seize it and draw it back close to her to have the operation repeated the next minute. In a few days the little one died, and the poor mother saw it thrown over the side. A few hours afterwards she managed to get loose, and, going to the same place where her young one had disappeared, she deliberately jumped overboard. I have often known monkeys to commit suicide when sick, but I never knew any other to do so from evident grief. About ten or twelve days after we left Anjer one of the men, who had been on shore with the wood-party, was taken sick, and the doctors soon suspected small- pox. The man confessed that he had slipped away and gone into a Chinese hut, where he hoped to get some liquor. He was, for some time, close by a bam- boo bed on which a person was lying sick. It was so dark in the hut that he could not see much of the person, but he must have had smallpox, for there was no other way to account for his seizure. The doctor went aft and reported the matter to the captain, and the two walked up and down the poop to- gether for some time in consultation. One of our top- officers who could be spared, with about fifty sailors and marines, went on shore. Meeting the consul, we all went out about three-quarters of a mile to the place of execution, accompanied by a Turkish guard of honor. Our officers and men had side-arms and pistols, but no muskets, as it is not considered the proper thing to land on a friendly foreign soil " under arms," as it is technically called. Soon after we got to the place the condemned man appeared, with his hands tied behind him. He looked as if he would have died in prison if he had been kept there much longer. A more squalid, starved-looking savage I have seldom seen. He was surrounded by a guard of soldiers, and some Turkish officers brought up the rear on horse- back. Without any more ado the wretch was brought under the limb of a tree, a halter was put about his neck, and the rope thrown over a branch, and two stout fellows 12* 138 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. at once hauled him off the ground by jerks, planting their feet against the trunk of the tree for a purchase. The man kicked most horribly, for his feet had not been tied, and it was at least fifteen minutes before his struggles ceased. Leaving him hanging there, we all marched back to the town, and the captain went to the pasha's and signed a declaration that the execution had duly taken place. The thing was necessary, as a bad feeling had been growing for some time in that part of Asia Minor, and some decided action had to be taken for the protection of Christians. The Turkish officials did not like it, but they did their duty. Next day the captain called on the pasha, and thanked him for the part he had taken in the business. Our consul then came off to the ship, and was duly saluted and made much of by way of imposing on the rabble. I took him on shore afterwards in the gig, and observed that he was a measly-looking little man, ap- parently of a meek mind and weakly body, and he jumped almost out of his skin at each gun of his sa- lute. I heard he was from Ohio, and had been a den- tist, until his health failed, and he got the appoint- ment of consul. A man less fitted to manage the people among whom he lived could not be found, even under our system of distributing consulates. That evening we sailed for Larnaca, in Cyprus, thence to Beyrout. We were ordered to stop at Cy- prus because our ships very seldom went there, and it was thought proper to "show the flag," and let the people there see that there was at least one man-of-war belonging to the far-off America. Larnaca is a very " UP THE STRAITS." 139 dull Turkish town, and there is little to see or to do. The foreign consuls all live together in one part of the town, some of them in contiguous houses, and thus constitute a little society among themselves. Since the time I speak of we have had an energetic and active man there, who has made extensive excavations and discov- eries of antiquities, to the increase of his reputation as well as his fortune. As the consul and our captain were wandering about, followed by the consul's cavass and myself, we came upon an ancient portal, inside which was a tomb, which, he said, tradition declares to be that of Lazarus. Our captain very truly remarked " that, to be sure, he must have been buried somewhere at last, but so few persons ever think of the portion of his life which came after the miracle." The bay was full of sponge-fishers : Greeks, Italians, and Maltese. They come here in small feluccas, and have to pay a tax for the privilege of fishing. The divers have a heavy flat stone slung to a rope, and grasping this with their feet, they are carried rapidly to the bottom. Detaching with a knife as many sponges as they can, they poke them into a bag, and are then hauled up to the surface, and taken on board a small boat or the felucca itself. When the bay is calm the water is so clear that the sponges can be easily seen at a depth of four or five fathoms, and the divers, many of whom can stay down for three minutes, select a likely group before descending. We bought splendid large sponges of these people for a mere trifle, sometimes trading for hard bread. They were soaked in fresh water, in the division tubs, 140 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. until the animal matter decayed and was washed off, making an awful smell. They were then soaked in vinegar and water to take out the lime, and last a long time when used for washing paint-work. I may mention that, while saluting the Turkish flag in Larnaca, one of our men had his right arm blown off by the carelessness of the captain of his gun in serving the vent. His arm had to be amputated that same afternoon. CHAPTEE XIII. I GO TO JERUSALEM, AND MEET WITH A NEAELY FATAL ACCIDENT. WE touched at Beyrout for a day, making the ne- cessary calls and firing the necessary salutes, and then passed on down the Syrian coast, touching at Sai'da and Haiffa, under Mount Carmel, at which places we gave the countenance of our presence to a couple of Hebrew gentlemen who spoke little or no English, and whose office of American commercial agent served to forward their own commercial enterprises, and to protect them in some degree from the bullying of the Turkish officials. Finally we anchored off Jaffa. This is an open roadstead and a bad anchorage combined. At the sea- son of the year in which we then were (the autumn), it is subject to westerly gales, which roll in a very ugly sea. Every one was anxious to go to Jerusalem. So the captain allowed half the officers, and the men of the starboard watch who wished to go, to start at once. The only exceptions were those upon the "black-list," and those who had nothing due them on the purser's books. The captain determined to go with the first party himself, and took me with him. Jaffa is a typical Eastern town, built, for the most part, on a low conical hill, the houses flat-roofed, and the whole surrounded by a wall, much as in ancient 141 142 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. times, I fancy. I heard our surgeon say that, in all probability, something of a hill had always been there, from the appearance of the rocks in the neighborhood, but he had no doubt the height was much increased by the ruins and accumulations of ages, the present town being purely Turkish, and the houses comparatively modern, although ancient enough in plan and appear- ance. There is a small harbor, only for boats and small vessels, formed by a jagged reef of rocks, running par- allel with the shore, through an interval in which we pulled in. The surf beats very savagely on these sharp rocks, and it behooves one to keep a sharp lookout, for the least graze would wreck a boat. I long afterwards read the story, in the mythology, of Andromeda being chained to these rocks, and of her rescue by Perseus from the sea-monster. A party of seven or eight officers and about fifty men landed at Jaffa, and, going through a sea-gate, guarded by Turkish soldiers, we followed a guide through nar- row and crooked streets, very filthy, and full of mangy dogs, women with high clogs and veils, and dirty men and boys with donkeys. In a street in the higher part of the town we came to an inn kept by a Jew who spoke English, where the officers went up-stairs, and we men occupied the court- yard. Our consular agent soon appeared (he was a Jew, too), bringing with him several dragomans, Maltese, Italian, Greek, and Syrian, all anxious to escort us to the Holy City. After some bargaining the captain decided upon en- I GO TO JERUSALEM. 143 gaging a Syrian, named Nijem, who agreed to provide food, lodging, and horses, during the trip, for five dol- lars a day for the officers, and three for the men. He then set off to prepare for the trip, and the horses soon began to arrive, until at last the street in front of the inn was quite blocked. Some of them were good enough, but most of them were the veriest scarecrows that could possibly be seen. It might, however, be truly said that the animals were good enough for the people who bestrode them, for I fancy that threescore worse riders seldom set out on a journey before. We started finally about two o'clock in the after- noon, and going through the gardens in the suburbs and over the plain of Sharon, we arrived at Ramleh about sunset. Here we were to get supper and wait until the moon rose, at midnight, and then go on. Nijem led us to one of the Latin convents, where trav- ellers and pilgrims are received; but, when the monks saw our cavalcade, they very shortly shut the gate in our faces, with a " not possib." We then filed off through the narrow lanes, between stone walls and cactus- hedges, to the large Russian convent, the gates of which we entered just as the muezzin in the minaret of the mosque over the way was making his last call to prayer. The Russians were perfectly polite, and we were shown to a large room, while our horses and their keepers, who had accompanied us, went into the large court-yard, to keep company with plenty of camels, mules, and donkeys and their drivers, a savage-looking lot of Arabs and negroes. After a time Nijem managed to get us fried eggs, a 144 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. stew of mutton, and flat flour cakes, baked on stone griddles. The officers had much the same, in a room above. When the moon rose we started again for the Wady Ali, where we ascended the mountains. As we did so it became very cold, and many suffered a good deal ; and the road was extremely rough, and not very easy riding, even by daylight, in many places. We reached Jerusalem early in the morning, and the men were all quartered in an inn kept by a Greek, the officers going to another hotel. For the three days we stayed we were constantly occu- pied in visiting the different places of interest, includ- ing Bethany, the Mount of Olives, and Bethlehem. I must say that I have never seen a large party of sailors behave better than our men did during this visit. Indeed, they showed much more intelligent curiosity, and behaved with more decorum, than did some of the parties of travellers which we met at the holy places. -We left for Jaffa again loaded down with articles of mother-of-pearl and olive-wood, and got back to the ship on the same evening, with the exception of one or two of the men, who had got hold of some "raki/'a villainous spirit, flavored with anise. These had stopped by the wayside to sleep off" the effects; but an offer of a reward of ten dollars each, to be charged to the accounts of the offenders, soon set people off after them, and they were brought in safely. As soon as we got back the of her party started. They had not been gone many hours when the weather became bad, a strong southwester set in, and we were I GO TO JERUSALEM. 145 obliged to get under way, working off shore with a good deal .of difficulty. The sea was very nasty, short, and chopping, giving the ship a great deal of motion. As the coxswain of the second cutter was with the party on shore, I was directed to look out for his boat, and to secure her for bad weather. I got some of her crew, and we passed the gripes round her ; and I was standing on the hammock-rail, and " swigging off" on the lanyard, when it parted, the ship giving a heavy roll to port at the same time, and I fell in on deck with great force. When I came to my senses I was in a cot in the sick-bay. A "cot" is made of canvas, stretched on a frame, with sides of canvas, to keep one from rolling out, and ends, to which the sides are laced. The cot is suspended by "nettles" from the head and foot, con- verging to a ring, which suspends the whole from hammock-hooks in the beams. When the cot is soiled the frame is taken out, and the canvas unlaced and scrubbed, just like a hammock. I am thus particular in describing a cot, because at this time I spent many weeks in one. Sailors on board a man-of-war are rather afraid of a cot, because, as it takes up much more room than a hammock, one is seldom ordered by the doctor, except for a very serious case. A long time had elapsed since I had fallen, and it was night when I regained my consciousness. The berth-deck was close and heavy with the breath of many men, and the hammocks, in close files, swayed to and fro with the motion of the ship. Long-drawn G 13 146 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. snores, muttered words spoken in sleep, an occasional cry of a man with nightmare, and the regular creaking of the bulkheads, were heard below. On deck was heard the " slat" of the weather-leech of a sail, followed by " Mind your weather helm !" from the officer of the deck, and " Dice ! no higher !" from the quartermaster at the con. These came below, subdued in sound, and only seemed to add to the general sense of quiet of a night-watch in moderate weather. The reflector-lights of the berth-deck lamps cast deep shadows along the deck, and a horn-lantern, in the hands of the surgeon's steward, threw a light upon my cot and into my eyes. " He'll do now, Conner," I heard a voice say ; and then coming round to my side, and looking into my face, our surgeon said, " Lie still, now, Carlyon, and do not try to talk or think. You've had a bad fall, but we'll try to patch you up, my man." I did not feel like talking, and could only manage to say " Water !" " Get the monkey from my room, Conner, and give him a drink." A monkey is a porous earthen jar, with two orifices. One is a funnel to fill it by, and the other a spout to drink from. The evaporation from the porous clay, especially when swinging in a draft, cools the water, so that refreshing drink is possible where ice is never seen. I felt terribly sore and full of pain, while my head seemed " dazed," as if it belonged to some one else ; but I soon dozed off to sleep. I may say here, what I learned afterwards, that I had been unconscious for nearly four days. The bad I GO TO JERUSALEM. 147 weather had come and gone ; we had returned to our anchorage off Jaffa, received our people on their return from their trip, and were off once more to the west- ward. I had had a serious concussion of the brain, as the doctors called it, and had broken my collar-bone and arm ; indeed, I had been taken up for dead. The morning following the night on which I had recognized the doctor I was waked at four o'clock by the calling of the watch. "All the starboard watch ! Show a leg there ! starboard watch !" Yawns, grunts, and curses were heard on all sides, and then the watch below hopped out of their hammocks, and, drawing boots and pea-jacket from the head-nettles (the sailor's wardrobe), began scuffling up the ladders to the spar- deck. A few moments afterwards the whistle of the boatswain's mate gives a long-drawn pipe, and he calls, " All the watch to muster ! Go below the port watch !" Then there is a pattering down the ladders, a hur- ried kicking off of shoes and shedding of pea-jackets, and the relieved watch are snoring in a marvellously short time. In the mean time the midshipman of the watch, whose sharp voice I recognize, is going on with the muster on deck, thus : " Ninety-three !" answered by, " Jones, sir !" " Ninety-five !" " Thompson, sir !" " Ninety-seven !" " Sick, sir !" Ninety-seven was my number. The muster over, some pulls were had at the braces, and then the watch settled down in groups, to sleep till daylight. When that began to steal down the hatch near me, the business of the morning watch began. The officer of the deck suddenly sang out, " Relieve the lookouts ! Man the mast-head ! Boatswain's 148 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. mate! get up holy-stones and sand. Watch, mend sail ! Lead out and man the top-sail halyards !" Then came the clatter of the big snatch-blocks, as they were hooked. " Swig up ! Belay the top-sail halyards ! To'-gallant sheets and halyards ! Fore and main tacks ! Lay up the rigging about the decks ! Rig the pumps ! Go on with the decks !" Soon a grating and grinding and splashing and bumping begins, apparently about a foot above one's nose as he lies below. These were the holy-stones at work. The pumps groaned and creaked, buckets of water were "scooted" along the wet deck and the contents dashed about, the buckets themselves coming down with a hollow clap as they were dropped. At last the holy-stoning is done, and squilgees come into use, the deck being squeezed and scraped dry with them, while the captain of the afterguard, mast-man, and quarter-gunners swear freely, as is their wont, by way of assisting the operation. Thus the day is ushered in on board a man-of-war. At seven bells another long-drawn pipe is heard, and the call of " Up all hammocks !" Then the master-at- arms and ship's corporal pervade the berth-deck with " Bear a hand, now, and clear this deck ! Show a leg, everybody I" "Everybody," including the idlers, or those who keep no night-watch, as well as the watch which "turned in" at four o'clock, now turn out, lash hammocks, and carry them on deck to be stowed in the nettings. The master-at-arms and his assistants, the ship's corporals, again begin to be heard, and under their I GO TO JERUSALEM. 149 directions the berth-deck cooks sweep and tidy up the deck. Eight o'clock comes round, and then they pipe to breakfast and roll to grog. The mess-tins clatter briskly, and strong steams of " scouse" and coffee have come from the galley for some time. Nine o'clock, " All hands !" once more, and then, " Clean bright- work, small arms, and great gun-locks for inspection." At nine o'clock, too, a peculiar air upon the drum and fife, and the tinkle of a hand-bell in the sick-bay, announce " sick-call," and that the medical officers are ready to see the " sick, lame, and lazy," as Jack puts it. I had plenty of opportunity to see the humors of " sick-call" during the time I lay in that cot swathed in bandages and splints. About a dozen men usually appeared in a sloop-of- war like ours when there was no epidemic on board. Of these, perhaps three would be sufficiently ill to be allowed their hammocks or cots. The sick in the cots are first visited and prescribed for by the surgeon, attended by his assistant. The re- marks on their cases are entered in the journal, and their diet and treatment for the day settled. Then the steward, standing by the doctor's table, calls out the name of each man already on the list in turn. Cut hands, sprains, boils, sore eyes, and other obvious ailments are prescribed for. Towards the bottom of the list always come one or two whose claims as invalids are not so obvious. " Samuel Smith, ordinary seaman !" " Now, Smith, come here ! How are you to-day ?" " Well, sir, the rhumatiz is powerful bad ; I hain't slept none for two 13* 150 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. nights, and nothing won't set onto my stomach." " Hum ! ha ! can't eat? Let me see your tongue. Why, your mouth is full of tobacco! Pulse good, too! Smith, you had better go to duty. Take Smith's name off the list." "Next!" "Ah, Butler! how is that pain in the head? No better! I'm surprised at that after the medicine you have had. Well, I'll just order you an ounce and a half of oil (and see that he takes it now, steward), and if he is not better at sundown, put a large blister on the back of his neck. Stop his ration and let him have a pint of thin arrow-root. You must be taken care of, Butler, or you'll really be ill." At the next sick-call Butler reports himself well. Smith and Butler are known to every one as notorious skulks. " Any one else ?" " Ah, O'Kelley ! so that ' wakenass' is no better? Let me see; pulse, tongue, all right. Has he had his tonic, steward ? Yes ! Now, O'Kel- ley, I want you to stand by to get well, and go off the list to-morrow morning. That will give you time to finish the trousers you began yesterday." And so it goes on. The sick-list is made, signed, and de- spatched to the captain. The binnacle-list, of names alone without diseases, is sent to the binnacle. The surgeon disappears into the ward-room, and the assistant superintends the dressing and the dispensing of medi- cines, and writes up his medical journal. In those days the assistant surgeon had another duty, now dispensed with. Formerly the "coppers," or boilers in the galley, were really of copper, now they are of iron. Of course it was very necessary to have these coppers kept scrupulously clean. So every day / GO TO JERUSALEM. at seven bells, after dinner was served out, the ship's cook and his mate got to work with sand and canvas, and a rare polishing those coppers got from their brawny arms. At one bell precisely the ship's cook reported to the assistant surgeon, " Coppers ready for inspection, sir." The doctor, with great gravity, proceeded to the galley, mounted a bench, and was handed some pieces of white paper. These he rubbed round the interior of the cop- pers. If no dirt appeared, all was well ; if it appeared too often, the fact was reported, and the cook's grog was stopped. Soon after nine o'clock the drum beats to quarters for inspection. The division officers inspect the bat- tery, small arms, and handspikes, and see that the men are clean and properly dressed, according to the orders for the day. These were promulgated at breakfast- time, the master-at-arms being provided with several boards, on each of which was painted a sailor, either in all blue clothes, with a cap, or blue frock and white trousers and straw hat, or all in white. According to orders, one of these boards was hung in the main-hatch, and the crew " shifted'*' themselves accordingly, after the " word was passed." In my early days the word was passed, " Do you hear there, fore and aft? Turn to and clean your- selves." But the march of refinement has reached even Jack ; so now they say " dress yourselves." After quarters, drill at great guns or small arms went on on the spar-deck, while the master-at-arms and the berth-deck cooks had the lower deck to them- selves, sweeping and scouring and swearing freely, 152 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. while I, and the rest of the sick who were unable to crawl on deck and sun themselves in odd corners, were triced up in our cots and hammocks, with the noise and confusion going on around and below us. Oh, the misery of a really sick man on the berth- deck of a man-of-war ! With a head splitting with fever, the most maddening noises are going on all day. Careless men run against the cot or hammock, sending a thrill through every nerve. This is not often done on purpose, to be sure ; but few think of the sick man longer than while they see him, and forget the next moment to moderate their voices. Some even envy him ! He is " into the list, and has no mid-watch on deck to keep." In cases of serious illness the officers are often very kind. Frequently the bells are not struck, or the firing of the morning and evening guns dispensed with, while the sick man's life hangs in doubt, but, at the best, a noise goes on which would be considered un- bearable anywhere else. During the first day, after I had recovered my senses, the captain came down to see me ; said he was very sorry for my mishap; I had been a good coxswain, and he hoped I would be in the gig again before long. The doctors were very kind and took much interest in my case. Many a nice little dish came out of the ward-room to tempt my appetite, but somehow I did not get well very fast. My bones knit well enough, and by the time we got back to Spezia I could get on deck ; but I was always weak and dizzy, and could not look aloft. / GO TO JERUSALEM. 153 The squadron was collected in Spezia, and a store- ship was about to sail for home after discharging. Orders were sent round for the surgeons of the dif- ferent ships to ask for "surveys" on those men who in their opinion should be sent home, either for hospital treatment or for discharge. The steward told me my name was included in the list sent from our ship. I did not much care what was done with me. I felt that I was useless, and likely to be so for some time to come, and a ship was no place for a man in my condition. One day a boat arrived alongside with " the survey." This consisted of the surgeons of two of the other men- of-war and of the store-ship. Four of us were "con- demned" and recommended to be sent home. One was the poor fellow who had had his hand blown off in firing a salute, and who was recommended for discharge with a pension. A marine far gone in consumption ; a man who had had his eyes put out by the upsetting of a barrel of lime on his head as he was getting it out of the hold ; and myself, made up the number to be sent to hospital. Two of the doctors, a very short, fat one, and a very tall, lean one, had a lively discussion over my case and about the probable condition of my brain. As far as I could make out they differed entirely, and only agreed on one point, that I ought to have died. As they got to very sharp words over me, they were called to order by the senior member of the board, and then the survey was over and the members withdrew to the ward-room. I saw them through the open door discussing the merits of anchovy paste, biscuits, and claret for a considerable 154 THIRTY TEARS AT SEA. time, after which they made out their report and left the ship. Two or three days after we were transferred to the store-ship for a passage home. I was truly sorry to part from Kemp, but such partings are common enough among sailors. I did not see him again for years, and when I did it was to see the last of the poor old fellow. CHAPTER XIV. T AM INVALIDED HOME, GET WELL, AND JOIN THE MERCHANT SERVICE. THE store-ship had been a sloop-of-war, and we had plenty of room and to spare, for her crew did not num- ber above forty, and her 'tween decks was almost entirely empty. Her commander was an old copper-nosed lieutenant, much given to his cups, but a thorough sailor. I heard the story told of him that he was once induced to read the "Arabian Nights" to while away time on a long passage, and that he returned it to the lender with the remark that " he didn't believe half the yarns in that book." It was also said that he once landed from his vessel in the Sandwich Islands, and being caterer of the mess, his attention was at once attracted to a fine young porker, which he bought and sent back by the boat, with the following note to the officer of the deck, "Dear Joe, please receive on board the above pig. Yours, Sam." In fact, there was no end to the stories told about him, and he was well known throughout the service. When the retired list was authorized a few years later, he was one of the first to be placed upon it, as his in- temperate habits became more and more confirmed. We had as officers four passed midshipmen, who kept the watches, a surgeon and a purser. 155 156 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. There were about thirty invalids from the squadron, so that with cooks and servants we numbered about ninety souls. The ship was in ballast, a very dull sailor, but "stiff as a church." It was a winter passage we were making, and in crossing the Gulf of Lyons we had a northwester, which blew in the venomous way which winter gales do in those parts. They come from the Bay of Biscay, over the flat country north of the Pyrenees, and seem to gain fresh strength and vehemence from coming over French soil, charging on any unfortunate vessel they may meet like a battalion of drunken zouaves. We drifted, hove to, past Mahon, and well over to- ward the coast of Algiers before this gale abated. The wind then hauled to the eastward and blew a Levanter, before which we bowled out of the straits in fine style. We took the middle passage, and jogged along under easy sail, with good weather, until across the Gulf Stream, when we had heavy northwesters ; were blown off twice, and had several men badly frost-bitten. During the passage my head got better, and I was en- abled to employ my leisure in reading, so I was in no haste to get in. Our old skipper was not anxious to get home either. He knew that he would be relieved from his command, and he did not carry sail very hard to meet his orders. He and the purser, I was told, played " all-fours" and drank hot whiskey-toddy all day and far into the night. In bad weather, when he was obliged to come on deck to look out for the ship, his steward would bring him, at frequent intervals, his " medicine," which had a piece of lemon-peel floating on the top, and gave / JOIN THE MERCHANT SERVICE. 157 out an aroma of " old rye," as it steamed in the frosty air of the North Atlantic. He was one of a class now passed away, and while his most intimate friends had never seen him entirely sober, no one had ever seen him "off his pins," or so that he could not lay a top-sail yard handsomely for taking the second reef. At last we got into New York on New Year's day, ninety days from Spezia. A steam-tug came under our port-quarter, made fast to us, and wheezed and snorted and puffed, and tugged through the floating ice in the East River, until she anchored us in the Wallabout. In the afternoon two launches came off from the navy-yard, and all the sick were mustered to be transferred to the hospital. This was a large white building, about a mile off, over in Williamsburg, and placed conspicuously on a hill. Two or three of the invalids were too ill to leave their cots, and were taken over the side, and deposited in the stern-sheets of one of the launches, by means of a whip from the main-yard. Those who could walk went down the ladder into the same boat, filling her completely. In the stern-sheets of the other launch our bags and hammocks were piled, and she then took us in tow, with the doctor in charge of us, cocked up on top of the pile of bags and hammocks, with a large pack- age of " sick tickets" in his hand, which he used like a marshal's staff in directing our course. The boats went along the cob-dock, in the Wallabout, and then into a little creek which ran up into the hospital 14 158 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. grounds. There we landed, and piling our bags and hammocks on a car, pushed it up the hill to the hos- pital. The sick men in the cots were carried up by the crew of the launch. The change to the clean, warm, quiet, orderly wards of the hospital did wonders for most of us. But the poor marine from our ship, who had consumption, did not long survive his change of quarters. He was in the same ward with myself, and one night a movement and bustle waked me, when I saw screens drawn round his bed. A priest presently came in, and went behind the screens ; and after he went away the doctor came, with the night-nurse, and re- mained a while. As he went out of the ward again I heard him say to the nurse, " Let him remain a while, but be sure to get him into the dead-house before day- light." The other two men, from the M , were discharged the service, with pensions. As for myself, I improved steadily; and, as it was found I could write a good hand, I was set to work copying case- papers, registers of patients, and bills, which occupied me for three or four hours each day. I had the privi- lege of sitting in the office where I wrote, and I read a great deal of history and travels from the books in the hospital library. Indeed, I never had an idea I could be so happy and contented in a hospital, a place I had always had a horror of, in common with most people. After several months I was considered well enough to be discharged, and I began to turn over what I was to do next. The owners of the Mary had paid me some balance of wages due me, and I had nearly two / JOIN THE MERCHANT SERVICE. 159 hundred dollars of pay from the navy due me on dis- charge. I had had a day's leave, now and then, from the surgeon in charge of the hospital, and had been several times to the counting-house of the Mary's owners to see if there was a chance of any employment for me ; for I did not want to ship in the service again if there was a prospect of becoming an officer in the merchant service. The firm owned a great many ships, a regular line to Liverpool, and one to Manilla and China, and they had also some vessels in the Brazil trade. One day I saw the junior partner, a fine young gentleman, named Archer ; and when he heard my story, he told me to try to hurry my discharge, and he would do something for me. I spoke to the doctor at the hospital, and he wrote at once to Washington, and got my discharge, although he was kind enough to say that he hated to do it, as he would miss my services. Giving away, to those who needed them most, some of the man-of-war clothing and other traps which. I had in my bag, I went down to the receiving-ship at the navy-yard, was paid off, and received my discharge from the service. Going to the sailor landlord with whom I had boarded, in Cherry Street, before shipping in the Mary, I got my discharge from my first ship, which I had left with him. I then took a hundred dollars of my money and put it in a savings-bank, in Fulton Street, the officer of the bank also taking charge of my two discharges. 160 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. Taking board in a plain, respectable house, to which I had been recommended, I got myself a substantial outfit of clothes, suited for a mate, and a good chest, with a sextant, Bowditch's " Epitome," and one or two other necessary books. By the time these preparations were completed Mr. Archer sent for me, to say that I could have a berth as third officer of the Amazon of their Liverpool line. The ship had just discharged her inward cargo near Peck slip, and was ready to receive her outward lading. I went down there next morning and found a fine ship of nearly twelve hundred tons, very taunt and wholesome-look- ing, and sufficiently sharp, though nothing of a clipper. The chief mate had just come on board, apparently from a night's " lark" on shore, for he was relating to the second mate, between the sips of a cup of hot coffee, which had been placed on the drum of the after-capstan for him by the steward, some most surprising adven- tures, the relation being garnished by many strange oaths and expletives. These two mates were both " down-Easters," the first being a Cape Cod man, and the second from Maine. They were both thorough seamen, but had only sailed the North Atlantic, one of the roughest of nautical schools, not only on account of the bad weather en- countered, but also by reason of the character of the men composing the crews, especially of ships trading to Liverpool. As soon as he spied me coming over the gangway, the first mate sang out, "Now, then, what is it?" I said I had a note for Captain D , and that I was to be shipped as third mate. / JOIN THE MERCHANT SERVICE. " The you are ! Blessed if I didn't think you had come to ship as chaplain I" This was an allusion to a nice suit of dark clothes and a high hat which I had mounted, the first I had ever had in my life. Having fired off this nautical joke, however, he was civil enough in his way, and talked to me at intervals while attending to the business of the ship, until half- past ten, when the captain arrived. Captain D was a New-Yorker, belonging to quite an influential family, large ship-owners, and had been brought up in the line in which he now com- manded the Amazon. Although about forty years of age, he had never made any other voyage than that from New York to Liverpool. He was a very dressy man, a bachelor, and lived, while his ship was in port, at the best hotels, and had his dinner on board ship at six o'clock, while the mates had theirs in the forward cabin at one. As far as I could see, he never did anything but navigate and play the agreeable to the cabin passengers. He had the reputation of being a bold and successful seaman, how- ever, and was in high favor with the underwriters. When I presented myself he looked me all over, took the note I brought, but said, without opening it, " I have heard all about you, and only want to say that I expect my officers to be smart and driving, and to stand no nonsense from the men. Bring your traps on board to-day and turn to." This was the longest speech the captain ever vouch- safed me while I was in the Amazon. In fact, Captain D was much more high and mighty than the 14* THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. naval officers with whom I had sailed, but he had a much more difficult class of people to deal with, and could not afford to abate a jot of his importance. We now had the cargo coming alongside rapidly, and the stevedores were at work stowing it, while a gang of riggers were at work aloft. The cabin was being renovated, 'a gentleman having engaged it for his family, preferring us to a steamer, as the longer voyage was recommended for his wife's health. At last we got rid of all these people, and when we hauled out from the slip and were towed to an anchor- age in the bay, the mates and ship-keepers were in charge. The morning was wet, with a moderate southeast wind, and, about nine o'clock, a tug came alongside, bringing the shipping-master and the crew shipped for us " by the run." Shipping by the run means to come on board a ship ready for sea, and navigate her from port to port, say from New York to Liverpool, leaving her as soon as she enters the dock. For this a fixed sum is paid in advance. A certain class of seamen habitually made this voyage; and a most wretched set they were, generally speaking : drunken, turbulent, diseased, and short-lived. They seldom saw any of their wages. In debt to the boarding-house keeper and shipping-master, these worthies contracted with owners and captains for their services, and placed them on board ship (drunk or drugged, if necessary) with as little to say as to their destination as any gang of slaves ever had. They then received the " advance" due the seamen, which was sup- / JOIN THE MERCHANT SERVICE. 163 posed to reimburse them for board, liquor, clothing, and money supplied during their stay in port. Arrived in the docks, at Liverpool, the crew tumble on shore, and at once make their way to the wretched slums and cellars, where they keep up an orgie until wanted by the shipping-agents, when they are again herded and put on board an outward-bound ship. Frequently they wake from a stupor to find them- selves at sea, and have to inquire the name and desti- nation of the vessel. It is no wonder that such crews bore a bad name, and that so many desperate and abandoned men were found among them. There were thirty-two men brought off to us, and a boatswain and carpenter. These were, as I have said, a most wretched-looking lot, although most of them were prime seamen. Few had much more clothing than that which they stood in. Some had on two or three woollen shirts, or a thick Jersey, with a red shirt over it, and none looking as if they were ever washed. Some had sea-boots, slung together with rope-yarn, and hung round their necks. These contained one or two pairs of yarn socks, per- haps a woollen muffler, and, very often, a " skin" of vile rum, like a limp wet sausage, to "taper off" on. All had the sheath-knife and belt, and a few had pea- jackets, or oil-skin storm-coats. There were also a few of these coats left in the forecastle, greasy, mouldy, tarry, and ragged, the cast-offs of former voyages, which were afterwards shifted from watch to watch during the passage. The forecastle of the Amazon was of the old style, a 164 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. horrible hole in the very eyes ol the ship, leaky, dirty, and foul-smelling. Bunks, in tiers, ran round it, containing cat-tail beds, and blankets of all degrees of raggedness and dirt. A smoky lantern burned night and day in this place, and the only entrance (which served for light and ventila- tion also) was a small companion-hatch. There being no prospect of getting to sea that day, the crew, stupid and sodden, were allowed to go below to sleep off the effects of their prolonged debauch. The chief mate remarked to me as they filed down into the forecastle, " Well ! my eyes and limbs ! if ever I saw a rummier set! I hope you've got your brass ' knucks,' for you'll want 'em with this crowd, now mind I tell you !" The next morning there was a prospect of the east- erly weather breaking up, so, after an early breakfast, the crew was mustered, and the first and second mates chose the watches; each one in turn picking out a man till all were taken. The two left until the last were particularly hard-looking cases, and the mates tossed up for them. One of them seemed to have had some disease which had taken most of his hair off and scarred and seamed his face, and bound his eyes with red, while his knees were stiff and bent, and his fingers were crooked and skinny, for all the world like some carrion bird. This poor creature was at once nicknamed "Buzzard" by the rest, who did not seem to know him. The other was a country-looking fellow of about thirty, who stoutly asserted that he was not a sailor, had never been to sea, but had come to New York to I JOIN THE MERCHANT SERVICE. 165 look for work at his trade, shoemaking ; had been in- duced to drink, drugged, and put on board ship as a seaman. This is " shanghai"-ing. Even if any one wished to put the poor man on shore there was no time to do so. In fact, not much attention was paid to him or his lamentations, except that the chief mate threatened to " knock his head off if he followed him round the decks with his yarns." The wind soon came out northwest. A tug came off with the captain and his cabin passengers, and as the tide served, we at once hove up our anchor and made sail without a tow. The cold, sharp northwester made the men who were hardly over their spree shiver and creep in their scanty clothing. I took an opportunity to ask the second mate if they ever gave the men a pot of hot coffee or a nip of grog under such circumstances. He looked at me as if I had lost my senses, and said, " No ! 'em ! this makes 'em jump. That's some of your man-o'-war or Ingy v'yage notions." We went rushing down the lower bay and past the bar and Sandy Hook in fine style, the captain begrudg- ing the time it took to heave to, off the light-ship, to discharge the pilot. That night one of the crew who had been unable to leave his bunk since he came on board, and who was declared by the mate to have " a bad case of horrors," rushed on deck during the middle watch, while I had charge, shrieking that the forecastle was full of snakes, and jumped overboard. We were going at least ten knots, and a considerable 166 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. time elapsed before I could shorten sail and bring the ship to the wind, the bearings of the man being in the mean time lost. The captain was promptly on deck, and hearing what was the matter, said, in a very dis- gusted tone, " I thought you were afoul of some inward- bound ship. There is no use looking for that poor devil now. Keep the ship her course, and make sail again, sir." Two lines in the log-book next day was the epitaph of this sailor, who may have had an old mother some- where waiting for her prodigal to come home again. We carried the nor'wester away over to the Banks of Newfoundland. There was little to do in making or shortening sail, and the men were kept at work about the decks and in the rigging, fitting "Scotchmen" and chafing-gear, making sword-mats, picking oakum, and keeping the spun-yarn winch going. When this work began to grow slack the pin-rails were all scraped, as well as the iron belaying-pins. The men were never allowed a moment's rest when on deck, the old sea-rhyme holding good in this ship, " Six days shalt thou work and do all that thou art able; the seventh thou shalt scrub deck and scrape cable." Poor " Buzzard" and the " Cobbler" had an especi- ally hard time. The former was really not able to work, but the chief mate kept him moving, declaring that he would have no " skulks" in that ship. Several times he was kicked or struck and knocked down ; but the poor wretch seemed thoroughly broken and cowed, and would pick himself up without a word, putting his hand up to his poor scarred nose, and looking at I JOIN THE MERCHANT SERVICE. 167 the blood which came from it in a stupid, helpless way. The " Cobbler" had been early ordered aloft by the mate, who swore that he came on board as a seaman, and should do a seaman's work. He was dreadfully seasick, but was started into the main-rigging by half a dozen with a rope's end, the poor creature, in desper- ation, finally struggling up. When he got to where the swifters narrow in, below the futtock-shrouds, he seemed overcome with terror, and there he hung, grasp- ing the rigging with a death-grip. The mate at last allowed some of the better-hearted men to go aloft and help him down, remarking that "he did not want all the tar squeezed out of the rigging." After this the poor "Cobbler" was set at all the dirty work about the decks, and every one seemed privileged to give him a kick or a cuff. CHAPTER XV. MUTINY ON THE HIGH SEAS. AFTER we left the Banks our bad weather and hard work really began. We seldom had the wind twelve hours together from any one point, while it generally blew a gale from some quarter. Sometimes the wind would chop round fair ; all sail would be made to it, and the " watch below" allowed to turn in. Then in perhaps an hour the wind would come out ahead again, and bang would go the bar on the forecastle-hatch, and "All hands, reef top-sails!" would call them all to go aloft, in the dark, stormy, wintry night, to spend an hour in battling and strug- gling with half-frozen sails. There was one thing without which I do not see how the men could have stood it at all, and that was plenty of good " grub," which most American vessels have. Having almost no change of clothing, the men were never dry. Sometimes a lucky fellow would be al- lowed by the cook to hang a shirt in the galley for a few minutes, but this was a privilege seldom granted. In one heavy gale we had, just before we made the Irish coast, two men were just coming in from stowing the jib afresh, when a heavy sea boarded us, carrying one overboard, who was lost, and washing the other from the forecastle down upon deck, breaking his leg. 168 MUTINY ON THE HIGH SEAS. 169 The mate, who is also the surgeon in most merchant ships, had him carried below and put in his bunk, where the man shrieked and groaned all night long, the motion of the ship giving him great torture. There was too much to do in getting the ship "snug" for the mate to attend to his patient that night, but the next morning, after breakfast, he pro- ceeded to pay him a professional visit. I looked down the hatch at the scene, which was lighted up by the smoky lantern. The poor fellow had been propped by some tender- hearted messmates with rolls of damp clothing, to keep his leg from rolling about. This was only par- tially successful, for the ship had a fearful motion on, which was the more felt in the forecastle, the extreme " eyes of her." A very foul, mouldy smell came up the forecastle- hatch, and it would be hard to fancy a more unfit place for a sick or injured man. After a careful and thorough examination, which gave the poor man agonies of pain, the mate shook his head, and pronounced it " pretty considerable of a bad break," and further said that it must be " parcelled and served, and then fished." This he proceeded to do on the spot, not without some readiness and skill, though perhaps not quite as a surgeon would have done it. But, at any rate, it kept the ends of the broken bones from grinding, and so long a time had elapsed since the accident that much of the usual swelling had taken place, and there was the less dan- ger of his bandaging being drawn too tight. When we got into Liverpool, which we did a few ft 15 170 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. days afterwards, this man was sent to the infirmary. The rest of the crew went on shore as soon as the ship was made fast in Prince's Dock, and not one of them did I ever lay eyes on again. The Liverpool Docks are most wonderful works, as everybody knows ; but everybody does not know that while vessels are in them they are not allowed to have any fire for cooking, nor are the crews allowed even to smoke ; the latter they often do, however, on the sly. This rule is with a view to prevent fire among so many ships crowded together, close to immense warehouses, full of all sorts of merchandise. In case a fire occurred, even when the tide was high in the Mersey, and the dock-gates could be opened, but few vessels could be got out before, from the falling water on the ebb, it would be impossible to float any more out without their taking on the sill of the gate. The tides here, as elsewhere, prove a very old proverb true. Precaution is therefore highly necessary ; and while a ship is in the dock the officers, steward, cook, and others who may remain by her are forced to board on shore, returning from meals to carry on the ordinary duty and to sleep. The ship pays for their meals, and certain boarding-houses are kept with a view to en- tertaining the different classes of nautical customers. Liverpool is a dismal place at best, and as we were now at the end of November, it was foggy and rainy all the time. There is a miserable hopelessness about Liverpool bad weather which I have never observed elsewhere. It seems to say, " This has been my weather ever since I was a swampy bank, with the ' Livers' MUTINY ON THE HIGH SEAS. 171 stalking about undisturbed, and 1 don't intend to change my weather because you built docks, and first traded in niggers, and then for cotton with the Yankees, and so grew rich !" During all the week-days I was busy, and tired enough when night came to turn in very early. But on the Sunday afternoon after our arrival I took a walk about the town with the second mate, and I must say I drank more that day than I ever did in my life before, from sheer blue-devils. Liverpool differs from most towns in the close neigh- borhood of its lowest slums and cellars and the most decorous and respectable shops and streets. In the dancing-saloons and grog-shops, devoted to the recep- tion and fleecing of "Jack," the sailor has a poor chance. As long as he has a shilling he is endured in these places, and when he is stripped he is kicked out, that is all. All this is quite as much a business as the retailing of silks or hats in Bold Street, close by. The only places which I have ever seen which could " hold a candle" to the low sailor resorts of Liv- erpool, are in the East of London, say about Ratcliffe Highway. Perhaps I had better not go into particulars, for they would only disgust the reader, and the facts are per- fectly well known to many good people, who would make things better if they could. Fortunately, we were only about ten days in Liver- pool, as we had had a long passage out, and our sailing day was fixed. At the appointed time we hauled out into the Mer- sey, with a new crew on board, " by the run" ; very 172 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. much the same sort as those I have described before. Perhaps they were in a trifle better condition than our former crew, and they weighed our anchor briskly to the tune of " Whiskey for my Johnny !" The passage to the westward is always the hardest and the longest. We had head winds almost from the start, and for five weeks we battled in " the black hole," or "roaring forties," with adverse gales, heavy seas, and cold weather, splitting sails, and losing one of our boats, until all hands were worn out and disheartened. There had been symptoms of insubordination among the men for several days, and finally, one day at two bells in the afternoon, quite a number of the crew, under the leadership of a man named Green, refused to " turn to." After a considerable time the men were got upon deck, and came aft in a body. The captain appeared, and ordered those who had nothing to do with the matter to go forward again. Only a few did so, and the captain then asked Green what complaint they had. He replied that the men were tired of- the continued hard work and exposure, and that they wanted the ship run off south, and that we should make what is called the " southern passage." Of course this was mutinous, and would never do. The captain at once ordered them to go to their duty, but no one moved. " Seize that man," pointing to Green, " and put him in irons !" The chief mate stepped forward to do so, when Green, a most powerful fellow, made a savage lunge at him with his sheath-knife, cutting the breast of his coat and scratching the skin. Another man drew a slung-shot, as if to strike him. MUTINY ON THE HIGH SEAS. 173 The mate jumped back, and, drawing a revolver, shot Green dead, wounding the other man, with a sec- ond shot, so badly that he died in half an hour. Their ringleaders gone, the rest were soon subdued. Two or three were ironed and confined in the steerage, while the rest went doggedly about their work, which was so much the harder because so many were out of the way. That night the dead men were thrown overboard just as they were, and the next day the ones in irons were released on promise of good behavior, as we were now dangerously short-handed, having three men very ill in their bunks. Gradually we worked our way westward, fighting hard for every inch. One of our sick men died, of inflammation of the lungs, aggravated no doubt by neglect, damp, and cold, and all hands were haggard and worn out. "We were more than sixty days out from Liver- pool, and had passed the longitude of Halifax, when we sprang a bad leak during a very heavy northerly gale. The water gained on us fast, and the men were not able to stand to the pumps like a well crew, while the fearful weather made it necessary to knock off from pumping occasionally to work ship, for we split and lost sails, and had to get hawsers over the fore- and main-top mast heads, hard and dangerous work for exhausted men. By the time this gale abated it was evident the ship must sink: the carpenter reporting that she was so strained that she had opened badly in many different 15* 174 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. places, and we had lost our fore-yard and foretop-mast, and the head of the fore-mast sprung. A very dangerous sea remained after the gale broke, and we delayed as long as possible in taking to the boats on that account, as well as being in hopes of speaking some vessel. At last the order was given to take to the boats. "We had two left at the davits, one a good large one, and the other a sort of dory. Into each of these had been put some beef, bread, breakers of water, and a compass. The two sick men were brought up from the fore- castle and placed in the starboard quarter boat, which was the largest, and the chief mate and three men got into her to take charge and to bear her off as she was lowered. Watching for a smooth time, the captain gave the order to lower. The falls were eased off properly, and the boat seemed going all right, when the ship " squat- ted," and a short sea " bobbling up" at the same time, touched the after-part of the boat and lifted it ; the after-fall unhooked, and in a moment the boat was hanging by the forward fall, and the men in her were spilt out like potato-peelings thrown from a basket. The next sea took the boat away, and the six men of course were lost. There were still thirty of us left on board, including the cook and steward, and we now turned to at getting the long-boat ready to launch overboard, which, with the small dory, would have easily held ue all, could we have got them safely into the water. I must say our dandy captain behaved like a man. " Now, men," he said, " not a soul goes into that small MUTINY ON THE HIGH SEAS. 175 boat until the long-boat is launched ! If they do, it will be over my body !" "We worked hard, for we did not know at what mo- ment the ship might founder under us. Casting off the iron gripes which confined heron the chocks amidships, and hastily putting in the oars, pro- visions, and water, we slewed her round athwart ships by luff-tackles, and got her on rollers, secured by the tackles and chocks. Then we began to knock and cut away the stanchions and bulwarks on the lee side, with the hope of launch- ing her safely by watching a chance. But some fatality seemed to cling to all we did during this passage, for before the stanchions were gone some frightened fool cast off the luff-tackle during a tremen- dous lee lurch, and the boat rushing to leeward plunged overboard, hopelessly bilged, too, by the stump of a stanchion. Here we were now with only one boat left, and she would not safely carry the third of us, especially in such a sea. She was finally lowered, however, with four men in her, but she had hardly touched the water and been sheered off on a long painter led well forward when the painter parted, or, perhaps, the men in her may have cut it, and away the boat went into the gathering darkness of approaching night with the four men in her. Things now seemed very black. The night was spent in spasmodic efforts at the pumps, the sounding- rod showing that the water gained upon us all the time in spite of our exhausting work. Some rest was taken in snatches on deck, such rest as wet and weary men in such a position could take in the open air. 176 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. There was one thing in our favor, the sea was rap- idly running down; and, towards morning, we began to build a raft of empty casks and spars as a last hope, in case the ship foundered suddenly. As soon as daylight came I went aloft as far as the main-top, and soon saw a brig to the eastward, coming down upon us fast. We set our ensign, union down, which she saw and answered. It was high time some assistance should reach us, for the ship was getting so deep in the water that she would not mind her helm at all, and her pitches and lurches were of that sullen and drunken nature which show that a vessel has not much life left in her. In less than half an hour the brig was hove to on our quarter and had lowered a boat, which pulled under our stern. The man in charge hailed to say that he could not come alongside, as he feared he would stave his boat, but that we must jump overboard one at a time, and they would pick us up. This we did, some having life-preservers on, until the boat was full, when she pulled back to the brig and managed to put them all on board. She made three trips in this way, when there only remained the captain, second mate, two seamen, the black steward, and myself. When the steward was ordered to jump he point- blank refused, saying that he might as well go down with the ship as jump overboard and be drowned. In spite of every effort, short of throwing him over, he would not budge. The men in the boat hailed to say that we must lose no more time, and the ship was evidently settling fast. So overboard we went, the MUTINY ON THE HIGH SEAS. 177 captain last, leaving the steward wringing his hands on the taffrail. As soon as he saw the captain hauled into the boat, he seemed to realize that he was to be left behind to his fate, and, yelling out, " Hold on, captain ! hold on ! I'se a comin' !" he jumped into the sea. We pulled up to wait for him to rise, but he never did, and at last the boat pulled to the brig, and we got safely on board. She was from Sydney, Cape Breton, with coal for Boston. As soon as she hoisted her fine clinker-built boat which was done with great difficulty she bore up on her course. I do not think we had left our ship a mile astern when she made a plunge, and went down, slowly, head- foremost, her main- and mizzen-mast heads showing last above the water. There were twenty-five of us in all who got on board the collier; and we filled her little cabin and deck-house, so that there was not room for all to lie down at once. The skipper and his men were very kind, and did all they could for us in the way of hot food and warm clothing, and on the fifth day we reached Boston, and got our feet once more on dry land. The captain went to some friends of his and got some money, with which he took the second mate and myself to New York. The men who were shipped by the run and had nothing due them were scattered, to be picked up by runners and shipping-masters and sent to sea again at once. H* CHAPTEE XVI. ADRIFT ONCE MORE, I TAKE TO COASTING. HERE I was in New York again five months after I had left there in the Amazon. All my nice outfit was gone; but, having taken up no advance of wages, I had about two hundred dollars due me from the owners, which they paid me as soon as I presented myself. I had lost my berth, however, and there seemed little likelihood of my getting another, unless I waited many months for a new veasel, building for the same owners at Green Point, and which Captain D was probably to have. But this vessel would, most likely, be put into the line, and I had taken a dislike to the Liverpool trade; beside which, I had learned enough to feel certain that it would be years, if ever, before I could command a ship in that line, or even become chief mate of one. The captain of the Amazon had reported the affair of the shooting on his arrival in New York, and the second mate and myself had to go before the commis- sioner, and there was some talk of holding us as wit- nesses. Finally, the captain gave security for his own appearance when wanted, and I never heard that any- thing more came of it. The chief mate, who had actually done the shooting, was undoubtedly lost, as well as the men in the second 178 ADRIFT ONCE MORE, I TAKE TO COASTING. 179 boat ; at least the latter were never heard from, and no doubt perished miserably. While I was drifting about New York, uncertain what to do, I one day came across my old shipmate Brown, who had gone home from Gibraltar when the Mary was wrecked. He looked well and was well dressed, and we went into a public-house together and sat down for a " yarn." After we had " brought up the log" of what we had done since we parted, Brown told me that he belonged to a brig called the Eliphalet Simpson, hailing from New Haven, and had been in her for more than a year. Brown came from that part of the States, and was some distant connection of the captain of the brig. She was then in New York with a cargo of sugar from Sagua, and he said they generally traded to the West In- dies in winter, and along our own coast in the summer. After a long talk Brown proposed to me to ship in the Eliphalet Simpson, as they were short a hand. I went down with him to the slip where she was lying, and saw her skipper, a plain, sensible, quiet, old fel- low, who looked and talked much more like a Connec- ticut farmer than a seaman; but he was a seaman, and a good one. He agreed to ship me at good wages, and I went to one of the owners of the Amazon, Mr. Archer, who had taken an interest in me, and told him what I was going to do. I requested him if he saw a chance for me, to write to the address of my new captain in New Haven, whence the letter would be sure to reach me. This he promised to do, and I then went to purchase a few clothes and other necessaries, and put more than a 180 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. hundred dollars in the savings-bank where I had made a deposit before. Next morning, early, I went on board the Eliphalet Simpson with my traps. This was a regular family ship. She belonged to the skipper and his brother-in- law. Another brother-in-law was mate, and a cousin second mate. Although she was a good-sized brig, being about three hundred tons, we had only five men before the mast, and a cook, who was the steward also. But the five men were all good seamen and steady fel- lows, and all but myself came from the same neighbor- hood. The skipper, in virtue of his age and office, was called " cap'en," but the men addressed the mates by their Christian names, and the mates did the same by the men. It always appeared to me that the captain kept most of the night-watches, and the mates were on deck during the day, joining in all the work going on. In fact, I never was in any vessel where there was so little distinction between " Jack and his master," and yet where work was so cheerfully and thoroughly done. The same food was served in the cabin and to the hands in the deck-house amidships. Pork and beans, pump- kin " sass," potato-scouse, sea-pie, and other delicacies, were concocted for all alike by the old black man who was cook and steward in one. Sampson Henderson, or " Mr. Henderson the stew- ard," as he delighted to be called, was the only tyrant on board. No one must interfere with him in his galley under pain of short commons when dinner came to be served out. In bad weather, when the Eliphalet was " lively" and the spray flew from her bows, Mr. ADRIFT ONCE MORE, I TAKE TO COASTING. 181 Henderson would shut the sliding-doors of his little caboose, and there he would stay, spite of heat and smoke, solemnly stirring and tasting, and growling fearfully if u tacking ship" made it necessary for him to come out to " 'tend foresheet," the cook's station from time immemorial. Many arguments did he hold with the mate to show that as he was steward he should not be obliged to "'tend foresheet." But the mate always pinned him down to the undeniable fact that he was cook also, and that the part of him which was cook must go to the foresheet when the order was given, " Ready, 'bout !" On fine evenings, after all his pots and pans were scoured, Sampson would sit on a little three-legged stool on the lee side of his caboose and sing Methodist hymns by the hour, only interrupting this pious exer- cise to swear freely at any one of the men who, think- ing him absorbed, tried to sneak into his sacred galley for a coal to light his pipe, or in search of some pan of " scouse" stowed away by Sampson for his own supper. There was never any strong liquor used in the brig, and I really think there was none on board of her. In hot weather we had " swankey" for a drink, composed of molasses, vinegar, and water. And in cold weather Sampson gave us coffee three times a day, and very often, for those who called him " Mister" Henderson, he had a pot over for the night. Sometimes, when we were in port, and in the in- terval between discharging and receiving cargo, Brown would go on shore, and come off a little the worse for drink. But even then he did not materially disturb the propriety of the Eliphalet Simpson, for he only gave 16 182 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. evidence of being in liquor by preternatural solemnity of countenance and glassiness of eye, and a slight tangling of his legs as he made straight for his bunk, where he would soliloquize and sing in a low, maudlin voice until he went to sleep. As soon as we got clear of our sugar-boxes we went up the sound to New Haven. There the captain, mate, and two of the men, who were married, went home, leaving Mr. Henderson, Brown, an old man called Dan'l, who had been whaling most of his life, with myself, to take care of the brig. We got in a good bit of ballast, and then carpenters came and put up a temporary deck over it in the hold, with stalls, or bars, for the purpose of taking on board a load of mules and horses for Barbadoes. When we were ready for sailing the animals were slung by a broad canvas band, and lowered down our large main-hatch, when they were led away and secured in their berths. They plunged and kicked as they first felt themselves lifted, but once in the air they seemed to realize their helplessness, and hung with stiff legs, like wooden horses. A considerable number were then taken on deck, as well as a huge pile of baled hay, and water-casks, wherever there was room, either below or on deck, to lash one. Two jockeys, or men to handle the horses and treat the sick ones, went out with us ; and plenty to do they had in feeding and watering the " critters," as the skipper called them, and in cleaning up the 'tween decks. Although we had plenty of ballast we were neces- sarily crank with such a load ; and going off across ADRIFT ONCE MORE, I TAKE TO COASTING. 183 the Gulf Stream, with a stiff northwester, we rolled heavily. Two or three of the horses got down, and with such a sea but little could be done to get them up again, so they died, and were hoisted up and hove overboard. A mule kicked until he broke his leg, and had to be killed ; but with these exceptions we got them all safely into Carlisle Bay. I must say that the poor beasts looked rather the worse for the passage, and as an old negro, who came off in the scow which we used to take them on shore, remarked, " Dey looked like dey had come all dis way to feed de John-crows." From Barbadoes we took sugar and molasses back to Portland, Maine, and by that time the season was so far advanced that the skipper did not care to take another freight for the West Indies. We therefore went round to Philadelphia, and there got a load of coal for Boston, and in this trade we continued all summer. On going up the Delaware to the Richmond coal- wharves, the skipper would go on shore and down to the custom-house, where he entered and cleared the vessel, which formalities would be performed at the same time ; for very often the vessel would be loaded from the shoots by the time he returned. Then there was nothing to be done but to clap on the hatches and start down the river again in tow of a tug, washing down the decks and ourselves as we moved down the stream. I never got used to this coal-trade, although I had plenty of it afterwards, for it was stupid, dirty work, and I was very glad when the winter came and we resumed our voyages to the West Indies. - 184 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. I had written to my friend, Mr. Archer, in New York, and had heard from him that it would be still some time before their new vessel would be ready, but that when she was he hoped to be able to give me a berth in her. So I stuck to the Eliphalet Simpson till the time arrived, although I was most anxious to get on, and perhaps, some day, command a vessel of my own. It was about the 5th of November when we sailed from Matanzas, bound to Philadelphia, with a full load of sugar, indeed, we were rather too deep. We started with lovely weather, made Cape Florida and Bahama Lights with a fair wind, the Gulf Stream sending us along, and everything promising a speedy passage. But when about ia the latitude of Cape Fear the wind hauled to about east southeast, and began to freshen, while the weather looked very dirty. We went to work to get the vessel snug, unbending the chains and letting them run below into the locker, and getting the anchors in board on the top-gallant forecastle, and securely lashing them. The wind increasing rapidly, we furled top-gallant- sails, main-sail, and try-sail, and stowed the jibs and stay-sails. By sundown we had to furl the fore-sail and foretop-sail, and bring the brig to under close-reefed main top-sail and foretop-mast stay-sail. The wind now began to haul more to the southward, and a tremendous sea was getting up. By midnight it was blowing a very heavy gale, and promising to be worse, and we hauled down the foretop-mast stay-sail, nearly losing two men in the effort to stow it. Being very deeply laden, we labored a good deal ADRIFT ONCE MORE, I TAKE TO COASTING. 185 during the night, and commenced making water, so that the pumps had to be kept going most of the time. By the time day broke the sea was heavier than ever, making clean breaches, at times, on board of us ; and we now commenced heaving the boxes of sugar overboard to lighten her, passing them up the cabin companion- way, and watching sharp to close the slide whenever a larger sea than usual came on board. While engaged at this work one monster boarded us, smashing our boats and bruising some of us, but, fortunately, not seriously. We had hardly got to work again when another sea came, and took about everything movable off the deck. Worst of all, it tore off the tarpaulin from the main-hatch, and smashed in the hatch itself. Fortunately, a bolt of heavy canvas was in the deck- house, and, hammer and nails being at hand, we man- aged to secure the hatch pretty well with this. But the leaks continued to increase, and two hands were now constantly at the pumps, while the rest were at work getting the cargo out. The sea was by this time fearful to look at. The wind continued to haul gradually round by south to west and north of west. Our furled top-gallant sails were blown from the gaskets, and it was impossible for any one to go aloft to secure them, so they blew away, and our fore-sail and foretop-sail soon followed them. All this time the leaks were increasing, and some- times it was impossible to stand at the pumps, as the waist would fill with water, which rushed dangerously from side to side. This we partly remedied by knock- ing away some part of the bulwarks amidships. 1G* THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. About noon the worst sea we had seen came comb- ing along high above us, and struck us with awful force. Our old skipper saw it in time to warn all to hold on, and not a man was swept away. For my part, I thought the vessel was foundering, and felt surprise when she gradually rose and shook herself partially clear of the immense weight of water. When we could see about us once more we found the bowsprit, foretop-mast, fore-yard, main top-gallant mast, and main top-sail yard, all carried away, and the close-reefed main top-sail was gone too, so there was not a rag of sail to steady the brig. The foretop-sail yard in its fall had gone through the deck and ripped it up, and the water was pouring down through the hole. We had to cut off the yard, which was done by the mate and Brown with axes, and the hole was partially stopped by boards from the cabin bulk-head, with canvas nailed over them. We also managed to clear and cut away the wreck, and to set the main storm stay-sail, and then returned to the pumps, and to throwing cargo overboard. The men at the pumps were lashed, as well as those at the wheel, while the rest of us had to watch out and secure our- selves whenever a sea boarded us. At eight o'clock that night we ceased working at the cargo from sheer exhaustion, but the pumps had still to be kept going by short reliefs, for the water in the hold kept gaining. We had had some raw pork and hard-tack at times during the day, and there was a small cask of water in the steward's pantry below, from which we drank. Thus passed this wretched night, all hands pumping ADRIFT ONCE MORE, I TAKE TO COASTING. 187 in turn, or catching snatches of sleep, sitting lashed under the bulwarks of the weather quarter. Next morning, the wind blowing almost as hard as ever from northwest, we had to secure the main rigging and top-mast backstays, the lanyards of which were beginning to go. The cook managed to heat us some tins of soup by an alcohol lamp in the cabin, and the warm food seemed to put new life into us. The water was very deep in the hold now, and of course we had to keep the pumps going as well as we could. A good deal of the sugar in the lower tiers had melted, so we pumped it out, and we managed to trim aft a few boxes to take the place of that thrown over- board, but it was very slow and dangerous work. The water gained on us, the weather was nearly as bad as ever, and the ship was laboring tremendously, but the sea was a little more regular and did not break on board so often. Another night now shut down upon us, which I thought must certainly be our last ; but we stuck to the pumps, and no one seemed inclined to give up, although we were fearfully exhausted, and the weather had turned cold. At daylight on the third day we were nearly all unfit to pump any more, and old Daniel and Sampson were completely used up, and were lying on the cabin floor. The wind had sensibly decreased, but there was still a very heavy sea, and the brig was evidently settling. At this time we saw a barque to leeward of us, lying to under close reefed main top-sail and fore-sail, and we made her a signal, when she appeared for the first time 188 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. to see us. She stood by us until afternoon, when the sea had run down enough for her to lower a boat, and in two trips she managed to take us all off, besides a lot of valuables from the cabin tied up in a sheet. The barque which saved us was the Reindeer, of Glasgow, bound to Charleston. Her old Scotch cap- tain was very kind to us, and it was with great pleasure that I afterwards heard he was presented with a hand- some chronometer by the government for his exertions that day. Most of us did nothing but sleep until we arrived in Charleston, but the only one who was really made ill by all this exposure was poor old Dan'l, who had to be sent to the hospital, and who died there in a few days from inflammation of the lungs. As it was evident he could not live, the captain left money to bury him decently, and we all left for New York in one of the regular packet steamers. Sampson Hender- son, on account of the laws about free blacks, was retained on board the Reindeer by the Scotch skipper until we were all ready to go on board the New York steamer. When we arrived the captain settled with me, and we parted. He told Brown and myself that if we found nothing better to do, we could come up to New Haven in April and ship again with him. The Eli- phalet Simpson had been well insured, and the old man thought he would stop at home a while, and then buy a new vessel in the spring. While sailing in the Eliphalet Simpson I had occa- sionally sent money to be put in the savings-bank, and I now had over three hundred dollars there, besides enough to fit me out with clothing and keep me for a ADRIFT ONCE MORE, I TAKE TO COASTING. 189 little while. I went to my old boarding-house with Brown, who would tipple while on shore, but who behaved himself tolerably so long as I kept an eye on him. Our positions were completely reversed since he was captain of the top in the old F . CHAPTER XVII. I FALL, UPON MY FEET, AND ALSO FALL IN LOVE. As soon as I got some decent clothes, I went to see ray friend, Mr. Archer, who told me that they would have a fine new barque ready in about a month, and that I should have the berth of mate in her. I then asked him for some berth for Brown, and he told me to go to see the captain who was to command the barque, and to use his name in regard to Brown. This captain was named Henry, and was quite a young man, of very good education, who had been brought up principally in the East India and China trade. He received me very pleasantly, and asked me all about myself, my age, and my capabilities as a navi- gator. I told him I was about twenty-five, and was very rusty in navigation, but had no doubt that I should soon pick up. When I spoke to him about Brown as a thorough seaman and rigger, he said he would take him as boatswain. Until the barque (which was called the Highflyer) was ready, I had nothing to do but walk about and amuse myself. One day I went over to the Naval Hospital to see the doctor in charge, and my old ac- quaintances employed there, and to hear a little navy news. 190 I FALL UPON MY FEET. 191 I was returning at dusk across the Fulton ferry, when I saw an old lady, quite respectably dressed in black, slip and fall on the icy pavement. I picked her up, and she appeared more frightened and shaken than hurt; so I offered to take her home, if she would tell me where she lived. It turned out to be quite near, in John Street, where she was a sort of janitress to a large establishment for making fringe and such like things. The proprietors gave the girls employed there their meals, and this old lady, whose name was James, superintended all that, and had two rooms up-stairs, where she lived with her daughter, they be- ing the sole occupants of the building at night and on Sundays, When we got to the door, and the old lady had man- aged to get the dead-latch key in, a girl, who had evi- dently been listening for it, ran down and, not seeing me, began to talk to her mother about being so late, and how anxious she had been. Mrs. James drew her attention to me, and after some whispered consultation, they asked me to walk in. I did so, though generally bashful enough among women, and I was fairly taken aback by the beauty of the daughter, a girl of about twenty, and by the pleas- ant, cheerful, kind way in which she managed her mother, and soothed her after her agitation. When I took my leave, they asked me to call again, which I very soon did, and then learned that Mrs. James was the widow of a boatswain in the navy, and had a small pension. After they found that I was a sailor, it seemed to make them feel still more kindly towards me, and it 192 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. soon came about that I passed most of my evenings there. When the Highflyer was ready, I went on board with a heavy heart at going to sea, for the first time in my life. For, although I had been something of a Jonah, I had never thought much of the risks of my calling until now. I felt that I should like to come back safely, get command of a vessel, and marry Ella James. Still, I did not say as much as that to her; for the old lady, to whom I had hinted my wishes, would not hear of it, at least for the present. I referred her to Mr. Archer, and to the old skipper of the Eliphalet Simpson, in New Haven, for my character, and went away in better heart, for a gentle squeeze of Ella's hand and a little moisture which I saw in her eyes as she bade me good-by. The Highflyer was ready for sea about the first of February. At this time the Crimean war was going on, and a great amount of tonnage was taken up for supplying the allied armies. Sailors were consequently in demand in all ports, and we had some difficulty in picking up a crew. Ours comprised a great many na- tionalities, like most of the ships' companies sailing from New York. But every man Jack of them had his American protection, setting forth the very town in New York, Massachusetts, or Pennsylvania where he was born. We had two or three Swedes or Norwegians, a Finn, and several " Dagos," or Portuguese, from Madeira and Fayal, with two Irishmen. The rest were Americans, including a Gay Head Indian, a capital sailor and a / FALL UPON MY FEET. 193 first-rate helmsman, with a black cook and mulatto steward. The " north countrymen" were good, honest, hard- working, simple-hearted men, who never gave any trouble. The Finn was a carpenter and sail-maker, while Brown was, as I have said before, the boatswain, and, like most thorough sailors, could turn his hand to almost anything. Our second officer was an old Sag Harbor whaler, who was just a second mate, and would never be any- thing else. The owners had been offered a very favorable charter from the French government to take flour out to the Crimea, and the agent was hurrying us off; so the moment we got our crew on board we sailed for Gib- raltar. The ship proved worthy of her name, and made the passage in twenty-three days. In spite of the mixed crew everything soon settled down and worked smoothly. I felt proud of my position, and worked hard. Cap- tain Henry seemed to appreciate it, for we were soon on very good terms, and always continued so. One day, soon after we sailed, the old black cook called me into the pantry as I was going on deck, and, carefully closing the door, said, " Mr. Mate, does you rightly know whedder dat Finn is a Rooshin Finn ?" I answered that I believed all Finns were Russian Finns now, and asked him why, although I knew the reason for his question well enough. He hesitated, and then said it was bad to sail with a Russian Finn, for they were able to bewitch people, and had the evil eye. He, moreover, informed me that this Finn had a horn of i 17 194 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA, baby's fat to grease his sail-needles with to make them go easy when mending sails, and that if he hated any- body, he had only to touch them, in their sleep, with a little of the fat, and they would wake up blind, with much more to the same purpose. I mention this to show what queer notions and su- perstitions seafaring people have, although they are now fast passing away. The belief that Finns were war- locks is, or was, one of the most deeply fixed in the nautical mind. This particular Finn was an industrious, ill-tempered old fellow, who seldom spoke to any one, but went quietly about his work, never interfering with others, so long as he was let alone. When not at work his only enjoyment seemed to consist in greasing and rubbing a large pair of sea-boots which he possessed with a compound of tallow, bees- wax, and turpentine. I really should be afraid to say how many coats he gave these boots on the passage to Gibraltar, but a good part of the time they were hanging to soak and dry in the cook's galley, very much in the way, too, but the cook was afraid to touch them for fear some of the baby-fat might be on them. On arriving at Gibraltar we were ordered to proceed at once to Constantinople, and discharge our flour at Scutari, not going on to Balaklava. We proceeded at once, and on arrival at the Darda- nelles, and showing our transport number, we were taken in tow by a French despatch boat, and soon an- chored in the Bosphorus. As soon as we arrived we were boarded by the French commissariat officers, with I FALL UPON MY FEET. 195 dozens of Turkisk "hamals," or porters, who soon whipped our barrels of flour out. I have never seen stronger men than these hamals. They picked up and handled the barrels as easily almost as a lady her muff. The Bosphorus was crowded with men-of-war, trans- ports loaded with troops, and merchant vessels, and the scene was a very interesting and busy one, especi- ally on a fine, clear day, when we had a view of Con- stantinople, Pera, and the strait, with its picturesque, bold shores, lined with the palaces of the Sultan and high dignitaries. We were there only five days, and I never had time to go on shore. The French officers hurried us, for we were to go back to Toulon, and there take on board a battery of artillery, with their horses. The day before we sailed a staff-officer came on board, measured the ship and drew a plan of her. This was to be sent on by steamer in advance, so that they might get out the lumber for berths and stalls before we arrived. For ballast, going back, we had a quantity of con- demned guns, shot, and other iron, to be delivered at the iron-works at La Seyne, near Toulon. We made a very fine passage to the westward, going to the south of Sicily, and sighting Malta and Gozo. We had one sharp northwest blow off Pantellaria and Cape Bon, being the first really bad weather we had in the ship. She behaved beautifully, and I liked her better and better every day. When we arrived off Toulon we were taken in tow by a naval tug, and entered the splendid harbor, which was full of men-of-war and transports. 196 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. The French flag-ship, a splendid three-decker, seemed to be signalling all day long, and her band on the poop seemed never to cease playing " Partant pour la Syrie." Boats and steam-launches were dashing about with orders, and, as we had our transport number flying, one came and ordered us to a buoy, close to the entrance of the old basin. Just inside the entrance of the latter lies moored the Muiron, the vessel in which Napoleon came back from Egypt, eluding all the English cruisers. The Muiron is kept in perfect order, and, though rather old-fashioned, according to present ideas, she shows fine lines, and is a very pretty vessel. Waiting near the buoy, to assist us to moor, was a launch manned by the convicts, called " galle'riens," or " forcats," by the French. They were dressed in coarse jackets and trousers, with sleeves and caps of red, yel- low, and green, denoting the terms for which they were sentenced. I think I was told that the green ones were there for life. Each had a tin slip sewed on his cap, with a number on it, made by perforating the tin with small holes, like an old-fashioned lantern, and they were only known by these numbers. There were no names in the gal- leys. On the stern-frame of the launch sat two guards, with short carbines across their laps, who directed the work of the "forcats," speaking to them just as one would speak to a mule. I have never seen more forbidding countenances than these galley-slaves have, and there seemed to exist a singular likeness among them, doubtless from their close-cropped hair and lack of beard, all being close-shaven. / FALL UPON MY FEET. 197 They stare back, when looked at, with a hard, unwinking glare, like that of a wild animal. Anything thrown overboard, even the veriest gar- bage, was seized upon by these creatures, and stowed away about their clothes, as a little addition to their scanty ration, for they are by no means pampered, these for9ats ! Once, when a boat pulled by them was alongside our ship, I dropped a good large piece of cavendish tobacco close by one of them. He sprang at it like a hungry wolf, glanced up at me, and for half a second looked almost grateful. These wretches are seldom warm in winter, seldom cool in summer, and, early and late, are kept at hard and dirty work. No change, no hope; seeing the world move around them, but not belonging to it. It seemed to me their lot was worse than that of prisoners in solitary confinement. Think of being chained to a man whom you feared or detested for five years, or until one of you died ! Think of being chained to your bed every night, and such a bed ! with guns loaded with grape, pointed through ports, to rake the dormitory in the " Bagne." There are about four thousand of them, and they seldom escape. When they do manage to elude the guards, the fact is soon discovered, and they are almost always recaptured. A gun fires, and the report and its echoes go booming among the mountains. Then every child knows that a galle"rien is loose, and all look out for him, for it is well not to have one of these prowling about, watching his chance. A starving wolf would be safer. Terrible crimes have been committed 17* 198 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. about Toulon by escaped galley-slaves, in their attempts to procure a change of clothing, food, and money, to aid them to get away. Sometimes one drowns himself rather than be retaken. He is then identified, and marked off the list : a good riddance. I went on shore sometimes at Toulon, landing on the quay of the old basin, lined with high houses, full of cafes, billiard-rooms, and shops full of trash for wheedling sailors out of their money. If any one still has the idea that Frenchmen do not get drunk, let him go on this quay on Sunday after- noon, and he will see soldiers and sailors reeling along, shouting, singing, and making fools of themselves in the manner of drunken men the world over, every now and then stopping at some " guingette" to have the " petite goutte," to keep up the steam. The bronze statue of the Genius of Navigation would see many such sights if it did not turn its back upon them, and gaze out south over the basin and splendid harbor. There were soldiers and sailors everywhere, and huge transports were taking them off every day, bound to the Crimea, to replace the sick and wounded, which the same vessels had just brought home. The basins and docks at Toulon are not the sweetest places in the world, for the whole drainage of the town goes into them, and the Mediterranean being almost tideleas, they do not clear themselves very readily. I was glad, therefore, when we received orders to be ready for our passengers. The guns, with their caissons and forge, were first brought on board and stowed below, except one gun and limber, which was lashed on the quarter-deck. / FALL UPON MY FEET. 199 Then came the horses, brought off on scows, whipped on board, and placed in their stalls. Finally the offi- cers, five in number, and the men came on board, and were told off to their quarters. Of course the officers were in the cabin, and it appeared to me that, during the whole passage, seasick or not, on deck or below, they never stopped talking, and never took off their swords or spurs. They were apparently not bad fel- lows, but as none of them spoke English our inter- course was rather limited, and they gave very little trouble. There was a trumpeter, however, forward, who was a perfect nuisance, for he was blowing " calls" of some kind all day long, and well into the night. After they got over their seasickness, one or other of the sergeants was always drilling some recruits and conscripts among them at the gun left on deck, and at the sabre exercise, while the officers smoked cigarettes and looked on with their hands in the pockets of their baggy red trousers. I don't remember seeing an officer or man read a line during the three weeks they were on board, but they must have played in that time about seven thousand games of dominoes. As soon as we had everything secured we were taken in tow by a man-of-war, a paddle-wheel steamer, and started at once for the East, stopping a few hours at Messina and at Syra, in the Archipelago, to replenish our coal and water. When we arrived in the Bosphorus, the steamer went alongside a coal-hulk, while we took water from a float- ing tank, and in six hours we were off again for Bala- klava. As this was less than four hundred miles, we 200 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. arrived the third day, having had splendid weather all the way from Toulon. As soon as we warped into the narrow, crowded port, we began to tumble our passengers, their horses and guns, on shore, and glad enough we were to get rid of them and have the ship to ourselves once more. I suppose there was never seen a more curious mix- ture of races than in the crowd along the water-side, and among the sheds and store-houses at Balaklava. Fatigue-parties of Frenchmen, English, Turks, and Italians, Greeks, Tartars, Armenians, Germans, Yan- kees, and negroes, fairly swarmed. The ravine which formed the port was deep, and nothing of the armies or their operations could be seen. I should have liked to go and have a look at the siege, but the harbor-master, a smart, bustling English navy captain (I think his name was Boxer) hurried us with our ballast, and fairly shoved us off and out of the harbor before we had time to look about us. In fact, the port was much too small for the shipping going there, and I could not blame the harbor-master, but I have always regretted having been there without being able to see anything of the operations. This is often the case with sailors. Frequently brought close to remarkable places, people express sur- prise that they have not been visited by them, forget- ting that a sailor has to attend to his business, just as much as any tradesman at home has to attend to his shop. Our charter was now up, and we made the best of our way across the Black Sea, and out of the Mediter- ranean. It was the calm season, and consequently we / FALL UPON MY FEET. 201 made a long passage, being sixty days to Gibraltar. Thence we went to Lisbon, were quarantined ten days for coming from the Levant, and afterwards went round to Setuval, or St. Ubes, close by, and took on board a load of salt and cork. Setuval, as well as Ca- diz and Lisbon, are towns of the very greatest antiquity. The Portuguese gravely claim that Setuval was founded by Tubal Cain. It is a poor place now, however, if it is almost as old as the deluge. At last we sailed for New York, by the middle pas- sage, and arrived safe and sound about the middle of October. 1 found my friends, the James', well and glad to see me, and I spent most of my evenings there while the ship was in port. It was an entirely new sensation for me to have a footing in any respectable female society, and I was rather diffident about directly addressing Ella, not un- derstanding much of the ways of wornenkind. How- ever, it was settled at last that when I came home, after the next voyage, we were to be married. I made her some presents of dress and furniture, and put a good bit of money in the savings-bank, for I now got good wages, and had every incentive to put by my savings. CHAPTER XVIII. I MAKE A VOYAGE TO THE RIVER OF PLATE. WE sailed again in the Highflyer, from New York, about the first week in December, bound to the river of Plate with an assorted cargo. We had the same ship's company as on the last voy- age, with a few exceptions, and the changes were for the better. Nothing remarkable occurred on the passage out until we got down on the Line, in the neighborhood of the desert rock of St. Paul. Although this is more than fifty feet high, in the very centre of the ocean, only a few minutes from the Line, and in a neighbor- hood where ships are passing at all seasons, it is very seldom seen. It is inhabited by birds and crabs, liter- ally in myriads. The latter must live upon the birds' eggs and young, and, perhaps, upon each other. Sharks in great squadrons sail about the rock, no doubt attracted by the great quantity of other fish ; and they come off in a grave and stately way to inspect passing vessels : seemingly under the lead of some huge commodore of a fellow, with an immense dorsal fin for a flag. It is hard to say why more vessels are not lost on these rocks, especially at night. Perhaps many are, of which nothing is ever heard. That some are lost we know ; but few people ever land upon the rock, even when they pass close by it. We had calms and baffling winds, with short squalls 202 VOYAGE TO THE RIVER OF PLATE. 203 and torrents of rain, for several days, and every one was wearied out with bracing about the yards to flaws of wind which would only last a few minutes. One night it was pitch dark, heavy clouds covering the whole sky, and a most uncomfortable atmosphere seemed to depress every one on board. About ten o'clock during my watch "corposants" appeared on our trucks and on the pacific-irons of our yards, showing a very ghostly, phosphorescent light of an oval shape as large as a peck measure, and flaring and swaying about with the mo- tion of the vessel, which was becalmed. These " corposants" are nothing but electrical phe- nomena not uncommon in a certain peculiar state of the atmosphere ; but most sailors dislike to see them, and think they augur some ill to the beholders. They lasted for about an hour, during which the old Finn came up to me chuckling and muttering and shaking his head, and said that some harm would happen in consequence of this. A smart rain-squall then came up, after which the weather cleared, and by daylight we were dashing along, with a nice breeze, well across the Line, and everything bright and cheerful. About seven o'clock a man who was aloft sung out that he saw a boat. Going a little way up the mizzen- rigging, I soon made out a boat, apparently empty, on our weather-bow. Reporting it to the captain, he di- rected me to brace up sharp on a wind, so as to pass close to the drifting boat, and see if any one was in her. We stood down close, and when within a hundred yards could see no one in her, and she appeared to have had her gunwale stove ; but just then the boat 204 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. gave a roll, and we saw something in her bottom which looked like a man. Immediately the barque was hove to. We lowered a boat, and pulled for the drifting one, when a dreadful sight met our eyes. In the bottom of the boat lay a dead man, with his face black and festering, turned up to the sun. In the stern-sheets was another, whom we at first thought dead also, but the voices seemed to rouse him, and he made a feeble motion of the hand. He was more emaciated than I have ever seen any other human being, and had on only a pair of ragged trousers and the remains of a striped cotton under- shirt. We soon had the boat alongside our vessel, and the live man out of it. He was not much to lift, for, although nearly six feet high, I do not think he weighed more than eighty pounds. The boat was then searched, and nothing was found in her, beside the dead man, but some empty tins and birds' feathers. "What shall I do with the boat, captain ?" He thought a moment, and then said, " Turn him adrift ! It's the best coffin he could have ! Brace round the mainyard ! Keep the ship her course again !" The poor fellow we had rescued was laid on a mat- tress on the cabin-floor, and food and water given him in small quantities until he somewhat revived. Then he slept, and woke again, and was fed, and then went to sleep again. The old black cook was in constant attendance, trot- ting back and forth from his caboose all day long with broth and meases. VOYAGE TO THE RIVER OF PLATE. 205 He said to me, very confidentially, one day, " Mister Mate, dem corposants was for dat boat, an' not for us. Dat Finn says so, an' he knows." In a few days the rescued man was able to sit up, and to tell us how he came to be in such miserable plight. He proved to be a German, and could speak no English, but one of our " north country" hands in- terpreted. The man was the sole survivor of a crew of fourteen. The Bremen brig to which he had belonged was burnt at sea ; he did not know how many days before, but, as far as we could make out, at least twenty. The long-boat in which he was found had her gun- wale stove in getting it hurriedly over the side. They had time to secure only a few tins of meat and a little hard bread, but no water, and no oars or sails, the fire driving them overboard before they could get these into the boat. The food was gone in a week, but they had some water from rain which fell ; the bottom of the boat being celled and tight, they could drink what gathered there. They had no defence whatever from the sun, and, four days after the food gave out, the captain jumped overboard, mad. Then the men began to die, and those who had the strength threw the dead ones over- board to avoid temptation. They caught a large fish one day with a shirt tied into a bag, and the same day caught two gulls, which had settled in the boat while they were lying in the bottom. By this time there were only three of them left. 18 206 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. They ate the fish and the birds, and then lay down to die. This was his story. He did not know what had be- come of the third man ; but, of course, he had gone overboard in his delirium. In less than four weeks after this we were in the river of Plate, and Heinrich, the man who was saved, was hauling at the braces with the rest and taking his rations like a man. He left us at Buenos Ayres, and shipped on board a Hamburg barque to go home. The barque was wrecked before she got out of the river, on the English Bank, and every soul on board was lost. When the cook heard this, he shook his grizzled old head and said he "knowed dat Heinrich wasn't born for no good luck, along o' dem corposants !" The " English Bank," which is as great a grave for vessels in its way as the " Goodwin Sands," is near the mouth of the river of Plate, which is about one hundred and sixty miles wide at its mouth. A great current runs out of it, and with head winds vessels have a hard beat of it, to get up to Montevideo Roads. Here we found several men-of-war lying some two and a half miles out, for large vessels cannot get into the harbor. In bad weather days sometimes pass with- out any communication between the Roads and the shore. Montevideo was named from a conical hill which overlooks the harbor, and which has a fort and light- house on its summit. It is not much of a mountain ; but, being the only eminence for many miles, it is quite VOYAGE TO THE RIVER OF PLATE. 207 imposing. No doubt the early Spanish navigator made the exclamation " Monte video !" just as the French- man, going up the St. Lawrence, exclaimed " Que bee !" and the names were fixed. The American flag-ship boarded us to get the news from home and any stray newspapers we might have, and informed us that a "revolution" was going on on shore, but that it was only a small one, and would prob- ably be over in a few days. I forget whether it was the " Blancos" who were causing the " revolution" because the " Colorados" were in power, or the contrary. But, at any rate, the whole thing was settled within a week, and the gates were opened again, with great playing of bands, vivas, and popping off of Roman candles and rockets in broad daylight. We then discharged the part of our cargo destined for Montevideo into lighters manned by Genoese, Maltese, and Mahonese boatmen, for the na- tives do not take to the water, and then we went up to Buenos Ayres to deliver the rest. At Buenos Ayres the water is so shoal that we lay throe or four miles off and discharged into lighters. These then went into water about four feet deep, and carts with huge wheels came out to them and took the goods on shore. As soon as we were discharged we went back to Montevideo, a very pleasant town when they are not having a revolution and shooting one another, and there awaited our return cargo of hides and wool. We drew too much water to go into the inner harbor, but we were snug enough, for it was not the season for " pam- peros," and our men were in clover. They had noth- 208 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. ing to do but scrub the decks in the morning. Beef was only two cents a pound, and a hind- quarter was always hanging at our main-stay, from which every one cut as he pleased. Meat does not spoil in this climate, but dries up when hung in the air. The cook was the most popular man in the ship, and all day long collops of beef were cooking in his galley, while a rich odor of frying onions rose in the air. While waiting here, I went out with our consignee to his " estancia," some leagues in the country, and saw much to interest me. In Uruguay the breeding of sheep is generally pur- sued in preference to raising cattle and horses, but there are many estancias devoted to both, and Mr. S 's was one of them. We left his house in the town quite early in the morning. We were on horseback, of course, and walked through the streets, out of the gate and along the pretty suburb, for there is a fine for galloping, and these horses know no intermediate gait. Once out in the open country we started off at a loping gallop, which these grass-fed, common-looking horses can keep up for hours. The country was slightly rolling, with occasional ravines or quebradas, made by the winter rains, but dry enough now. Indeed, the want of water for the stock at this season is one of the serious draw- backs of this country, often causing the death of thou- sands of sheep and cattle. Flocks of horned plovers flew up on each side of the road as we passed, with a curious loud, crackling, scolding cry. We flushed lots of partridges of two VOYAGE TO THE RIVER OF PLATE. 209 kinds, and we saw some flocks of small parrots, and a few gallinazos, or turkey-buzzards. About five leagues out we drew up at an estancia belonging to a friend of Mr. S . Here we had mat6, or Paraguay tea, in gourds handsomely mounted in silver, with silver " bombillas" to suck it up with. We had also some long strips of beef, roasted on an iron spit stuck in the ground before a fire, with English biscuit from a tin box, followed by " dulces" or sweet- meats. Here Mr. S 's capitaz, or overseer, met us by appointment. Pie was a Catalan, long in the country, and was arrayed in his best in honor of the occasion. As he wore the full Gaucho costume, I may as well describe it. His hat was glazed, with a high conical crown and broad rim, and was decorated with ribbons and a gold band. Over his shoulders was a poncho with bright stripes, and his head passed through a slit in the middle. This fell before and behind, leaving the arms free, and showing glimpses at the side of a broad belt, which confined the " chiripa," which is a square cloth folded round the loins and hanging to the knees. Under this appeared the " calzoncillos," white cotton drawers, open on the outside to the knee, finely worked, and trimmed with fringe. Then came boots of untanned calf-skin, with immense silver spurs, the rowels about two inches in diameter. In the belt was stuck a most murderous-looking knife, and the belt itself was profusely ornamented with silver, bearing besides the knife a pouch for tobacco, flint and steel, and cigarette paper. His saddle, bridle, and huge stirrups were covered with silver coin and quaint orna- 18* 210 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. ments of the same metal, which tinkled at every move- ment of horse or rider, so that he put me in mind of the old lady who rode to Banbury Cross. We were soon off again, and by this time were well out in the open country. We saw plenty of herds of sheep, and thousands of cattle. Their Gaucho herds- men were either sitting motionless on horseback or lying stretched out on the ground, their horses standing by them, with their long hide bridles trailing. They were civil enough when we passed close enough to speak to them, but were generally truculent-looking fellows. Indeed, when their blood is up, or there is a good chance for plunder, they know how to use their long knives very well, or report belies them. There were occasionally a few bushes or small trees, and frequent patches of giant thistles, as high as a man's shoulders, and growing densely ; but, for the most part, only grass, now burnt brown by the sun. The thistles, when dry, furnish the principal fuel for cooking, and the patches are burnt over by the Gauchos very often, the finest and sweetest grass growing up from their ashes. Wherever any attempt was made at cultivation, a ditch was dug round the field, and on the parapet formed by the earth thrown from it was planted closely a flat-leafed and very thorny cactus, which grew lux- uriantly, and formed a perfect barrier to cattle. Early in the afternoon we arrived at the estancia. The house was a one-story, flat-roofed building, -of adobes, plastered with mud. It was about thirty feet square, with two or three small windows placed high up,- and an entrance, in which was hung at night or in VOYAGE TO THE RIVER OF PLATE. 211 bad weather, a stiff, dried hide. Near the house were some small huts for the Gauchos, and two large corrals, in which were kept the horses required for daily use, and any cattle which required to be inspected. Some carts with huge wheels, and made almost en- tirely without iron, with long, narrow bodies, formed of wattles, and roofed with raw hide, stood about. These were used to take the hides and wool to Montevideo to be shipped. The main house had two rooms, the inner one being the sleeping apartment, furnished with beds made of hides, stretched on a frame. The other was used for cooking and eating, and as a store-room for saddles, bridles, lassos, branding-irons, and all sorts of tools. It was altogether a very primitive establishment. Soon after we arrived we had a hearty meal of beef, stewed pumpkin, biscuits from a tin, and mate", which takes the place of tea and coffee, although the Gauchos are by no means averse to Brazilian rum when they can get it. I was so sore and tired from being unused to riding that I did not go out that evening, but Mr. S and the capitaz did, and were soon deep in the business of the estancia, reckoning up the calves, colts, and lambs, and the clip of wool. The next morning the sun rose clear and hot, as usual. We had our mate" early, and then sallied out. The Pe"ons or Gaucho herdsmen were mounting their horses and starting to look after the stock, to see that none had strayed during the night beyond the limits of the large tract owned by Mr. S . The cattle are all branded with private marks, and occasionally there 212 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. is a general meeting of all the proprietors for many leagues round, at which strayed cattle are exchanged. After this is accomplished, there is generally much drinking, guitar-playing, dancing, gambling, and fre- quently fighting, with ugly cuts and stabs from the long cuchillos, so handy in every belt. About ten in the morning the Peons came back from their first round, put their horses in the corral, and re- ported their observations in regard to the cattle to the capitaz. Then they had their beef and matS, the latter, as a treat, with sugar, on account of the visit of the "patron." After this they wrapped their heads in their ponchos, and sprawled out in the hot sun on the ground to take their siesta till about three o'clock, when they made the same round as in the morning. Except at the times for branding, killing, or shearing, this is their life, without change. Not very attractive, one would suppose, and yet they think themselves particu- larly fine fellows, and have an ill-concealed contempt for all strangers. Falling into a talk with one of them, I gave him a few cigars, which made him communicative. He asked me where I came from, and when I told him " America del Norte," he said " How far is that?" I replied that by the way I had come it was several thousand leagues. " You never rode that horse all the way," he replied, and then sauntered off, evidently thinking I was trying to humbug him. A few milch-cows were kept in the corral, but they gave very little milk, which appeared to be used only for making a very poor, tasteless cheese. There are quantities of partridges, large and small, VOYAGE TO THE RIVER OF PLATE. 213 and deer of a small kind in plenty : but they scarcely ever eat them, and live upon beef, cut from the carcass in strips and broiled before the fire. This, with mate, and sometimes a little stewed pumpkin, or watermelon, and, occasionally, some bread, satisfies them. The peach-tree grows very well here, and there were quite a number near the house. The fruit is very small and insipid, however, and the trees are used for fuel, as they grow very rapidly from the seed. Next morning, Mr. S having concluded his business, we started on our return to Montevideo, and I got on board ship again, tired and sore, but gratified at having seen what was to me a new phase of life. Soon afterwards we began to receive our cargo. As the winds were light and the current very strong, we had the studding-sail halyards and other small rope bent together, and made fast to a fourteen-gallon breaker, so that, when one of the large lighters failed to fetch the ship, we would veer the breaker astern. They then got hold of the rope and warped up to us by it ; but it was slow business getting our cargo here. CHAPTER XIX. I FALL INTO THE COMMAND OF THE SHIP, BUT SUFFER A GREAT MISFORTUNE AT THE SAME TIME. IT was April, and the autumn of that hemisphere, when we were ready to sail from Montevideo, and the weather was beginning to become unsettled. Finally we cleared, and sailed the next morning at daylight, going rapidly out of the river, past Lobos, Maldonado, and Flores Island, with a fair wind and strong current. Off Cape Santa Maria we got a stiff blow from southeast, which ran us rapidly up the coast. During the night we must have been set more in to- wards the coast than we allowed for, and next morning, while running under short sail between Cape Santa Maria and Rio Grande do Sul, we made out a vessel to the westward apparently dismasted. She was a long way off, and before edging down to speak her we got a cast of the deep-sea lead, and found we were in only seventy-five fathoms. The coast is very shoal here a long way out of sight of land, and the nasty sea and color of the water were enough to show that we were on soundings. "We should, under ordinary circum- stances, have hauled off at once, but we did not like to pass by a vessel in distress until we had found out something about her. On coming down to the vessel we found, to our intense surprise, that she was a regular steamboat, 214 I FALL INTO COMMAND OF THE SHIP. 215 with a hurricane-deck and guards, with sponsons under them. She was at anchor; her smoke-stack gone, as well as her boats, and her fires evidently out, for her men were seen to be bailing by means of a coal-bucket, worked with a whip. Her guards were all knocked up, and her paddle- boxes stove, while many of the buckets were gone from her wheels. It was evident, from her depth in the water, and from the loggy way in which she rolled and plunged to the seas, that she was half full of water, and would probably not float many hours. The people on board her were making signs to us in a frantic way, which, of course, meant that they required immediate assistance. After a little consultation the captain determined to try to save them. We got another cast of the lead, and found we were in twenty-three fathoms ; and, as our chains had not been unbent, we concluded to wear ship, and then, bracing up on the port-tack, to stand up abreast of her again, let go our anchors, and clew up and furl. It was near noon before we worked up into the right position, the ship being almost under water from the spray and seas which we took on board in trying to windward. While we were doing this the wind was sensibly abating; but the sea was still running very high, and was likely to do so for many hours to come. When we finally brought up at our anchors we were not more than sixty fathoms from the steamboat. The Highflyer was a thoroughly well-found vessel, especially in ground-tackle, and we had good holding-ground ; 216 THIRTY TEARS AT SEA. but of course we should never have anchored in such a position except to save life. The steamboat would probably founder before our eyes, with all hands, if we did not work quick. By dint of watching the sea closely we, with great difficulty, lowered a fine quarter-boat we carried, and I went in her, with Brown and three others. After working as hard as ever I did in my life, and at con- siderable risk to ourselves, we managed to take off the shipwrecked crew, making two trips. They were all taken over our taffrail by being slung in a bowline. I was the last one to come out of the boat ; and not having any one to bear her off, while I slung myself, she was stove against our counter. She filled imme- diately, and the weight of water in her at the next surge snapped the spanker-sheet, which had been hove to us for a painter, and we lost her. It was now late in the afternoon, and we concluded to hold on where we were until the sea ran down more, and we could get our anchors. There were fifteen in all saved from the steamer, which sank during the night. She was the Condor, a small boat, built to run on Chesapeake Bay, and was being sent out to ply between Montevideo and Buenos Ayres. She had last put in at St. Catherine's for coal, and was caught by the southeaster and speedily disabled soon after leaving that port. She was, of course, entirely unfit for ocean navigation, as any steamer with guards must be, and they were endeavoring to " sneak" her down to her destination, dodging from port to port. There were too many people taken from the Condor for us to carry them to the United States without / FALL INTO COMMAND OF THE SHIP. 217 danger t>f fulling short of provisions and water. So, when the weather moderated and the sea went down sufficiently for us to get our anchors, we made sail for St. Catherine's to land them. The island of St. Catherine, in the south of Brazil, shuts in a bay forming a fine harbor. There are a number of small islands dotted about the bay, some with half-ruined forts upon them, and the scenery is very picturesque. Our naval vessels often touch here for coal and sup- plies, and they generally take advantage of the charm- ing bay for boat-exercise. We foimd one of our sloops-of-war there, belonging to the Brazil squadron, and I went on board her to see about the disposal of our passengers. I had also heard from her boat, which boarded us on our arrival, that some of my old ship- mates of the M were in her. The captain of the sloop-of-war readily consented to give the shipwrecked crew a passage to Rio Janeiro, whence they could easily get home. Having settled that, I took the opportunity of having a little talk with my old shipmates. There were two Brazilian steam-gunboats in the harbor, and they had that morning had some half-wild cattle driven down from the mountain to the beach, near the anchorage, to be killed for fresh rations. In shooting them with muskets, they had managed to fire so wild as to send one or two balls on board the Amer- ican sloop. Fortunately, the shots did no damage, but her captain sent to the senior Brazilian officer to inform him of the fact. While I was standing on the quarter-deck talking K 19 218 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. to my old shipmate in the M , Lieutenant I , a Brazilian officer, in full dress, came on board to apologize for their bad firing, which apology he deliv- ered in the following choice English : " Sare, my com- mander sorry too much. The man go to shoot the bull. He not shoot the bull, but shoot your sheep .' The commandant now gave order, very severe, that the like not occur on your board again." The little gentleman was assured that the apology was perfectly satisfactory, and went away, evidently much pleased with his proficiency in English. Having disposed of our passengers, we were in haste to be off". But first we bought a lot of fruit, sweet potatoes, and other vegetables from an old fellow named C , an American, who owned a plantation on the island, where he raised coffee principally. Unless report belied him, he was a pretty hard char- acter. It was said that he had run away with and sold an American whaling brig, of which he was master, and with the proceeds had purchased the estate and negroes, which he had now long owned. If this was true, he was probably among the first to take advantage of the want of an extradition treaty with Brazil. I noticed that he had a queer way of carrying his head, and was told that it was the result of a severe wound in the neck, received in the following manner : he was lying in bed at night in his one-storied house, with the doors and windows all open for the sake of the air, and reading by a lamp. After a time, feeling sleepy, he blew out the light, and turned over on his pillow. Just at that moment he felt a tremendous blow strike the pillow beside him, which was evidently I FALL INTO COMMAND OF THE SHIP. 219 intended to cut his head off, for it was made with a broad-axe. The point of the axe just cut through the thick muscle of the neck, missing the large vessels, but it was a narrow escape. People had no doubt that the wound was inflicted by one of his own slaves, for he was fearfully severe with them. On leaving our vessel, in his whale-boat, after bringing the supplies, the slave crew did not give way as sharply as he seemed to desire, the darkies being occupied in gazing at the strange people. C seized a heavy oak stretcher, and, walking forward on the thwarts, whacked them with it over the face and head in the most savage manner, as long as we could see him, and until he turned a point, a third of a mile away. This treatment was the more remarkable, as the Brazilians among whom he lived are, as a rule, very easy with their slaves. That same morning there came on board of us, on a begging expedition, an American who had long before deserted from a whaler, married a half-breed Brazilian, and settled down there. A more wretched object I have seldom seen, as he was filthy, half clothed in ragged slave-cloth, and was suffering from elephant- iasis, his leg and foot being four times the natural size. He earned a precarious living by picking coffee for the different neighboring proprietors, fished a little, and raised a little mandioc and a few plantains. He seemed especially to crave our salt meat, and we gave him a little ; but I could not feel much sympathy for a man who had allowed himself to become so de- graded, and he soon left us in his leaky little canoe. 220 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. He was one of many runaway sailors who are to be found in all sorts of out-of-the-way corners of the world, generally more degraded than the natives with whom they have identified themselves. After remaining twenty-four hours in St. Catherine's, we sailed again for New York, the boats of the sloop- of-war giving us a tow out clear of the point. We came on our coast at the most pleasant time of the year, and nothing unusual occurred until we had crossed the Gulf Stream and were approaching the land. One beautiful day we were touching up the paint-work and making the ship tidy to go into port. The steward had received orders to clean up the cabin and pantry, and in doing so temporarily removed the short ladder which led down into our trunk-cabin. The captain, having occasion to go below, and not perceiving that the ladder was gone, stepped off, and fell heavily on the cabin-floor. Both arms were broken, and he re- mained insensible for a long time. I took command of the ship, and on arriving at quarantine next day sent the captain up to town in a tug, whence he was taken to his home in Brooklyn. New York Bay and Staten Island always look beautiful in early June, and I think I never saw them more so than on this day. Spite of my real sorrow for Captain Henry's acci- dent, I could not help feeling joyous, for I hoped to see my pretty Ella that night, and to be her husband within a day or two. By two o'clock in the afternoon we had reached the dock, and I went on shore to report the ship at the owners' counting-house and enter at the custom-house. I FALL INTO COMMAND OF THE SHIP. 221 As soon as I could get off, I hurried round to John Street. To my surprise, masons were at work on the very ground where the house had stood in which Ella and her mother lived. Going into a neighboring store, I asked the reason of it, and was told that the establish- ment had been burned at night two months before, and that the old lady and her daughter, who lived up-stairs, had both perished in the flames. I suppose I must have fainted, if I did, it was for the first and last time in my life, for I next found myself stretched on a lounge, my shirt open, and peo- ple bustling about with water and fans. The young man who had told me about the fire was bewailing his thoughtlessness, as if he was to know how much his information concerned me. I am not ashamed to confess that I had a good cry, and then thanking the people for their kindness and sympathy, I managed to get away and on board ship. This was the hardest blow I ever had in my life. I felt it much jnore than the loss of my poor mother, for I was a mere boy when that occurred. Mr. Archer came on board the ship in the course of the next day, and was very considerate and sympa- thetic when he heard all the circumstances. He had come to say that the doctors did not think that Captain Henry would recover from his injuries for a long time, if ever, and the owners had in consequence decided to offer me the command of the ship. Of course I could not help feeling gratified and elated at this; but my feelings would have been very different had Ella been alive to sympathize with me and to share in my good fortune. 19* 222 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. It was an excellent thing for me, however, to have the care of the ship, and her preparation for another voyage, to distract my mind and to keep me from dwell- ing too much upon my loss. It must be remembered how few friends I had in the world, and how thor- oughly I had become wrapped up in the only respect- able woman, except my poor mother, with whom I had ever been on intimate terms. I had cherished visions of so much happiness with her, and now I had not even the consolation of knowing where her remains were. But I felt as if I must do something to perpetuate her memory, and so I purchased a plat in Greenwood and put up a handsome stone to her memory and that of her mother, just as if they were lying beneath it. The owners told me that they intended to send the Highflyer, with a cargo of flour and other provisions, to the Mauritius, whence she was to go to Manilla and load for New York. I was anxious enough to get away and to be actively employed, and I soon reported the vessel ready for cargo. The same crew, in the main, remained by the ship, and a chief mate was appointed who had good recommendations, and who turned out to be a very fine fellow. I was now busied getting my charts, having my chronometer rated, and seeing that everything was on board and in order for a long voyage. We were to have, as a passenger, a youth of nineteen, who was to go out to a great American house in Ma- nilla, and I was privately recommended by one of the owners, whose nephew the young man was, to keep a sharp eye upon him, and especially to see that he got / FALL INTO COMMAND OF THE SHIP, 223 no liquor. It appeared that he had acquired all sorts of bad habits in New York, and his friends had deter- mined to send him on this voyage in hopes of reforming him, so I was, accordingly, selected for the post of " bear- leader." It was, at any rate, a satisfactory testimonial to my own character for steadiness ; but, for all that, I did not accept the appointment with a very good grace. Before sailing I went over to Brooklyn to see my old captain, who was still bedridden from his accident. I told him I felt rather badly at taking the ship from him ; but, like the good fellow he was, he said, " Never mind me! If I can only get well, I can easily get another ship ; but this is a chance which would seldom come to you, and I am heartily glad things have turned out so well for you." CHAPTER XX. MY FIRST VOYAGE AS CAPTAIN. I SAILED from New York in July, and had a most pleasant passage to Mauritius, not taking in top-gallant sails more than once during the whole time. We were deep-loaded with flour, salt-fish, bacon, cheese, and oats and baled hay, and the ship was rather dull in consequence. A most capital voyage it was for the owners, however, for we hit the market there exactly, and people were fighting for our cargo as soon as we arrived. Having made rather a long passage, we were fortunately delayed until about a fortnight after a most terrible hurricane had passed over the island. Indeed, we had encountered the swell from it some hundreds of miles to the southward. There were many wrecks in the harbor of Port Louis, several vessels having found- ered at their moorings, with great loss of life. Trees were still lying uprooted, crops of sugar-cane levelled with the ground, buildings unroofed, and the town look- ing as if it had passed through a severe bombardment. Mauritius presents many attractions to a visitor. The mass of the people are of French descent, and a good deal of gayety is always going on, while the ladies are noted for their beauty. One of our naval officers, on his way out to China, in command of a "schooner- brig," once put in here to replace his main-boom, which he had lost off the Cape. Owing either to the uncom- 224 MY FIRST VOYAGE AS CAPTAIN. 225 mon laziness of the carpenters, or to the uncommon attractions found on shore, he was over sixty days in repairing damages, so that when he arrived on the station and reported himself and the cause of his de- tention, the commanding officer sarcastically inquired whether he had been forced to wait for the spar to grow. The scenery of the island is very striking, and the foliage varied and luxuriant. Over the hills and forests tower the strangely-jagged peaks of the mountains; " Brabant" being the highest, and " Peter Botte" the most curious. Among the books supplied to my passenger and ward by his friends, to amuse him and improve his mind on the voyage out, was " Paul and Virginia." The youth's mind was so fired by the love-story, that nothing would do but he must make a pedestrian trip, to try to iden- tify the localities mentioned. It was with great reluctance that I gave my consent, and I did so, at last, only because I thought it would be better than leaving him to the temptations of Port Louis. I made a stipulation that he was to be back in five days, and then supplied him with a little money, from the stock entrusted to me to be used at my dis- cretion, and he set out with his knapsack on his back, in high glee. On the evening of the second day after his departure a policeman came on board, and said there was a young man in the jail, who said I knew him, and who begged I would come at once to see him. I went on shore with the officer, and found my precious passenger in the jail sure enough, sick and sorry, his money and 226 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. clothes all gone, and dressed in very ragged and dirty shirt and trousers. It appeared that he had been picked up by the police, in the very worst of the " back -slums" of Port Louis, drunk and disorderly, and having been thoroughly plucked. Paying his fine, I had him released, and then took him to a bath, and on board ship, where he spent the remainder of our stay at Port Louis. This was the nearest he came to exploring the ro- mantic glens and forests immortalized by Bernardin St. Pierre, and I think I am justified in saying that the perusal of "Paul and Virginia" is calculated to have a bad effect on an ill-regulated mind. There was nothing at Port Louis which offered as cargo to Manilla, and if there had been I could not have taken it, as the law did not at that period allow foreign vessels to bring any cargo into the Philippine Islands. The decrees and regulations governing com- merce there are very curious at times. They depend principally upon the will of the captain-general and the director of the hacienda, sometimes, when these gentlemen see fit, on the home government. The regu- lations are liable to be changed, too, at any time, with- out notice. When such arbitrary conduct is complained of, one is told that it is a " cosa de Espafla," a Spanish thing, which it is not given to foreigners and outsiders to fathom. As we were going to Manilla in the time of the north- east monsoon, I determined to take the passage round by Palawan, instead of beating up the China Sea. During all the time since I left New York, having a careful mate, I had read a great deal, but on this pas- MF FIRST VOYAGE AS CAPTAIN. 227 sage I had to put away my books and be on the alert night and day. It is, at any time, rather ticklish navigation to enter the Malayan Archipelago say between Lorn- bock and Sumbawa up by Bouro and the Molucca passage, past the Sooloo Islands and Mindoro Sea, and out again between Mindoro and Palawan. We must always add to the dangers of hidden reefs, sand-banks, shoals, and uncertain and rapid currents, those to be incurred, at that time, from the Sooloo pirates. Freebooters since the Portuguese, Dutch, and Span- iards first knew them, they have always been a terror to the merchant sailor. But a very few years before the time I speak of they had so handled a Spanish frigate, which had been sent down to chastise them, that she had to be taken all the way to Whampoa to be docked. She had run upon a sand-bank, and the tide leaving her, she fell over so that her bilge was exposed, and she could not fight a gun. In this condition she was caught by a swarm of the light- draught Sooloo proas, which, with their long brass guns, soon made her bottom look like a nutmeg grater. When the tide rose, however, her crew managed to plug the shot-holes and to float her off, the pirates retiring as soon as her guns would bear. Some time after the Spaniards got out some steam- gunboats, built in England, and gave the sultan of Sooloo a good thrashing in return. But the snake is only "scotched," not killed, arid they are at heart as much pirates as ever, the Spaniards having to keep quite a force in commission to repress them. 228 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. I have mentioned that the disabled frigate had to go to Whampoa to be docked. The Spanish had a very nice dock at Cavite 1 , a few miles from Manilla, but I was told, when about to build it they had measured a small sloop-of-war they happened to have there, and built the dock to fit her, so the frigate (rather a small one, too) would not fit it. I do not vouch for the truth of this, which I tell as it was told to me. If it is true, I suppose it is another " cosa de Espafia." The city of Manilla is built at the mouth of the river Pasig, on low-lying, sandy soil. The bay is long, and in many places shallow, so that vessels of any great draught have to anchor a mile or more from the city. As soon as we anchored the port captain's boat boarded us, and went through the usual formalities. I really almost thought it was the same boat which I have described in speaking of Mahon. The same green painted awning, and the same officials reclining beneath it in the same magnificent way. There was one difference : they were smoking cheroots instead of paper cigars. Soon after they left I took one of the " bancas," a sort of canoe with rounded mat covers to protect the passengers from the sun, and went on shore to find my consignee. I took with me my passenger and his bag- gage, glad enough to deliver him in good condition. Passing up between two piers, which are carried far out into the bay, and between which the Pasig flows, we were halted at the Garrita, a guard-house on the pier, where we were examined by the officers of a "felua," or gunboat, stationed there. They opened the trunk of my passenger, but did not minutely ex- MY FIRST VOYAGE AS CAPTAIN. 229 amine the contents, merely asking if we had any Bibles or religious tracts, or any pistols, it appearing that all three of these were contraband. We then pushed on, having the walled city and fortifications on our right and the Binondo suburb on our left, across the Pasig. In this suburb most of the foreigners, merchants, and others lived ; the old walled town containing the ca- thedral, captain-general's palace, barracks, and resi- dences of the archbishop and other high officials. The two towns were connected by a bridge of stone, which would have been imposing had the centre arch not been carried away by an earthquake, and restored by a very ramshackle wooden substitute. On landing, we found a pale-faced clerk waiting to conduct us to the consignee's house, close by. The clerk, as a pleasant welcome, informed us, while walk- ing up to the house, that the cholera, which had been hanging about for some time, " was becoming very serious." The consignee, Mr. G , received me very kindly, pooh-poohed the cholera, which he did not seem to mind, but seemed aggrieved because there had been several shocks of earthquake lately, which he said "were entirely out of season." I thought he cast rather a rueful eye upon my passenger, of whose coming he had been advised. However, I turned him over in due form, bag and baggage. I may as well describe the house in which Mr. G lived and conducted his business, as a specimen of a respectable Binondo mansion. It was large, and contained many fine rooms, built around a quadrangle, the walls of the ground-floor of stone, and very mas- 20 230 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. sive. The upper story was built of timber, the beams projecting several feet beyond the stone wall, and supporting a verandah, which was shut in by movable sashes, filled with small squares of coarse mother-of- pearl shell, giving a subdued light. This upper story was built of wood, to afford some play in case of earth- quakes, which are common, and often destructive. The lower part of the house was given up to merchandise, and for the kitchen, stables, and sleeping-rooms of the servants. Mr. G invited me to take up my quarters with him until my cargo was ready, and I did so, first re- turning to the vessel and arranging matters with the mate. Early the next morning, after chocolate and a cheroot, we started to have a look at the town before the heat of the day. The streets were full of people, for all work and business begins early and is pretty much over by noon, when every one takes the siesta, rousing out again about an hour before sunset. The inhabitants of Manilla may be placed in three groups ; the Tagals, or natives, far outnumbering all the rest, and the different half-breeds coming from them, called Mestizos. Next in number are the Chi- nese, and then come the whites, or Spaniards, mostly officials, military and civil. Of course, the Tagalo language is the one most heard. These Tagals dress in shirts, of all sorts of material and patterns, from highly-embroidered "pifta," or "house"," to common check, generally nicely starched and ironed, and invariably worn outside the trousers, with the ends of a gay sash, which supports the latter MF FIRST VOYAGE AS CAPTAIN. 231 garment, peeping below the tails. The trousers are generally of some very bright stripe or check. Very often, when not at work, the Tagal, or half-breed, has, nestled on his left arm, his favorite cock, which he carries with him everywhere, just as at home one would have a pet dog following him. They are as fond of cock-fighting as any other Spanish Creoles. The women, some of whom are very pretty, wear a fine white jacket, with short sleeves, and a gay hand- kerchief, or shoulder-cloth, over it. There is often an interval of yellow skin, and then comes a gay-striped petticoat, reaching to the ankles, and over that a shawl, drawn round, from the hips to the knees, so tightly as to render walking rather difficult. They wear slippers, gayly embroidered, and so small that the little toe does not enter the upper leather, but holds on like a claw outside. From these two causes their gait is rather shambling. The hair, always black, and rather coarse, though luxuriant, flows free down the back. It is a common thing, at all hours, to see the women and girls bathing in the small streams which run past their houses, which generally overhang the water, being built of bamboo, raised on piles, and thatched. Two women will stand opposite each other about waist deep in the water, and, bending forward, take each other's hair, and rub it with the root called " gogo." This makes a great lather, like soap, and keeps the hair beautifully clean and glossy. The passer-by may walk along the bank close to them while thus bathing, and they take no notice ; but if he should stop to look at them, they all join, and shoot the water with the hollow hand, with great force 232 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. and accuracy, drenching the curious individual in an instant. The Chinese in Manilla seem to engross nearly all of the retail trade. They are willing to live more cheaply than the natives, or the whites, and they mostly sleep in their shops, which consist of one room only. When they open them in the morning, the foul smell, so peculiarly Chinese, which pours out, after accumu- lating all night, is rather overpowering. They are much oppressed and looked down upon by all other classes, and seldom settle permanently, as they do in Singa- pore, Java, and Penang, but go home as soon as they have accumulated a little money. They are obliged to choose from among themselves a "capitan," who is responsible for their good behavior to some extent, as well as for the collection of the very heavy capitation tax which is imposed upon them. The soldiers seen about the streets and on duty are all in white, and look very neat and comfortable, while the officials look especially sour, hot, and uncom- fortable in their black coats and hats, or in cloth uni- forms. When the sun began to be felt, or at about eight o'clock, we went to the cigar-factory, which is a gov- ernment institution, under the control of a high official, who is appointed by the home government. He reg- ulates the number and grade of the different kinds of cigars and cheroots which are made, and the cultivators of tobacco are obliged to sell their crop to him at a fixed price. The tobacco from the district of Cagayan is con- sidered the best, and many people suppose that the MF FIRST VOYAGE AS CAPTAIN. 233 slight drowsiness produced by its use is due to opium used in its preparation, but this is not so. The " Fabrica de Tabacos" is a very large building, in which about four thousand women and girls are generally employed, beside a great many men, who make paper cigars and prepare the tobacco for manu- facture. It is really a wonderful sight to behold the mass of female humanity which is poured out from the Fabrica when the hours of labor are over. The noise, while work is going on, is tremendous, as they use flat stones to beat out the leaves, and every woman is either talking or singing at the top of her voice. When at work they divest themselves of all clothing but the short jacket and petticoat, and squat around low tables, on which they roll the cigars. They are by no means choice in their language, even when strangers are present, and their sallies pro- voke shouts of laughter among themselves ; but as the visitors never, by any chance, understand Tagal, no great harm is done. It is only by the expression of their faces that one sees that something saucy is intended. The rooms or halls in which these women work are very large, holding about eight hundred, and most dreary, squalid-looking places they are. The No. 2 cheroot, which is principally made, and most commonly smoked in India and China, costs eight dollars a thousand, which gives very fair pay to the makers and a large profit to the government, owing to the power of the latter to regulate the price of the raw material. 20* 234 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. Soon tiring of the din and chatter of the Fabrica, we returned home, devoting the rest of the morning to business. In the evening, just before sunset, we went to drive in an open, light carriage, drawn by a pair of small but spirited native horses. Dozens of other vehicles, of a like kind, were on the drive, and two bands were playing. The ladies were in evening cos- tume, with handsome light embroidered skirts, and the hair beautifully dressed. I observed that all the women of over twenty-eight or thirty seemed to run to fat, or else to become meagre in the extreme, and there were none who preserved their good looks after that age. We drove along the Canada, a sort of shell road, at a walk, one vehicle following another, and at the end turning and coming back in a parallel line. Cavalry soldiers were posted at intervals along the line to pre- serve order, and to keep any vehicle from turning out of line or passing another. I was told that this order was preserved on account of a former captain-general's having his panels smashed by a carriage which attempted to turn out of the line. The only persons allowed to drive four horses were the captain-general and the archbishop. With the drive on the Calcada ends the Manilla day, unless one happens to be invited to a tertullia or even- ing conversazione. This is not the most inspiriting entertainment in the world, especially for a stranger. The ladies sit in a row and play with their fans, while the gentlemen stand on the opposite side of the room or about the doorway and gaze at them. Sometimes a slight shock of earthquake infuses a little life into the company, or the recent sudden death, from cholera, of MY FIRST VOYAGE AS CAPTAIN. 235 some high official causes a little conversation. Indeed, the cholera was becoming alarmingly prevalent in Ma- nilla, and I was most anxious to get away. Two of my crew, who had been on shore and got drunk on new rum, were taken ill and died in the hos- pital, while the unfortunate young man whom I had brought out as passenger only lived a week after land- ing. Having returned to his old habits as soon as he got on shore, he died of cholera also. I dined at my consignee's one evening with a jolly English captain, whose ship was in the bay. We parted about eleven o'clock at night, when he appeared to be in perfect health, and I was invited to his funeral next morning at breakfast-time. It was high time for all who could to get away, and we tried to hurry off the lighters with the hemp and sugar, and other articles of the cargo. But these people are very slow in movement, and to a request for haste their general answer is, " Mariana !" Every day I took a walk just after sunrise, but was very careful not to expose myself to the mid-day sun or to the night air. One morning, during my walk, I passed by the place of execution, near the shore of the bay, and soon saw from the crowd, in which low women seemed to pre- dominate, that some one was to suffer. Going up closer, I had a good view of the " garrot- ing" of four " tulisanes," or robbers. They had been captured while in the act of robbing the house of a rich mestizo in the Binondo, and were cut off by the algua- zils before they could reach the baiica, in which their accomplices made their escape across the bay. 236 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. One at a time these wretches were seated in a chair, with a high strong post running up behind it. Through this post came an iron screw carrying a collar, which was put about the criminal's neck. The chair was ad- justed to the proper height of each subject by the exe- cutioner, and the other prisoners looked on with great sang-froid. One turn of the screw, by means of a lever, caused the tongue and eyes to protrude and the very bones of the neck to craunch. The death is almost instantane- ous, and I think garroting is preferable to hanging on many accounts. The face could be covered by a cap, a refinement which was not indulged in in the execu- tions I saw. Spain has never been famed for mercy in her pun- ishments, but she seems, after all, to have hit upon the best and most merciful mode of capital punishment. The chain-gangs, with the prisoners chained in pairs, are kept steadily at work, and do most of the scaven- ger work and road-making, solaced by smoking, for even the felons seemed to be allowed tobacco. One morning I saw the flogging of a thief, which was carried on after this fashion : the man, stripped to the waist, was mounted on a very sorry horse, with his feet chained together underneath the animal. The executioner, dressed in red, with a mask on, gave the culprit fifteen or twenty lashes, after which ho proclaimed his name and offence. Then they moved on to another place, repeating the operation, until the whole number of lashes to which he had been sen- tenced were given, and most of the population had had a chance to look at him. MY FIRST VOYAGE AS CAPTAIN. 237 They do not have bull-fights in Manilla. I suppose the climate is too hot for the necessary exertion. But they make up for it by having plenty of cock-fighting. They allow any amount of betting on the latter, but severely repress " monte" and all other public gambling with cards; while, to balance this, the public lottery is an institution, as in all Spanish countries, of weekly recurrence. The days were passing, and the cholera went steadily on, reaping its harvest. Funeral processions were going night and day, and the church-bells were tolling at all hours, thereby increasing the panic which had set in. The drill and exercises of the troops were dispensed with, while but few carriages appeared on the Canada. At last our cargo of hemp, sugar, and grass-cloth was on board, and I was glad to clear rny ship and get away. The northeast monsoon sent us down the China Sea with a wet sheet. The passage through the Java Sea, and out by Java Head, was neither more nor less tedi- ous than usual, and I made a good and quick passage home, without any unusual occurrence, having been gone just ten months. CHAPTER XXI. ON MY BEAM ENDS AGAIN, BUT RIGHT MYSELF BY BUYING A VESSEL OF MY OWN. THE first news I learned on landing at New York was that my owners had failed, and that the Highflyer had been sold while on the passage home. She had been bought to go under the Brazilian flag, and the captain who was to take her out to Rio Janeiro was there waiting for her. Here I was on my beam ends. I went to see Mr. Archer, for I felt very sorry for him. He gave me a first-rate letter of recommendation, but could do no more, for he was himself obliged to go out to China and accept a subordinate position in one of the large American houses there. I had made quite a little venture in Manilla in pifia handkerchiefs, hous6 dress-patterns, and cheroots, which turned out very well, and I had now, what with the profits from these, my wages, and the money which I had from time to time deposited in the savings-bank, nearly four thousand dollars. With this amount I could readily buy a share in a vessel, but it went very hard with me to leave the Highflyer, and I moped about for a week or ten days much depressed, and uncertain what to do. The crew which had stuck so long by the ship were paid off and scattered. But one day Brown came to 238 I BUY A VESSEL OF MY OWN. 239 see me, and told me he had made up his mind to go to Connecticut, and see if he could not find a berth with our old skipper of the Eliphalet Simpson, or some of his numerous seafaring relatives. It struck me that I had better go too, and see what I could do in the way of getting a vessel. Accordingly we went up together, and found the skipper at home. He seemed glad to see us, but told us he had given up going to sea, and now occupied himself with attending to his farm, although he still owned shares in several vessels. After a long talk over my prospects, he told me of a very nice three-masted schooner, building at Mystic, of which he was part owner, and of which I might get the command by buying a share, which I was well able to do. The vessel was of about three hundred and twenty tons, and was intended for the general coasting trade. This was rather a come-down for me after the High- flyer, but I could see nothing else to do. We went over to inspect the vessel, which we found masted and ready for rigging, and I liked her so well that I com- pleted the bargain off-hand. It was arranged that one of the old skipper's nephews was to be first mate, and Brown second, as I knew his value as a seaman, and also knew that I could manage him and keep him from drinking. Our crew consisted of young men, mostly known to the other owners, from Connecticut and the east end of Long Island, very decent, sober fellows, and good sailors. By the first of July we had the vessel, which was 240 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. named the " Traveller," down at New York, and I put her up for freight. The broker I employed soon found me two oifers. One was to go down to Brunswick, Georgia, and load lumber for La Guayra, returning thence with coffee. The other was to go out with pro- visions and " notions" to the Cape Verde Islands, with forty lay days there to allow time for disposing of the cargo, when my charter would expire, and I would be free to find another. I liked the latter best, because the sum offered was a fair one ; quite equal to that for the other voyage, and there would be less wear and tear of the vessel. Beside this, I thought it a better voyage on the score of health at that season, not to speak of the probability of encountering hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico. So I closed with the last offer, and we loaded and sailed within a week. We took out with us a supercargo, who had entire charge of the disposal of the cargo. He was a quiet little man, who wore green spectacles, and seldom spoke to any one, but spent most of his time at the cabin table over his books and invoices. He thoroughly understood his business, however, and I afterwards found he was quite a match for the Portuguese Jews, to whom his sales were principally made. I was astonished to dis- cover how talkative and jolly he could be, and how liberally he brought out cura9oa, absinthe, and cham- pagne, when he had any of these gentry on board looking at his samples. The moment they were gone, however, he relapsed into the utmost silence and gravity behind his green glasses, showing that his good fellowship was a part of his stock in trade. I BUY A VESSEL OF MY OWN. 241 We had a pleasant passage out, excepting a sharp blow near the Bermudas and a good deal of calm weather through the " Sargasso Sea." The amount of sea-weed (called the " Fucus natans" in the books) float- ing and growing here has always been a source of wonder to all seamen. It is collected between the Gulf Stream and the equa- torial currents, which fence in, so to speak, a quiet field of enormous extent, on which the weed collects and grows so thickly as at times to check a vessel's way. It is full of small fish, crabs, and other diminutive marine animals; and a tubful of this weed forms a curious study to while away the tedious hours of a calm at sea. The gulf-weed looks like no other sea-weed in growth or color. With leaves somewhat willow-shaped, and loaded with tiny berries, it has the color of ripe olives, inclining to orange. Propagating itself while floating in water four miles deep, and affording a refuge and home to, marine animals, many of which are as peculiar as itself, it is no wonder that legends still are told of how it hovers over its old home, the sunken continent Atlantis, circling round and round searching for the rocks on which it once grew. The rig of a three-masted schooner was a novelty to me, but I soon got accustomed to it. Most of the men were schooner sailors, but old Brown was always growl- ing at the rig, swearing that if not closely watched the vessel " would turn round and look you in the face." At last we made the high island of San Antonio, the most northerly of the Cape de Verdes, and beating up the channel between that island and St. Vincent against L 21 242 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. a furious northeast wind which drew through the pas- sage, we anchored in the harbor of Porto Grande. St. Vincent is a small, mountainous, and very barren island, only occupied on account of its very fine harbor, which is used as a coaling station for various lines of steamers running to Australia, the coast of Africa, and South America. All the provisions, fruit, and vegeta- bles used there are brought over from San Antonio, and even the drinking water is imported, for there are few springs on the island, and they are very inacces- sible. The coal for the steamers is always ready in lighters moored in the harbor, so that there is no delay. When the lighters are brought alongside the steamer, the coal is soon put on board by the people employed for the purpose, who are generally natives of some of the other islands of the group. A large proportion are women, who carry the baskets and bags on their heads, and run up the plank with the agility of monkeys, and with quite as much chatter. While thus employed they sel- dom encumber themselves with much clothing, the coal- dust throwing a discreet veil over their persons ; but when not at work, they indulge in a good deal of dirty finery, in the shape of gaudy calico and brass jewelry. Although these women are by no means models, they are much better than the men, being at least industri- ous, while the men are apt to be dissolute, drunken, and idle. The supercargo, who was an old trader in the islands, soon saw that something was wrong on shore, for there was not the usual bustle consequent on the arrival of a vessel. At last a boat came off with an official of the I BUY A VESSEL OF MY OWN. 243 " Alfandega," who did not come alongside, but lay off at some distance. He reported that the cholera was raging there, and said that we had better not communi- cate. According to his report, as well as what we after- wards heard, the mortality was frightful ; and in the course of a month nearly the whole population was swept off. There were not left enough well people to bury the dead, and a large number of bodies were burned in a lime-kiln to leeward of the town. It seemed hard to believe that such pestilence was raging before our very eyes, for the skies were bright and blue, and the sun shone all day long, while the water in the harbor was as clear and transparent as crystal, and the trade-wind blew briskly and steadily enough, one would think, to sweep away all sickness. All this was bad news for our supercargo, for he had counted upon disposing of a good part of his cargo there, where there was more money than anywhere else in the group, from the wages paid the people who worked at the coal. There was nothing for it but to go, however, and we hove up our anchor, after taking a single reef, and beat out to windward, the squalls coming every few minutes as if they would take the masts out, although when we got out of the passage the wind was only blowing a good, strong, steady breeze. Standing over to the eastward during the night under easy sail, we anchored at the Isle of Sal next morning. This member of the group is named from the salt made there by solar evaporation, and we found several vessels loading with it, principally for Brazil. Sal is much more level than any of the other islands, and the 244 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. sea-water is evaporated in large shallow basins, the salt being afterwards raked and piled up until it is required for shipment. There being scarcely ever any rain, the piles keep a long time without loss. The black and mulatto population, who number about twenty to one of the whites, are a lazy set ; but when they do work, are entirely occupied in making and piling the salt, which is rather lazy work anywhere. This work bringing some money into the island, we disposed of a good deal of our cargo here, and after a week's stay we went away before the wind to Porto Praya. There are plenty of turtle about the islands, which are often taken when floating asleep on the surface of the water. I bought one just before we left Sal for two dollars which must have weighed two hundred pounds. The fishermen dart at them a pole having a conical head, from which the shaft becomes detached on enter- ing. The elasticity of the shell causes it to close over the " plug," to which a line is attached, and the animal thus secured. I had been in Porto Praya before, but under very different circumstances, having been then a seaman on board the M sloop-of-war, without a chance to put my foot on shore. Now that I could go whenever I pleased, I did not feel much inclined to avail myself of the opportunity. To tell the truth, the best part of Porto Praya is seen from the roads. It is situated on a bluff, with precipitous sides towards the sea, and ap- proached from the beach by a steep road cut in the stone. On the southeast of the town is a ravine or valley, running down to the sea, in which is a very fine grove of cocoanuts, always a beautiful sight. I BUY A VESSEL OF MY OWN. 245 This is almost the only greeii thing within sight, everything else being of a rusty, parched brown, ex- cept the houses of the town itself, with their white walls and red tiled roofs. The road is protected from the strong northeast trade-wind by a high promontory, called East Point, and vessels which want to be snug anchor close in under it, not far from the cocoanut-grove. A day or two after we arrived a large English ship suddenly appeared, coming round East Point, before the stiff trade, with "a bone in her mouth." She was full of passengers, and apparently bound to Australia. Hauling up round the point, but heading much to lee- ward of where he should have anchored, he clewed up his sails and let go his starboard bower. But he had not bargained for the strength of the trade- wind, which, taking his clewed-up sails aback, speedily ran his chain out for him, in spite of compressors ; and, when it reached the bitter end, the last link leaped smartly into the water, and he was all adrift again. The period of his stay at St. Jago was thus limited to about forty-five seconds. I must do the fellow the justice to say that he took the loss of his anchor very philosophically, and he made sail again as he went off to the southward, as if it was all a prearranged manoeuvre. I hope that his passen- gers bore the loss of the Porto Praya oranges they ex- pected to get as well as he did that of his anchor and chain. We remained for three or four weeks at Porto Praya, the supercargo finally selling out his whole venture to a Jew, named Moses, a mulatto colonel, named Gilbert, and to our acting consul, a queer old fellow, named M . The latter had been a warrant officer in the 21* 246 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. navy, and had been sent out to Porto Praya to take charge of naval stores there, where he also acted as consul. As he was consumptive, and the climate agreed with him, he remained there from year to year, although few other white men, not natives, could stay there, on ac- count of " the fever." He had a Portuguese clerk, called Hannibal, whom he was always anathematizing for his laziness and carelessness. I asked him one day why he did not bring out a Yankee clerk. " I have," he answered, in his high nasal voice ; " but the { critters' all die. Why, there's four of 'em, all of a row, planted up here in the seminary." It was evident that he meant cemetery, but it would not do to correct him, for M prided himself on his choice language. It was very dull work, this stay in Porto Praya. There was noth- ing for me to do on board ship, and nothing on shore, except to play on a wretched billiard-table. One day, to pass the time, I went out in the country with M to hunt guinea-fowl, which is the only sport the island affords. They are rather plentiful, but very wild and difficult to approach. The best way to get at them is on the back of a donkey, allowing the animal to select its own course up the barren hills, and keeping a sharp lookout. We did not get many birds, but I had a look at the island and the people, who are miserably poor and often in a starving condition. It rains so seldom that raising grain or vegetables is a most uncertain business. In the ravines, where some moisture accumulates, they grow delicious oranges, as fine as any in the world. I saw many fine flocks of turkeys, too, which thrive here on I BUY A VESSEL OF MY OWN. 247 the insects, and are sold to vessels touching for supplies at very moderate prices. Nothing else appeared to be particularly flourishing, except the lizards, of which there were no end. They are about the only reptiles on the island, snakes of any kind being unknown, while there are no wild animals, either. CHAPTER XXII. HOMEWARD BOUND, I LOSE MY MASTS, AND NEARLY LOSE THE SHIP. THE supercargo having at last sold his cargo, the ves- sel was at my disposal, and I determined to return home at once, being offered a good freight by a whaler who had put into Porto Praya for water, and was desirous of shipping home some of his oil before sailing for the St. Helena ground. As soon as we had the oil on board we sailed, pass- ing out to leeward, by the pretty mountain island of Brava, and Fogo, with its smoking volcano, nearly ten thousand feet high. We made a good and pleasant passage across the Atlantic, but approaching our coast in the autumn months is apt to be rough, and so I found it on this occasion. I was bound to New Bedford to deliver the oil, and we were within a hundred miles of Gay Head, on Martha's Vineyard, when we caught one of the hard- est gales I ever encountered. The wind was from about northeast, with blinding snow-squalls, and not daring to stand in in such weather, I hove to, with our head off shore. The sea got up very fast and soon became danger- ous, especially after getting back on the edge of the Gulf Stream, which we did before many hours. 248 / NEARLY LOSE THE SHIP. 249 There is little to do in a schooner, in making ready for bad weather, after the hatches have been well bat- tened, the sails balance-reefed, and storm stay-sails bent. We had only to keep a couple of good men at the wheel, watch the wind and sea, and pray that our bob- stays and the lanyards of the rigging might hold. The next morning, just before daylight, it was blow- ing harder than ever, but had stopped snowing, so that we could see some little distance ; when suddenly I made out the loom of a large vessel on our weather bow. Before I could move or give an order she dashed by us, across our bows, running before the gale. Our jib-boom and bowsprit struck her starboard quarter with a fearful shock, shivering the spars up to the very knight-heads, and tearing up the heel of the bowsprit and the deck. We must have smashed in her upper works badly, and probably crushed some one in the cabin-berths or on her poop, for I heard a long dreadful yell of agony, and then the strange vessel was swallowed up in the darkness and drift to leeward. Afterwards, when I got home, I made all the inqui- ries I could respecting any vessel arriving at any of our ports about that time with such damage, but I could never hear of any, and was forced to the conclusion that our collision damaged her much more than I sup- posed at the time, or that she afterwards foundered from some other cause. As the accident had carried away our forestay, of course it was not long, in such a sea, before we lost our masts. The fore went first, and the others followed, at intervals of a few minutes, smashing things generally about the decks. L* 250 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. We could do but little until the masts fell, except to keep out of the way of them, and then we cut the rig- ging and let them go. I now had the pumps sounded, and found the vessel making a good deal of water, and as we were a com- plete wreck, the sea now made a clean breach over us at times. It was as much as a man's life was worth to go for- ward to examine the place where the deck was ripped up, and to do any work at it would be impossible. I had often heard of the effects of oil in preventing the waves from combing and breaking, and I now determined to try it. Getting down into the after-hold from the cabin, I, with considerable difficulty, tapped a barrel, and had a breakerful brought up on the quarter-deck. Getting well forward by the life-lines we had rove, and watching a chance, we poured about a bucketful overboard. The effect far exceeded my expectations, and in a few minutes the sea to windward, though still running as high as ever, ceased to break so viciously. Pouring over more oil, we were then able to get for- ward with planks, canvas, hammer, and nails, and to partially stop the leak in the deck, which had threatened to sink us very soon unless something was done. I expected to find our stem split and wood-ends started, but the vessel was new and strong, and, to my great surprise and joy, they were all right. We kept the oil going at intervals for many hours, there fortunately being plenty of it. Being thus en- abled to stand at the pumps without serious danger, / NEARLY LOSE THE SHIP. 251 by nightfall we were almost free of water, to the great relief of all. When our masts went our steering-gear was of no use, so I lashed the wheel, and sent most of the men into the cabin to try to get some rest, their deck-house having been stove and washed out by the first seas which boarded us. During the night the wind hauled to southeast, then died out; and before morning came out suddenly, fresh from northwest. Of course, we were at its mercy, and obliged to drift where it and the Gulf Stream pleased to send us. Nearly a week passed thus, and although we had seen sails in the distance nearly every day, none of them seemed to see the pole and signal which we showed. At last, one morning, when the weather was quite moderate, I got sights, putting us in about 40 north and 65 west. Almost at the same time we made out a steamer steering towards us from the eastward, and as soon as she discovered us she set her ensign, and in half an hour was under our stern. She was one of our steam sloops-of-war, bound home. Her captain hailed us to inquire our condition, and whether he should take us off; but upon my answering that we were making no water of any consequence, he threw up his trumpet to signify that he under- stood me, and turned away. Soon another officer was added to the group on the man-of-war's poop, and I guessed (what I afterwards found to be true) that the captain had sent for his chief engineer to see if his coal would justify him in taking us in tow. Soon he stood down across our stern again, and hailed to say 252 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. that he was going to send us a hawser, and that we should send him one. Coming round once more, he sent a man into his starboard quarter-boat with a heaving-line, and by careful steering ran close enough to our quarter for him, by a splendid cast, to heave the line to us. There was great danger in this manoeuvre, and for a moment I held my breath, for an adverse heave of the heavy sea would at that moment most likely have had us afoul of each other. We stood by to catch the line and take a turn with it, and they at once began paying it out, and then the hawser attached to it. When we had got the latter fast to our bitts, we sent them our best hawser by the same heaving-line, and when we had them both made fast and well parcelled we were ready to go ahead. All this took time, with more trouble, labor, and sea- manship than would be apparent to a landsman who had only seen lines hove from a steamboat at a river wharf. There was quite a heavy sea, although not much wind, and there were two great dangers which we had fortunately avoided. One of these was collision, and the other the entangling of the line or hawsers in the sloop-of-war's propeller. Two vessels which approach too closely at sea are almost sure to be drawn together, like two corks float- ing in a tub, and if this happens in a sea-way, a very few rasps of their sides are apt to settle the fate of one or both of them. Then again, had the hawsers got a turn or two round the propeller, the sloop would not only have been unable to tow us, but she would have had to I NEARLY LOSE THE SHIP. 253 take care of herself under sail with her propeller acting as a dead drag. The weather was now cold and clear, with the wind mostly from the northwest, and we made fine progress in tow of the Iroquois. On the fourth morning we made No-man's-land, and entered Newport harbor dur- ing the following night, when we anchored close under the stern of our convoy. Early next day a boat came from the sloop-of-war to take me on board, when I found in her excellent com- mander the very officer, named W , with the large person, jolly face, and fine teeth, who had received me ou board the old F in Hong-Kong harbor, when I was picked up adrift, a friendless boy, and brought off by good old Erie Kemp. Captain "VV remembered me perfectly, and said he was doubly glad to see me commanding my own vessel, and in having been able to rescue me from a position where my life and my hard-earned savings were equally in danger. I told him (what I sincerely felt) that the naval offi- cers had always been good friends of mine, and thanked him for having brought us safe and sound into port. He was bound to Philadelphia, and in a hurry to be off while the weather was good, so I left him and went on shore. I telegraphed to my old skipper in New Haven the state of affairs, and also to the consignees of the oil for instructions. The latter desired me to land and store the oil in Newport, which I proceeded to do. In a couple of days the old skipper appeared on board a New Haven tug, and as soon as we were clear 254 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. of our cargo we went down the Sound in tow to Mystic to refit. This took some weeks, and as I had had enough of schooners' masts, we rigged the Traveller into a barque, and a very nice and handy one she made. CHAPTER XXIII. THE TRAVELLER IS TOTALLY LOST, AND I COME HOME AS PASSENGER. As soon as we got the Traveller all ataunto, I started on a trip to Trinidad de Cuba, making three voyages in succession, and then, during the summer, carrying coal between Philadelphia and Boston. This kind of trade I kept up for two years, with the exception of one charter with grain to London. No event worth mentioning took place, and I had favorable voyages as a general thing, earning money for myself and the other owners, and during this time I do not think I lost a spar or a sail. At the time I now speak of I owned one-half of the vessel, having bought out some of the other owners, and I always kept my share well insured. There was a great deal of talk of secession in the summer and autumn of 1860, and the cloud seemed to grow blacker and blacker; but most people at the North seemed to think it would be only a short, but severe squall, after which the political atmosphere would clear again. Like most other busy people, I had paid but little attention to the matter, and, in fact, knew very little about politics. My old man-of-war training, if nothing else, made all my feelings side with the North, when- ever I had given the subject any consideration, or heard 255 256 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. it discussed, as I sometimes did, when at home in Con- necticut, of which State I had some time before become a citizen. In October of this year I had sailed for the West Indies with a mixed cargo, having been instructed by the charterers to call at St. Thomas for orders, which were to come out to me by steamer. When I arrived there I found that I had made rather too good a pas- sage, and that the steamer had not yet arrived, so I had to wait for her. I was anchored just abreast the coaling wharves in this fine harbor, in company with more than a dozen square-rigged vessels, and some brigs and schooners; for St. Thomas, being a free port and very convenient, has never any lack of shipping. Many vessels also put in there in distress. There was a large steamer of the English West India Line lying at the coaling docks, on the port hand as you enter, and the darkies were swarming up her gang-planks with baskets of coal on their heads, making the whole harbor echo, as their laughter, and shouts, and songs were reflected from the cliff above over the glassy water. The sun was past the meridian and the day very oppressive. The arid, uncultivated hills, and the little city of Charlotte Amalia, with its quaint old Danish fort, lay baking in the beams, for there were no clouds, although a strange lurid haze hung upon the seaward horizon. It was so close below that I came on deck to sit under the awning and try to get a breath of air, but there was none, and the water reflected the ships and boats on its surface like a mirror. THE TRAVELLER IS TOTALLY LOST. 257 One or two of my men had been at work aloft, but were called down until the extreme heat of the day should be over, and everything and everybody seemed taking a siesta, except the niggers at work coaling the "liner." I must have been sitting thus for near an hour, and was in a light doze, when I was aroused by a terrified yell from the negroes at the coaling wharf. Glancing that way, I saw that they had all dropped their baskets and were standing stock still, staring at the harbor's mouth. Then there was a strong surge of our chain and a sinking of the whole vessel, as if in the trough of a sea. Looking instinctively out seaward, I saw a sight which was enough to freeze the blood in a man's veins. The whole water of the basin seemed suddenly to be ebbing out of it, lowering it many feet, so that a large ship, abreast of me, took the ground and heeled over; while at the mouth of the harbor appeared a huge wave, or bore, at the least thirty feet high, com- ing in upon us as swift and irresistible as fate. I gave one shout for " All hands !" and the order to veer chain ; although I felt that anything we could do was useless, in the face of the fierce destruction coming upon us. A large barque, lying a cable's length to seaward of us, was caught up by the wave and hurled bodily upon our vessel. Then there was a crash of timber, a roar of waters, and I remember nothing more until I found myself lying on a mass of wreck, partially covered by a quantity of fresh, broad-leaved seaweed, such as grows only in deep water. It was night, and I could see the stars as I looked 22* 258 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. through the weed ; but I had little inclination to move, feeling bruised and faint, but apparently with no serious injury. At least an hour now passed, and I must have dozed off several times, when at last I heard voices and saw the gleam of a light. Then I heard some one say, " Here's another ! Haul him out, boys, and lay him up with the rest !" I felt myself pulled out from the mass in which I was lying, and another voice said, " Marster, dis one not for dead." "Let me see," said the first voice. " Why, you're right, CaBsar : he's alive ! Take him up to the house; the doctor's there." The speaker was a ship-chandler, a well-known char- acter, long settled in St. Thomas, who was going round the shore of the harbor, like a good Samaritan, with some Jamaica negroes in his employment, seeking the dead and the living. There were precious few of the latter. The earthquake wave had destroyed or stranded every vessel in the harbor, and had inflicted great dam- age upon that part of the town nearest the water. The coal-wharves were gone, and so was the floating- dock, and the great " liner" was sunk close by them. A few mastheads appeared above the surface of the water, showing where vessels had foundered at their anchors, but the great mass had been swept out to sea by the reflux. Vessels coming in by the Virgin pas- sage, days after, knew that some great calamity had taken place by the floating wreck which they encoun- tered. Of the Traveller and her cargo nothing was ever found, nor was a soul belonging to her saved but myself. THE TRAVELLER IS TOTALLY LOST. 259 I remained sick and prostrated for three weeks in St. Thomas, at the end of which time I was able to take passage home in the steamer which touched there on her way from Brazil. I had drawn upon our agent, and tried to make the good-hearted ship-chandler receive a proper sum for the trouble and expense my illness had occasioned; but he entirely refused to take anything. When I got back to New York, however, I purchased a handsome watch, and had an appropriate inscription engraved upon it, which I sent out to him by the return steamer. There was an old French doctor who used to come to see me every day while I was lying sick. He never did much for me but to order " tisanes" (which I never took), but would sit and stare at me with eyes like boiled gooseberries, and say, "Dis is a wery bad sheek- ness what you have got." As he only charged me twelve dollars and a half for his three weeks' attendance, I paid him very cheerfully, first trying to find out why his bill was twelve dollars and a half exactly, why the half-dollar ? But as he evidently thought I was trying to beat him down, I soon dropped the subject. I confess, however, that I still have unsatisfied curiosity on the subject of that half-dollar. During the passage home, in the steamer from St. Thomas to New York, I was a great "lion," as one of the very few saved from the shipping during the great catastrophe. I believe I must have told the story to every one, from the captain down, until I was bored to death, and the event seemed to me to have happened ages before. 260 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. But the people are on board the Brazil steamer a long time, with very little on the voyage to interest them, and I, with my story, served to pass the time. When I reached New York everything was in a ferment, and I could hardly believe that affairs had reached so dangerous a crisis in the comparatively short time that I had been absent. My first business was, of course, to get my claim for insurance settled, which I did without any trouble, having taken the precaution, before I left St. Thomas, to get the proper papers from the underwriter's agent there. Placing the money in a bank, I went up to see my old friend, the New Haven skipper, and found, with much satisfaction, that he and the other owners had been partially insured, and would not lose very much by the wreck of the Traveller. I then consulted with the cool-headed old man as to what I should do with my money, and whether it would be safe to buy into another vessel. "Look here, William," said the old man, "there's trouble down South, and there's going to be more afore there's less. But I think there's time yet to get down to Newbern and buy a big lot of pitch and turpentine. If you can only get a cargo of that up here, and store< away, it'll be worth a heap of money before next winter." I thought the matter over, went down to New York, and got the latest information about the state of things in North Carolina, and determined to make the ven- ture. I chartered a schooner of one hundred and fifty tons, and was in the Sound in a week, and at the wharf at Newbern two days afterwards. There was great THE TRAVELLER IS TOTALLY LOST. 261 excitement in the city. Volunteer companies were drilling, and a great deal of "tall talking" going on about the Yankees, and how they were to be "chawed up." Indeed, on the very first morning, while waiting to see a person on business, in one of the hotels, where, as usual, the office and bar were in one, I saw two very important and red-nosed gentlemen meet each other, and touch their hats in military style, when the following conversation took place : "Good-morning, general." "Good-morning, colo- nel." "I believe you're from Virginia, general?" " Yes, colonel ! yes, sar ! I'm from Virginia, sar ! I was originally born in Culpepper, sar !" " Well, sar, what does your State intend to do about the d d Yankees, sar ?" " Do, sar ? We'll hang them ! treat them just as we did John Brown, sar ! Will you take something, colonel ?" " Well, general, I don't care if I do," etc. I found almost every man willing to en- gage in an argument about the existing troubles, but I kept away from public places as much as possible, and attended strictly to my business, hurrying the cargo on board. Sometimes a crowd would collect at the wharf at which the vessel lay, and there was generally among them some colonel or captain a little the worse for peach-brandy, who would become the spokesman. The remarks were generally interrogatory, such as, " What it was we wanted? Why we would not let them alone ? Why we would insist upon their thrashing us ?" etc. As we found that on these occasions we were only addressed in a general way, as representing Yankees 262 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. at large, we took no notice and went quietly on with our business, frequently to the great disgust of the as- sembled patriots. After a little while they usually came to the conclusion that u We were of no account, anyhow !" and then some of them would take to fishing off the wharf, and the others would adjourn to the nearest "grocery" to "hoist in" more "peach and honey." I suppose bar-rooms never did a more thriving business. Even with all this ferment before my eyes, I could not realize that actual war was so near, especially as I found the merchants with whom I had business much more moderate in tone than the townspeople at large, and they were still evidently hoping that some way out of the difficulty would be found. We were a long time getting back from Newbern, and it proved that ours was one of the last vessels which left there with cargo for the North. I had to lie nearly a week just inside the Inlet to wait for a spell of easterly weather to work off. Finally we crossed the bar with the first of a northwester, which only car- ried us up off Absecom, when more easterly weather set in, and we had to run for Delaware Breakwater, to remain there weather-bound four or five days longer. At last I arrived in New York, twenty-one days from Newbern. I stored my inflammable cargo near Wee- hawken, and had it well insured, after which I went up to New Haven and boarded with my old friend until the spring. It is needless for me to dwell upon the events of the spring of 1861. No one who was old enough to under- stand what was taking place can ever forget that event- THE TRAVELLER IS TOTALLY LOST. 263 ful time. The coasting and foreign shipping trade was almost completely at a stand-still, and I soon saw that, even if it were wise to sell my stored cargo, without waiting for a material rise in prices, it was no time to buy into a new vessel. So I just remained, " lying on my oars," and watching for something to turn up. CHAPTER XXIV. I ENTER THE NAVY AGAIN, THIS TIME AS AN OFFICER. SOON after the firing upon Fort Sumter, I went down to New York for a day to hear the news, and to try to determine what I was to do, for I was not willing to remain idle when every one was going into service of some kind. Going over to the navy-yard, the first person I met was old Erie Kemp, whom I had left on board the M , when I was invalided home from Spezia. He was very glad to see me, and I was delighted to find the old man looking well, though a good deal grizzled and wrinkled since we parted. He told me he had been working in the rigging-loft at the yard for more than a year, but that he intended to go to sea, for he could not bear that active service should be going on and he not have a hand in it. He further said that the Navy Department was going to appoint a large number of acting masters and master's mates, and he had been offered a master's appointment by his old shipmate, the commodore of the yard, but he thought he was not fit for a ward- room officer, and that he should try for the berth of signal quartermaster as soon as he found a ship to suit him. This intelligence of Erie's set me thinking, and as I 264 I ENTER THE NAVY AS AN OFFICER. 265 passed the office in the yard I met Commander W , my old shipmate in the F . He took me up into the commandant's office, and I there registered my name, age, previous naval and other service, and present residence. After this I made out a formal application for an appointment as acting master, to which Captain "W appended a very flattering rec- ommendation. In about a fortnight after I returned to New Haven I received a huge official envelope, containing my ap- pointment, a blank oath to be taken before a justice of the peace, and orders to report on board the receiv- ing-ship at New York for instruction. I went down at once, and reported at the comman- dant's office, who endorsed my order, directing me to report to a very queer gentleman, who then had com- mand of the receiving-ship. He was generally known, from his peppery temper and personal appearance, as "Don Quixote." The old line-of-battle ship was securely moored over by the cob-dock, lying in her bed of mud like a huge hippopotamus. She was approached from the navy- yard landing by means of a large, covered scow, which was drawn back and forth by a rope, passing round a drum worked by cranks and man-power, at which labor many a sailor expiated the offence of smuggling "skins" of rum. Ascending the lofty sides, I came upon the quarter- deck, where I was met by the officer on duty, a gray- haired retired lieutenant, brought from his home in the country by the exigencies of the times. Learning my business, he said, "Well, of course M 23 266 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. you'll have to sec him. But I advise you to keep your weather eye open." This remark rather startled me, seeming calculated to prepare me for an interview with a Bengal tiger. "Orderly," continued the old lieu- tenant, " say to the captain that a Mr. Carlyon is here to report." The orderly went in to the poop-cabin and gave his message. As the cabin-door was wide open, I could distinctly hear a high, shrill, nasal voice exclaim, " Another ' blank' haymaker ! Does the Department take me for a bear-leader? Where is the d d idiot ? Send him in !" I thought this was rather rough, considering that the gentleman had never seen me, but I remembered that I was not intended to hear his remarks, so I plucked up courage and went into the fine old cabin. I was met by a tall, meagre man, apparently about fifty-five, with small, piercing black eyes, set close to- gether in a little head, with long nose and chin, and a small mobile mouth, shaded by a sparse black mous- tache. He had on an old uniform coat, out of the breast-pocket of which peeped a huge package of letters and orders. Advancing with a bow, he addressed me with an exaggerated politeness. "Your servant, sir! Steward ! give the gentleman a chair ! Ah ! your or- ders to this vessel ? Yes. I'll endorse them." Hastily writing his name, he said, " Now, sir, you're in the ser- vice, and attached to my ship, and I wish you to under- stand that I'll have no d d nonsense !" I replied, being somewhat nettled, that " I had not come into the service for nonsense ; that I knew very well what the navy was." / ENTER THE NAVY AS AN OFFICER. 267 This reply seemed to take him somewhat aback, and he said, " Oho ! you've been in the service ? I thought you were some infernal rag-picker or blubber-hunter sent to be licked into shape. Have a glass of sherry? No ! 'Gad, sir ! I'll have you to know that you must take a glass of sherry when I ask you! Steward! sherry !" The steward seemed to have anticipated this order, for he immediately advanced from his pantry with two very large glasses of the strongest sherry I ever tasted. We each swallowed our wine, when the captain bowed again, and said, "See the first lieutenant, sir;" and I left the presence. As I was in citizen's clothes, the old orderly, outside, was inclined to be patronizing and friendly, and re- marked to me, in a low tone, " You came off pretty well, sir. He cusses 'em sometimes so's you can hear him on the gun-deck." I asked who he meant by " 'em." " Why, the new ones, the ( mustang' officers," replied the old fellow, who seemed to have had a good deal of the same kind of sherry which I had been drinking. This seemed rather a discouraging reception for one anxious to serve the country, but I was too old a cruiser to be discouraged by first appearances, so I proceeded to the half-deck, where I was told I would find the first lieutenant. There he was, sure enough ! another retired lieutenant, looking much more like a country lawyer than a naval officer. Instead of having his sword girt on and exercising the men at the battery, he was seated at a deal table with a pair of old-fashioned silver spectacles on, a "ship's writer" on each side of him, and all three 268 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. scribbling away for dear life at "descriptive lists," "passes," and such like. He received me very kindly, and told me that the " acting officers," who were under instruction, were not required to live on board, only coming twice a day for drill. He advised me to get my uniform and outfit at once, and prepare for sudden orders. Going on shore again, I engaged boarding in Brook- lyn, and then went to a tailor, to give orders for my uniform. Of course he recommended me to get a great many things which I did not need, after the fashion of his kind, and seemed especially disgusted that I knew that epaulettes, cocked hats, and full-dress coats were not required for the acting officers, who were to be prepared for rough service. Next day I went on board the receiving-ship again, and found several young naval officers there as drill- masters at the great guns, and some thirty or forty acting officers, who were undergoing instruction in the drill. These latter had been mostly masters and mates of merchant vessels, with occasionally an amateur sailor, who had acquired what knowledge of nautical affairs he had from sailing a yacht, or in some such way. We soon had our coats off, and cast loose a division of eight- inch guns. Then we had a very lively time for three- quarters of an hour, loading, firing, sponging, shifting breechings and trucks, and getting into a thorough perspiration from sheer hard work. After this we put on our coats, and the lieutenant in charge of my gun took us on the half-deck, where he explained all about fuses and the method of cutting / ENTER THE NAVY AS AN OFFICER. 269 them, the filling and stropping of shells, the storage and preservation of ammunition of all sorts, asking questions as to his lesson of the previous day. We were then dismissed until the afternoon, when we had instruction in single-stick and broad-sword exercise from a funny old Irish sword- master, who, notwithstanding his age, jumped about like a boy, and certainly managed to instil some of his ardor into us. At this sword drill, as soon as we were arranged opposite each other in couples, he would give the order as follows : " When I say ' draa/ don't ye draa ; but when I say 'soords/ let your blades lape from the scabbards like the loightning's flash ! Draa soords ! Engage ! Number wan, cut head ! Number two, parry !" And so we would go on until well tired out, when, for a change, we would have a drill with muskets or carbines. My old man-of-war training came back to me, and I was soon made captain of a gun ; and finally excused from that and set to drill the new- comers (who joined us every day) in the rudiments. The old captain would sometimes come down on the gun-deck and look on at the drill, dispensing sardonic criticism and ingenious and original oaths and epithets in the most impartial manner. But by this time we did not mind him ; it was understood to be " his way." Indeed, I found that, although a real character, one saw the worst of him at once, and he proved to be a gallant and worthy gentleman, who was always con- siderate and even indulgent to those of us who attended strictly to their duty, as he always did himself. He made it very unpleasant for the stupid and lazy, how- ever, whom he soon managed to get rid of. 23* 270 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. Several weeks wore off in this kind of work. The war was fully under way. Our naval forces had sailed for the reduction of the forts at Hatteras Inlet; a thorough blockade of the Southern coast had been established, and here I was still in New York. I had begun to be very impatient, when I, with two others of our acting masters, received orders to report at Boston on board a frigate which had just returned from the coast of Brazil. She had been ordered home on account of the Re- bellion, but being a sailing-vessel, had made a long passage. The C had been flag-ship on the Brazils, but on arriving home the flag-officer and many others had been detached and ordered to other duty. Some of her junior officers had been promoted and remained in her, while a few from the South, who had offered their re- signations upon their arrival, were arrested and put in Fort Lafayette, being the first naval officers who had not been permitted quietly to resign and find their way across the Potomac. Some gunners and boatswains were appointed from her petty officers, but her crew (an unusually fine body of men, mostly shipped in Philadelphia, and in excellent discipline) remained the same as during her foreign cruise, their time not having expired. The ward-room officers were all changed with four or five exceptions, and we three acting masters had been ordered to her as watch-officers, to take the place of lieutenants, who had been placed in command of other vessels. Soon after I reported, old Erie Kemp turned up on board, having been shipped as signal quartermaster in / ENTER THE NAVY AS AN OFFICER. 271 the place of one who had been appointed a mate. Old Erie was so well known in the service, that any officer was glad to have him. The old man was too thorough a man-of-war's man to intrude himself upon me in our new relations, but we had many a yarn together on the poop during night watches, and I could see that the old fellow had taken care to give a good impression of me throughout the ship, which wonderfully smoothed my way in carrying on duty. The C was a very fine, large, comfortable frigate, most substantially and handsomely fitted. The bulk- heads of her cabins and ward-room were of solid mahogany and bird's-eye maple. But those of the main-deck cabin were removed while she was in Boston, and two guns mounted in her stern-ports, so that her gun-deck presented an unbroken battery from the bridle-port aft all the way round. This battery con- sisted of heavy thirty-twos, with the exception of the midship division, which was of eight-inch guns. Some two or three weeks were consumed, as we lay off Long wharf, in Boston, in arranging all these mat- ters, and in the numerous trifling additions and repairs which every man-of-war seems, without fail, impera- tively to need the moment she finds herself in the vicinity of a navy-yard, and which she generally man- ages to do without at other times. Finally, our sailing orders were received, and some time in September we sailed for Hampton Roads " on the war-path." We had pleasant weather on the pas- sage, and arrived at Old Point Comfort in about a week, anchoring between the Fort wharf and the Ripraps. The first thing that greeted us was the news that our 272 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. captain had been promoted to the command of the North Atlantic squadron, and he was at once relieved by a Captain S . Our ship was ordered up to Newport's News, where there was a large camp. We were to perform a sort of guard duty for the James River, in company with the Cumberland, another sailing-vessel, and especially, to prevent any communication by water between the enemy in Norfolk and those up the river, where they had two paddle-wheel armed steamers, the Jamestown and Yorktown, rechristened Patrick Henry and Thomas Jefferson. We remained at Old Point Comfort for two or three days, and then started, in tow of a tug, to go up to Newport's News. As it was likely that we would re- ceive some attention from the heavy battery at Sewall's Point as we passed there on the way up, we had the tug on our starboard side, out of harm's way, and we were at our quarters, with guns cast loose, to return any fire we might receive. We heard nothing from the battery, however, and saw but little, for it required experienced eyes to make it out at all, so well was it masked by the foliage, and lying near the level of the water. Arrived at Newport's News, we moored ship a little below the wharf, at headquarters, the Cumberland being in a line with us, up-streani, three or four cables' lengths off. As soon as we were moored, we cut two long, slim pine-trees from the grove on shore, and shaped them into an A, with a netting dropping from the bar, which we secured across our bows by lines from the jib-boom / ENTER THE NAVY AS AN OFFICER. 273 end and whiskers. This was intended to fend off any floating torpedoes or fire-rafts which " our friends the enemy" might see fit to send down upon us with an ebb-tide and a dark night. We never caught any torpedoes in our net, they had hardly come to that point yet, but we did collect ex- traordinary quantities of floating debris of all sorts; and once a dead mule paid us a visit, announcing his pres- ence to the sense of smell as well as that of sight. He was no doubt a Confederate mule, and wanted to annoy us. We also got springs upon our cables, and frequently exercised the crew in springing our broadside in various directions. This we generally managed to do very briskly, when the tide was not too strong ; but I may say here, that when it came to doing it in dead earnest, and we thought our lives almost depended upon it, she would not spring an inch, on account of the tide. The winter was not unpleasant, taken as a whole. It was very cold sometimes, and we had no fires except in the galley, as we were liable to go to quarters and open the magazine at any time. We drilled and kept watch and ate our meals with great regularity. There was no danger of grounding on a reef made of our beef-bones, as some long-an- chored ships are said to have done, for although less than musket-shot from the left bank, we were in the fair way of the channel, and the water was very deep. Just abreast of us, over the flats, on the opposite side of the river, was a rebel battery, casemated with logs and earth, to defend the entrance of the Nansemond River, which there opened into the James. This bat- M* 274 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. tery used to fire at us occasionally, the solid shot just failing to reach us, and sometimes, when spent, rolling along the surface of the water and sinking in a very futile and inconsequent sort of way when only a few yards off from us. Our small gunboats and tugs would sometimes give this battery, called the Pig's Point Battery, a stirring up with their Parrott guns, with no great result on either side. One night some of the Cumberland's armed boats went over there and burnt a floating battery which they were building right under their guns, coming off without harm, although the shot flew about their neighborhood in a very lively manner. Sunday night, or rather Monday morning, was almost always a stirring time for us that winter, for the armed steamers Patrick Henry and Thomas Jefferson gener- ally came down before daylight, threatening to run by us, and either get into Norfolk or run the gauntlet of the vessels in Hampton Roads and get to sea. The south side of the river being very shoal, a vessel of any draught must necessarily pass quite close to us. The watch always slept on the deck at their guns, where I have often seen them with their blankets and pea-jackets covered with snow, so the battery was always cast loose and ready before the drum had fairly begun to beat to quarters, but the steamers never gave us a chance at them. Then on Monday morning we very often had boat-loads of " contrabands," coming in from the other side. Sunday being a holiday, the ne- groes were not so readily missed, and would slip off, and then, having some old canoe or skiff concealed in / ENTER THE NAVY AS AN OFFICER. 275 the Nansemond, or some of the other creeks, would drop silently down in the darkness, taking to their oars or paddles when they got into the James and daylight was near. Very often the Pig's Point Bat- tery would fire at them, and the poor darkies would arrive alongside ashy gray from fright and exertion combined. The orders were at that time to receive any runaways who once touched our side, but not to afford any assist- ance before they reached us. This they sometimes could not do, on account of the current, and then they had to make for Old Point, miles below, at the immi- nent risk of being picked up by a vigilant and pestilent little rebel tug which generally lay in wait under Craney Island batteries, like a spider watching for flies. When the contrabands did get on board they would tell most wonderful stories, but little that was of any importance was ever gathered from them. The bundles which they generally brought with them contained the most incongruous and ridiculous collec- tion of worthless traps it is possible to conceive of. One old woman, I remember, brought off through real danger and tribulation a heavy iron skillet for baking bread, a bag of goose-feathers, and another of dried herbs. She never parted with these impedimenta for one moment during the time she remained on board, sitting upon them while she ate her share of the break- fast provided for them, and carrying them into the tug which took them down to Hampton with as much care as if they were worth their weight in gold. Another woman in the same party appeared to have all her spare clothing tied about her person, while both hands 276 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. were occupied with a large old wooden clock, which would have been dear at a dollar. But of course these poor household effects were valuable in their sight, and it was rather touching to see how they clung to them as they entered the unknown wide world before them. CHAPTER XXV. THE FIRST DAY OF THE BATTLE AT HAMPTON ROADS. WE often went on shore at the camp at Newport's News, and were on friendly terms with many of the officers of the regiments stationed there. They were generally very good and gallant fellows, with no experience of military life, however, most of them never having seen a shot fired in earnest. Prac- tical jokes, games, and convivial parties occupied fully as much of their thoughts and time as did battalion and skirmish drill. There were about four thousand men encamped there, most of whom, before the next autumn, had been laid away in soldiers' graves, under the soil of the Peninsula or the mud of the Chickahominy, or else had earned the title of veterans at the battles in front of Richmond, learning their business as soldiers in the line of battle. About the middle of the winter, the time for which our crew was enlisted expired, and they were sent North to be paid off, their places being partially sup- plied by drafts of men from the receiving-ship at New York and some of the ships at Hampton Roads. They were by no means so fine a body of men, nor equal in number, to those we lost, for by this time the drain of the war was beginning to tell. Some of the marines were also drafted away, and 24 277 278 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. their places supplied by a company of the Ninety-ninth New York Volunteers, or Union Coast Guard, a regi- ment originally raised for sea-coast service. These soldiers were for the most part stationed at the great guns, as we were so short-handed that there were not enough blue-jackets to completely man them. This arrangement was considered merely temporary, as it was understood that the two sailing-frigates were to be relieved by steamers as early in the spring as possible. It was manifestly injudicious to leave them where they were, an easy prey to the powerful ironclad which was reported to be building at Norfolk upon the hull of the partly-burnt frigate Merrimac, which the enemy had raised, and were said to be working at with great vigor. Reports came constantly, by contrabands and refugees, that the mysterious vessel was nearly ready, and was to " clean out" Hampton Roads and James River when she did appear. Some said that she was roofed with railroad iron, while others said the armor was of thick iron plates. Of course, we knew nothing of ironclads in those days, and were inclined to regard this one as a myth ; but at any rate we felt certain that if we could once get her under our broadside, we could soon send her to the bottom. About the 1st of March our captain was detached from the ship, but remained on board, waiting a passage South to take another command. Our first lieutenant assumed command temporarily, being ordered, when relieved by another vessel (about the 10th of March), to take the ship to Philadelphia and lay her up. At this time, too, we got a Norfolk newspaper, BATTLE AT HAMPTON ROADS. 279 brought by an " intelligent contraband," in which was a violent diatribe against the Confederate naval author- ities for their bad management in fitting out the Mer- rimac, declaring that her iron plating was a failure, her machinery was defective, and that she nearly sank when brought out of dock ; and, in fine, that she was of no use except to be moored in the harbor as a floating-battery. It proved that this was a well-conceived trick to throw us oif our guard. The authorities at Washing- ton were better informed, and were not deceived, except that the Merrimac was ready a few days sooner than they expected. At the very time we were with a feeling of relief reading this article, they had steam up on the Merri- mac for trial of machinery, and her officers and crew were on board and under drill. It was the old story of "crying wolf." The 8th of March was a fine, mild day, such as they often have in Southern Virginia during the early spring ; and every one on board our ship was enjoying the weather, as well as pleasing themselves with the prospect of going North in a day or two at farthest, and being relieved from the monotony of a blockade at anchor. I had the afternoon watch, and was pacing listlessly up and down the poop, watching the squabbles of the gulls, and occasionally exchanging a word with old Erie, who was pottering about, clearing his ensign, and overhauling his signal-flags. It has always been a source of wonder to me how the gulls find out when it is dinner-time. But they do. All over the world, wherever a man-of-war is anchored, 280 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. they appear regularly when the mess things are being washed up, and the cooks are taking the buckets of broken victuals to the head, to throw overboard. Then they scream and fight for the remnants, as they drift astern, till all is consumed, when they betake themselves to fresh fields, out of sight, until the rattling of the mess-tins, at the next meal, summons them again. One bell had struck some time before, when I saw Erie and the quartermaster on watch, both intently gazing at something over in the Norfolk channel. Then the latter came to me, and said, " I wish you would take the glass and have a look over there, sir. I believe that thing is a-comin' down at last." Sure enough ! TJiere was a huge black roof, with a smoke-stack emerging from it, creeping down towards Sewell's Point. Three or four satellites, in the shape of tugs and small steamers, surrounded and preceded her. They were not seen from Hampton Roads until after we had made them out ; but when they did show them- selves clear of the Point, there was a great stir among the shipping. But they turned up into the James River channel, instead of down towards the fort, approach- ing our anchorage with ominous silence and delibera- tion. The officers were now all gathered on the poop look- ing at the strange craft, and hazarding all sorts of ' conjectures about her ; and when it was plain that she was coming to attack us, we beat to quarters, the Cumberland's drum answering ours. We tried the springs to see if the broadside could be brought to bear, but the ship would not budge, BATTLE OF HAMPTON ROADS. 281 owing to the strength of the tide, which had turned ebb. By a little after four bells the strange monster was close enough for us to make out her plating, and we tried her with a solid shot from one of our stern guns, the projectile glancing off her forward casemate like a 'drop of water from a duck's back. When I saw this my heart sank for the first time. Instantly she opened one of her forward ports and answered us with grape, killing and wounding quite a number. She then passed us at a distance of about two hundred yards, receiving our broadside and giving one in return. Our shot had apparently no effect, but the result of her broadside on board our ship was simply terrible. One of her shells dismounted an eight-inch gun, and either killed or wounded every one of the gun's crew, while the slaughter at the other guns was fearful. There were comparatively few wounded, however, the huge shells she threw killing outright as a general thing. Our gun-deck was in an instant changed into a slaughter-pen, with lopped-oif arms and legs and bleed- ing, blackened bodies scattered about by the shells, while blood and brains actually dripped from the beams. I saw one poor fellow crawling down to the doctor with his chest transfixed by a splinter as thick as my wrist, but the shell wounds were even worse. Poor old Erie Kemp was brought below from his station at the wheel with both legs off. The gallant old man was cheering and exhorting the men to stand by the ship almost with his last breath, for he died in a few minutes. In the excitement of the moment I 24* 282 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. did not much heed his death, but I have often thought kindly since of my rough but good-hearted early friend, and have great consolation in the thought that his death was the one which he himself would have chosen. After the broadside the Merrimac passed on up the river, and our poor fellows, thinking she had had enough of it and was for getting away, actually began to cheer. For many of them it was the last cheer they were ever to give. We soon saw what her object was, for, standing up abreast of the Cumberland and putting her helm aport, she ran her ram right into her. That ship kept up a splendid and deliberate, but ineffectual, fire until she filled and sank, which she did in a very few minutes. A small freight-steamer of the quartermaster's de- partment, and some tugs and boats from the Camp wharf, gallantly put off to rescue the survivors, who were forced to jump overboard. In spite of shot from the rebel gunboats, one of which went through the boiler of the freight-boat, they succeeded in saving a great many. During this time we discovered that we were on fire in the sick-bay, in the wardroom, near the after-maga- zine, and in the main-hold, the fires being caused by hot shot. Some of these fires were extinguished by the pumps, but the most dangerous one, that near the after-magazine, was never extinguished, in spite of all exertion, and was the cause of the explosion which during the following night blew the ship to pieces. Seeing the fate of the Cumberland, which sank in very deep water, we set our jib and top-sails and slipped the chains, under a sharp fire from the gunboats, which BATTLE OF HAMPTON ROADS. 283 killed and wounded many. With these sails and the help of the Zouave, a tugboat, we now ran the ship on shore on the edge of the flats which make off from Newport's News Point. Here the vessel heeled over as the tide fell, leaving us only tw r o guns with which we could fight, those in the stern-ports. By this time, two large steam-frigates and a sailing- frigate, towed by tugs, had started up from Hampton Roads to our assistance. They all got aground before they had achieved half the distance ; and perhaps it was fortunate that they did so, for they would probably have met the fate of the Cumberland, in which case the lives of the twelve or thirteen hundred men on board of them would have been uselessly sacrificed. After the Merrimac had sunk the Cumberland, she came down the channel and attacked us again. This was at about five bells in the afternoon. Taking up a position about one hundred and fifty yards astern of us, she deliberately raked us with her eighty- pounder shells, while the steamers from up the river and those which had come out with the ironclad from Norfolk all concentrated the fire of their small rifled guns upon us. At this time we lost two officers, both elderly men. One was an acting master, who was killed on the quarter-deck by a small rifle-bolt, which struck him between the shoulders and went right through him. The other was our old coast-pilot, who was mortally wounded by a fragment of shell. We kept up as strong a fire as we could from our two stern guns, but the men were swept away from them repeatedly, and finally both pieces were disabled, 284 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. one having the muzzle knocked off and the other being dismounted. Rifles and carbines were also used by us to try to pick off some of the gun's crews when the Merrimac's ports were opened to fire ; but there was no effect apparent to us from the fire of these small arms, although we heard afterwards that we had wounded her captain. It is useless to attempt to describe the condition of our decks by this time. No one who has not seen it can appreciate the effect of such a fire in a confined space. The ship was on fire near the magazine all this time, and men were being killed and maimed every minute. Just before our stern guns were disabled there was a call for powder for them, and none appearing, I took a look on the berth-deck to find the cause. After my eyes had become a little accustomed to the darkness and to the sharp smoke from burning oak, I saw that the line of cooks and wardroom servants, stationed to pass " full boxes" from the after-magazine, had been raked by a shell, and the whole of them either killed or wounded, a sufficient reason why there was no powder. The officer in command of our powder division was a brother of the captain of the Merrimac. The shells searched us everywhere. A man previ- ously wounded was killed in the cockpit, where he had been taken for surgical care. The deck of the cockpit had to be kept sluiced with water from the pumps to extinguish the fire from the shells, although dreadfully wounded men were lying on this deck and the water was icy cold. But the shell-room hatch opened into the cockpit, and fire must be kept out of there at all BATTLE OF HAMPTON ROADS. 285 hazards, or the whole of us would go into the air together. In the wardroom and steerage the bulkheads were all knocked down by shell and by the axemen, making way for the hose, forming a scene of perfect ruin and desolation. Clothing, books, glass, china, photographs, chairs, bedding, and tables were all mixed in one con- fused heap. Some time before this, our commanding officer, a fine young man, had been instantly killed by a fragment of shell, which struck him in the chest. His watch and one of his shoulder-straps (the other was gone) were afterwards sent safely to his father, who was a veteran of the War of 1812. "We had now borne this renewed fire for an hour, and there was no prospect of assistance from any quarter, while we were being slaughtered without being able to return a shot. Seeing this, the officer who had succeeded to the command of the ship, upon consultation with our former captain (who was still on board as a guest), or- dered our flag to be struck. We had then been under fire altogether more than two hours. It is not a pleasant thing to have to strike your flag, but I did not see then, and I do not see now, what else we were to do. A boat now boarded us, with an officer from the Merrimac, who said he would take charge of the ship. He did nothing, however, but gaze about a little, and pick up one or two carbines and cutlasses, I presume as trophies. One of the small gunboats at this time came alongside, and the officer from the Merrimac left. The captain of the small steamer said that we must get out of the ship at once, as he had orders to burn her, 286 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. and some of our people went on board as prisoners, but not many. As her upper deck was about even with our main-deck ports I stepped out of one, and told the rebel officer that we had many dreadfully wounded men, and that we must have time to collect and place them on board his vessel, and also that our ship was so well on fire that no one could put it out. While talking to him, he said, " There ! those scoun- drels on shore are firing at me, now ; you must make haste !" In fact, the rifle-balls were flying and " ping- ing" about us briskly, scarring the rusty black sides of the poor old frigate, for the Twentieth Indiana Regi- ment had come down from the camp to the Point, and had opened fire, from behind the pine-trees, upon the gunboat lying alongside of us. Having no desire to be killed by our own people, I jumped back into the port just as the steamer, finding it too hot, shoved off and left us. As soon as he did so they all opened upon us again, although we had a white flag flying to show we were out of action, and we were certainly not responsible for the action of the regiment on shore. After ten or fifteen minutes more, however, the Mer- rimac and her consorts all withdrew and went down the channel to pay attention to the frigate Minnesota, which was hard and fast aground. Fortunately, the Merrimac drew too much water to come near the Min- nesota at that stage of tide, and the small fry were soon driven off by her battery. Night now approaching, the whole Confederate flotilla withdrew, and went up the Norfolk channel. CHAPTER XXVI. THE SECOND DAY 7 S FIGHT. THE MERRIMAC AND MONITOR. ALTHOUGH relieved from the pressure of actual battle, we had still the consciousness that fire was making progress in the close vicinity of our after- magazine, and we felt as I suppose men would who are walking on the crater of a volcano on the verge of eruption. Fortunately for us, the Merrimac and her consorts had not fired much at our upper works and spars, the principal damage being inflicted upon the gun- and berth-decks. We had, therefore, the launch and first cutter, large boats, which, with a little stuffing of shot-holes, were fit to carry us the short distance which intervened between the ship and the shore. We got the yard- and stay-tackles up and the boats into the water as soon as possible, the fire gaining and the sun going down in the mean time. By successive boat-loads the survivors were all landed. The launch was brought under the bill-port, and the wounded, in cots, were lowered into her by a whip from the foreyard, which was braced up for the purpose. This boat nearly filled with water on her last trip from the injuries she had received, obliging the officers, who had stayed till the last, to jump overboard into the 287 288 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. icy-cold water, and relieve the boat of most of their weight by leaning their hands on the gunwale. She grounded in water about waist-deep, and the soldiers from the camp waded out and assisted our men in bearing on shore, and to the log hospital of the Twen- tieth Indiana, those who were in cots. We had managed to get the body of our gallant young commanding officer on shore in one of the cots as a wounded man. The majority of the men were so " gallied" by the time the action was over, from en- during so severe a fire without being able to respond, and also by the possibility of an explosion occurring at any time, that I doubt whether they could have been got to thus bring off a man whom they knew to be dead. The officers repeatedly went round the decks looking for wounded men, and I firmly believe that all who were alive were brought off. We brought on shore about thirty wounded, half of whom afterwards died, and we lost, in killed and missing, about one hundred and twelve. These numbers imply death or wounds from gunshot, drowning, or captivity, to about one in every three who were on board when the action commenced. My memory may not serve me with entire accuracy, but these were about the numbers. Our exhausted people were taken charge of by the military in the camp, and supplied with much-needed food and clothing. In expectation of having to swim for it, a number had kicked off their shoes or lost them in the mud while wading from the boat to the shore. Some had taken off their coats, and others had lost their caps and other portions of their clothing during the engagement, while all had their faces and hands THE MERRIMAC AND MONITOR. 289 thoroughly blackened and begrimed with powder and smoke. Our poor old ship, deserted, with the dead lying as they fell, burnt till about midnight, when she blew up. The next morning, the 9th of March, dawned fine and spring-like, although a haze hung over the water, throuo-h which the sun, as he rose, looked red and o * * angry ; but it soon cleared off finely. The camp was early astir, the regiments drawn up in line of battle, while the surviving crews of the two ships were placed in the earthworks on the land side of the camp to man the howitzers placed there. It was expected that the Merrimac would return that morning to complete her work, and information had been received that General Magruder, with a large force, was marching over from Yorktown to take the camp in the rear, and thus, in conjunction with the ironclad, force a surrender. About six in the morning the Merrimac was seen through the mist coming down again, apparently in- tending first to finish the Minnesota, which was still aground. Of course we watched her proceedings with breathless interest, as did thousands of others on both sides. Coming up the James River channel again, the iron- clad opened fire on the Minnesota with her bow guns, hulling her once or twice, when suddenly there glided out from under the shadow of the huge frigate a little raft-like vessel almost flush with the water, and bearing on her deck a black turret. At first no one in the camp seemed to know what it was or how it came there, but at last it was conceded that it must be the new ironclad which we had heard N 25 290 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. was being built in New York. It was indeed the Monitor, and although too late to prevent yesterday's loss, she was in the nick of time to prevent far more serious damage. Even then she seemed so small and trifling, that we feared she would only constitute addi- tional prey for the leviathan. We were quite as much surprised as those on board the Merrimac could be to see this pigmy deliberately steam towards the huge ironclad and enter into an engagement with her, exchanging the heaviest shot then in use without apparent damage to either side, and mano3uvring for the purpose of finding vulnerable points. After a time the Merrimac seemed to give up the attempt to injure the Monitor by her fire, and turned her attention once more to the Minnesota, hulling her again, and exploding the boiler of a tugboat lying alongside. In the mean time the Minnesota's battery was brought to bear, and her eight- and ten-inch .shot must have hit the Merrimac fifty times, but glanced off from her sloping roof without inflicting any injury. By this time the gallant little Monitor had again come up and interposed between the ironclad and her prey, firing her two guns in the "one, two" manner of a pugilist delivering his blows. This caused the Merrimac to shift her position, and in doing so she grounded for a few minutes. There was now a good deal of firing and a cloud of smoke, from which presently emerged the Merrimac, steaming away down the channel, pursued by the Monitor, like a bull-dog after a bull. Apparently as a desperate and final effort to rid her- THE MERR1MAC AND MONITOR. 291 self of her little antagonist, she now suddenly put her helm down, and ran full speed right on to the Monitor. As the beak struck her, the Monitor fired an eleven- inch solid shot right into her roof, at only a few feet distance. I have never heard exactly what damage this shot did, but at any rate, it was nearly the last one fired. The blow of the ram did scarcely any harm to the Monitor, and the Merrimac almost immediately drew off and went up to anchor above Craney Island. So ended the first ironclad engagement. From that day until she was blown up by her own people, about two months afterwards, this formidable vessel never effected anything of moment ; but the fact of her pres- ence no doubt affected the whole plan of campaign for that season. About the time that she retired from the contest, the head of Magruder's column appeared on the banks of the James, above the camp, and we could see a mounted staff reconnoitring. But we were too strong and well intrenched for them to attack without aid from the water. They were a day too late, and, like the King of France, after marching up the hill, marched down again. That evening a steamer belonging to the Quarter- master's Department came up to the camp from Fortress Monroe with ammunition and provisions. The officers and men of the two ships were informed by General Mansfield (a fine-looking, energetic old officer, after- wards killed at Antietam) that they could take passage in the steamer to Old Point Comfort. We started in her, accordingly, after dark, passing close to the Min- nesota, which ship was at work extricating herself from 292 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. her awkward position, and reached the wharf at Old Point about nine o'clock at night. The provost guard having looked us over (and a hard- looking lot we were), the officers went to the Hygeia Hotel (not yet entirely turned into an hospital), and " turned in," thoroughly exhausted. I was sleeping soundly when, somewhere about two o'clock in the morning, I was awakened by a great shouting and noise of wheels, and men running. There was a great glare of fire in the window, and as I was striving to collect my senses and to think where I was and what it all meant, a heavy gun went off close by, shaking the frame building, the shell, with a now familiar sound, passing just over the roof, and going into the ditch of the fort. This shell was closely fol- lowed by an other, -and then two more were fired in another direction. I thought, of course, that the Mer- rimac had come down again and was shelling the fort, and so, I believe, did every one else, at first. By this time I had reached a front window, and saw that a large ferry-boat, the Whitehall, which had been converted into a gunboat, was on fire at her moorings, inside the bar, and burning fiercely. The shell had come from her guns, which had gone off when heated. The burning of her light upper works made a tremendous blaze, which had brought out all the provost guard, with the fire-engines of the garrison, while the " long roll" was beaten inside the fortress, and the whole garrison turned out under arms. In a very short time the boat burnt to the water's edge, and quiet was restored. Next morning we reported to the senior naval officer, who gave each of us written per- THE MERRIMAC AND MONITOR. 293 mission to go to onr homes, and thence to report by letter to the Navy Department. The men were sent on board the different ships in the Roads, and, eventu- ally, they all went to New York. Armed with our orders, we obtained from the pro- vost-marshal passage up Chesapeake Bay by the daily steamer to Baltimore, whence we scattered, by rail, in all directions. I went to New Haven and had some days of rest, which I very much needed, after the fatigue and excitement of those eventful days. CHAPTER XXVII. I AM ORDERED ON DUTY AGAIN. CAPTURE A BLOCKADE-RUNNER AND TAKE HER HOME. OF course I had to provide myself with an entire new outfit, for I had lost everything ; but I found my- self much better than I had ever been in my life, for my old friend had disposed of the cargo of rosin and turpentine which I had stored- at a price which was more than double what it cost me. Having to visit New York upon this business, I took the opportunity to order a handsome tombstone in memory of poor old Erie Kemp, " Killed in battle, March 8, 1862. Faith- ful below, he did his duty, but now he's gone aloft !" I got permission to erect this in the grave-yard of the Naval Asylum, at Philadelphia, where many, who knew him well and could best appreciate his good qualities, would themselves be laid. My business was scarcely completed, when I received orders to the Eagle, at Philadelphia, as her executive officer. She was a purchased steamer of considerable speed, which was being altered into a man-of-war, car- rying four thirty-two-pounder broadside guns, a boat howitzer, and an eighty-pounder rifle on the forecastle. She was of about eight hundred tons, and was painted lead color, as almost all of our men-of-war were by this time, a " wrinkle" gained from the blockade-runners. It renders a vessel almost invisible at night, or in thick weather, and is very durable, and of course economical. 294 I AM ORDERED ON DUTY AGAIN. 295 By this time a very large force of vessels was em- ployed in the navy, and the volunteer officers far ex- ceeded in number the regulars. We had in the Eagle a lieutenant in command, who was a young man of considerable ambition and dash, but with no very great experience at sea. Before the war ended, however, he " won his spurs," and turned out a careful and excellent officer. I was first lieutenant, as I have said, and there were three other acting masters, a paymaster and surgeon, and three engineers, all acting officers, none of them having seen any naval service but myself. My time was now occupied in making out station- bills, seeing that the outfit and stores came on board, and in breaking in the officers as well as the crew to something like naval discipline. The commanding officer, finding that I understood naval routine pretty well, did not trouble himself much about the ship ; and indeed I could not greatly blame him, for he was a newly-married man, and we were bound to the Gulf of Mexico for a long cruise, in a sickly climate, besides the risks of war. At length we were reported ready, and received or- ders to proceed South, and report to the commanding officer at Key West. Leaving Philadelphia at day- light, and just before high water, we discharged our pilot and left the Capes of the Delaware at a little after meridian, much pleased to find that our ship preserved, under her battery and man-of-war fittings, the speed which she had always shown while in the merchant service. It was splendid June weather, and we ran south 296 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. rapidly, speaking one or two of the off-shore block- aders about Cape Fear. One afternoon, when about in the latitude of Winyaw Bay, we had a series of squalls with heavy rain. In the interval between two of them we suddenly made out a long, low steamer, with huge paddle-wheels, heading right across our bows, and in towards the land. She had a turtle-back deck forward to turn off the spray and sea, two smoke- stacks, and two short, stumpy, raking masts, with the gaffs lowered. The black smoke from English coal was pouring out from her funnels, and there was no doubt she was a blockade-runner, making for Winyaw, or Bull's Bay. Such gentry have sharp eyes, and she made us out at the same moment we saw her. At first it appeared as if she intended to try to cross our bows and run for the land, and a greater volume of black smoke poured from her funnels as she "fired up," but a carefully-sighted shot from our eighty-pounder, which nearly reached her, seemed to alter the mind of her captain. Putting his helm hard a starboard, he ran away to the eastward, evidently intending to trust to his heels. But he did not know what the Eagle could do, nor did we either, for that matter, until we tried her, and here was a splendid chance. The stranger was very deep in the water, and by sunset it was evident that we were holding our own with him. Though too far off to render our aim at all certain, we gave him an occasional shot from our rifled gun, and the last thing we saw as the sun set he was heaving overboard some of his cargo. The night promised to be squally though not dark, CAPTURE A BLOCKADE-RUNNER. 297 and we soon got out on the edge of the Gulf Stream, where the sea was very rough, and the water and spray flew on board in sheets as we tore along through it, the salt soon making our smoke-stack look as if it had been whitewashed. The chief engineer was groaning about the strain on his engine, but was ordered to make all the speed he could, with the observation that if the chase could stand it we could, and that there was plenty of prize-money ahead. The latter consideration seemed to soothe his feelings, and he disappeared below to see that his be- loved bearings had their due share of oil, while his grimy and perspiring firemen had their labors light- ened by an extra " tot" of grog. On deck we kept the sharpest lookout with our glasses, for fear the chase would alter her course, or dodge us in some way. But she seemed inclined to trust to running, and was evidently still heaving cargo overboard, for we observed more than one large box or bale as we followed in her wake. The wind now came out fair, and we made sail, every one being on deck and working with a will, for all were too excited to sleep, even if it had not been " all hands/' In addi- tion to the love of chasing anything, common to all mankind, Jack peculiarly enjoys a chase with a pros- pect of prize-money at the end of it. We had been more than seven hours at the top of our speed, the ship working and complaining as she was forced through the rough water, but everything holding on splendidly, when all at once it seemed to me as if the chase had "slowed down," so rapidly did we commence to gain upon her. In a few minutes more our rifle-shot were 298 THIRTY TEARS AT SEA. ranging over her, and at least one struck her, upon which she waved a lantern over her quarter in token of surrender. The moon had risen just before this, which enabled us to see that she had stopped her engine, while the steam roared from her raised safety-valve. As I have mentioned, there was quite a heavy and confused sea, which caused considerable difficulty in lowering and manning a boat, of which I was ordered to take charge and board the strange vessel. When I got alongside, I hauled up to leeward of her, and watching a chance, made a spring and caught her low rail. As I jumped down on the deck, I did not see a soul except the man at the wheel. Heaving the end of a boat's falls into our boat for a painter, I or- dered six of the crew, armed with cutlass and pistol, to come out. An assistant engineer, who had volun- teered to come with me, at once made for the engine- room hatch, and looking down, called to me to come there, when we saw three or four men below at work at some of the valve-gear, evidently disabling the ma- chinery. I sung out to them to drop that and come on deck at once, or I should fire at them. They seemed startled at hearing my voice, not thinking apparently that we had had time to board them, and they dropped the lantern by which they were working, and came up the ladder. Asking the first man who he was, he said he was the captain of the steamer, which was the Nighthawk, of Nassau, and that the others were the engineers. I im- mediately directed our engineer to go below, with one man, and see the condition of the machinery and of CAPTURE A BLOCKADE-RUNNER. 299 the water in the boilers, while I hailed the Eagle for another boat, with firemen. Placing a man on guard at each gangway, I then, with the other two, followed the captain and engineers of the steamer into the deck-cabin, from which a bright light shone. Here I found the mates and three young men, evidently passengers, sitting at the table, appar- ently very drunk. The table, over which hung a lamp, was covered with bottles of champagne, while the deck, covered by an oil-cloth, was a complete litter of torn papers and small packages. The occupants were shout- ing and singing in a maudlin sort of way, while the motion of the narrow vessel, unsteadied by sail or steam, was fast smashing the bottles and crockery, the fragments making the place dangerous to walk about in. These worthies hailed us with uproarious shouts and invitations to drink, with some tipsy comments on the fortunes of war. The skipper, as well as the Scotch engineers, seemed to be very much ashamed of them. As the other boat had arrived by this time, I ordered some of our men to place them in the pantry, and lock the door, while I sent the captain and engineers on deck under charge of a sentry, immediately setting a man to look for log-books and papers. Taking half a dozen of our men, I now moved for- ward, and found the crew of the prize, numbering about twelve or fifteen, busy packing their kits and making preparations to leave. Some of them were drunk, but quiet and not inclined to make mischief; so, leaving two men on post over the hatch, I proceeded to make a careful inspection of the vessel. 300 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. Upon getting more lanterns, I saw that one of our rifle-shots had carried away a part of the bridge and gone through the forward funnel, doing no serious dam- age. The wheel-houses and guards were almost entirely knocked away, not by shot, but by the heavy sea into which they had been forcing her, and her "slowing down" was explained by the fact that almost every bucket was gone from the wheels, hammered out by the heavy sea. She was very sharp and had great power, and I think we should not have caught her if she had had a smooth sea. The engineers now reported the engines all right, and that she had plenty of coal in her bunkers, enough to take her from Nassau to our coast and back again. Her cargo was a most valuable one, comprising among other things two complete batteries of field artillery and three thousand stand of arms, which were stowed in the bottom of the hold. She had also an immense quantity of uniform clothing, boots, shoes, saddlery, medicines, liquors, and percussion-caps. I must say her captain and engineers behaved re- markably well after we once took possession, making no unnecessary remarks, but answering all our questions in a satisfactory manner. They were all Englishmen, and knew that they would receive no other punishment than a short imprisonment, and they did not feel the loss of the vessel so much, as they had already made three successful trips in her, and had made a great deal of money. By this time the mates and passengers who had been locked up in the pantry, after some maudlin songs and yells, had commenced fighting among themselves, CAPTURE A BLOCKADE-RUNNER. 3Q1 so we were obliged to open the door, and put them in double irons, with a threat of gagging them if they did not keep quiet, which threat I was obliged to carry out in the case of one of the mates. The search of the cabin and state-rooms disclosed important mails, which had been forgotten, although the log and the invoices of the cargo had been de- stroyed. The captain told us, however, that the most of the packages which had been hove overboard during the chase contained shoes and harness, as they could not get at the heavier part of the cargo. By this time it was daybreak, and our commanding officer came on board. After some consultation we de- cided that we should take the Nighthawk in tow and make for Hampton Roads, as her damaged paddle- wheels would prevent her from getting there in any reasonable time tinder her own steam, even should we have fine weather. The prisoners were, therefore, all sent on board the Eagle, and I was left in charge of the prize, with about a dozen men. On arriving at Hampton Roads we got carpenters from the flag-ship there, who put in temporary buckets, so that I could go on to Baltimore and deliver her into the hands of the prize commissioner at that place. The Eagle sailed for Key West at the same time I left for Baltimore. I was detained some weeks by the necessary formal- ities attending the condemnation of the Nighthawk. She was one of the best prizes made during the war, and my share of prize-money afterwards amounted to between six and seven thousand dollars. Having settled the business as far as I was concerned, 20 302 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. I was ordered, with my prize-crew, to take passage in the supply steamer to Key West, and rejoin our vessel. These supply steamers ran regularly down the coast, and round into the Gulf, stopping at the different naval stations and depots, as well as supplying the vessels on the blockade with ice, fresh provisions, vege- tables, canned fruits, and various sutler's stores. They also carried the mails, and officers and men for the various vessels, and brought back the sick. This time, too, they were to bring back all the whiskey in the spirit-rooms of the different men-of-war, except that kept as a part of the medical stores ; Con- gress having abolished the spirit ration in the navy, to take effect immediately. This action created a good deal of discontent, es- pecially among the old seamen, or " shell-backs" ; but I believe, upon the whole, that it has been productive of good. To give an idea of the many verses, and jeux d'esprit, which the stoppage of grog called forth, I here give one of the best of those in circulation at the time : "FAREWELL TO GROG." ( Wardroom of the U. S. S. . Time, August 31, 1862. Officer sings, as he sits at table.) " Oh, messmates, pass the bottle round, Our time is short, remember ; For our grog must stop, and our spirits drop, On the first day of September ! " Farewell, Old Eye, 'tis a sad, sad word, But, alas ! it must be spoken, The ' ruby cup' must be given up, And the demijohn be broken I CAPTURE A BLOCKADE-RUNNER. 3Q3 " Yet memory oft will backward turn, And dwell with fondness partial, On the days when gin was not a sin, Nor cocktails brought court-martial. " Jack's happy days will soon be past, To return again? Oh, never ! For they've raised his pay five cents a day, And stopped his grog forever." (The boatswain's mate pipes, "All hands splice main-brace I") " All hands to splice the main-brace call, But splice it now in sorrow, For the spirit-room key will be laid away, Forever, on to-morrow." It is seldom a pleasant thing to be a passenger in a man-of-war, where one is generally looked upon as an incmnbrance, " in every one's mess and nobody's watch," so I was very glad when we sighted the light-house, and Fort Taylor, and were soon at anchor in Key West. We were immediately surrounded by man-of-war boats, and thronged with officers hungry for food for both mind and body, in the shape of fresh beef and news- papers. CHAPTER XXVIII. A "CUTTING OUT" PARTY. THE " conchs," as the natives of Key West are called, are not a very interesting race, besides which there was a good deal of yellow fever there at that time, and I was rejoiced to see the Eagle come steaming in soon after my arrival. They were very glad to see us, too, for the prize- crew which I had taken had made them somewhat short- handed, and men were not very plenty in that squadron. The Eagle had been blockading about St. Mark's and Apalachicola, and had come down for stores and some repairs. These were soon effected, and we sailed for the coast of Florida again, with orders to relieve a sailing-vessel, which had been stationed in the neigh- borhood of Cedar Keys. A good deal of blockade-running had been done from this part of the coast by small sloops and schooners, which would lie far up the creeks and bayous, loaded with cotton or turpentine; and then, watching their chance, slip out, and very often got safely over to Havana. The first thing we heard from the barque we relieved was that a refugee had reported a small paddle-wheel steamer lying about six or seven miles up one of the rivers, loaded with cotton, and waiting a chance to Kun out. The same man had also indicated the position of quite 304 A CUTTIXQ-OUT" PARTY. 3Q5 extensive salt-works about thirty miles higher up the coast, where they were boiling, day and night, and making nearly two hundred bushels of this necessary article every twenty-four hours. We determined to look after the steamer first, and then to pay attention to the salt-works, and for this purpose we devoted the day to a careful preparation of our boats. One of the remarkable things about this wonderful and interesting west coast of Florida is, that there is only one ebb and one flow of tide in the twenty-four hours, and on the night of our intended expedition the flood would not serve us until after midnight. In the mean time, to lull suspicion of any boat ex- pedition in case we were watched from the keys, we sent the smaller boats to fish, and kept a few men aloft, pretending to work at overhauling the rigging; but the greater number were busy as bees inboard. Our boats returned at dinner-time with more fish than we could use, for this is a paradise for fishermen. Sheep's-head, red-fish, sea-trout and grouper, pompano, cavalli, mullet, and hog-fish, besides many other kinds, filled the bottom of the boats with their beautiful and varied colors. A splendid drum-fish occupied the place of honor in the stern-sheets of the dingey, which boat had also visited an isolated key beyond gun-shot of any over-watchful " home-guard," and brought quan- tities of fine oysters. We had two or three large turtle already on board, but a week or two at Key West causes turtle-soup and turtle-steak to pall, and our people much preferred the fish. Having got our launch and first cutter all 17* 306 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. ready, the crews told off, oars muffled, and arms and ammunition supplied, we got under way just before sunset, and stood slowly down the coast, as if shifting station for the night. But as soon as darkness came on we retraced our course under low steam and with all lights concealed, until we took up our anchor- age of the morning. We were about two miles from the mainland ; but, as it was now very calm and still, we used all precaution to prevent noise as we lowered and manned our boats, putting the howitzer in the launch. Finally all was ready, and the time having arrived, I shoved off with twenty-two men and officers, some of whom were engineers and firemen. The tide was making, and we pulled cautiously in, grounding lightly two or three times from getting out of the channel, but the rising water soon took us off again. When we got across the bar and inside the keys, we could make out the gap in the dense foliage, caused by the creek, or rather river, which we were in search of. Entering this, we pulled steadily but quietly for nearly an hour, when I thought we must be near the spot where we should find the steamer. I now ordered the men to lie on their oars, and allowed the boats to drift quietly up with the tide. The river was narrow but deep, and in some places the huge trees seemed almost to meet over the water, the darkness in such places being intense, and our only guide the sky-line above, which looked quite bright in comparison. Occasionally an alligator would bellow or slide off the bank into the water, startling us at first and causing locks to be cocked, until we found out what it was. A "CUTTING-OUT" PARTY. 3Q7 Great horned-owls laughed and hooted as they sailed up the river in advance of us, while night-herons took flight from the shallows at the bends as we disturbed them, the flapping of their huge wings causing a strange, low, mysterious echo from the banks. Occasionally the howl of a wolf would be heard far away, answered nearer by the shriek and wail of a panther or wild-cat. Birds of various kinds, which were roosting in the trees, aware that something strange was passing, chat- tered and moved upon their perches, rustling the leaves, as though a breeze was stirring. Altogether it was as " spooky" a time as I ever passed. At last the river widened again, and we saw the dim outline of the steamer we were in search of. She was lying at a little wharf, around which was a clearing of a few acres. A small barn, or store-house, stood close to the wharf, and we could see the sky through a break in the woods, caused by the clearing for a road, which came in from the east. We had been told that there were thirteen people on board the steamer, several of whom were negroes ; but that a company of " home-guards" were at a little set- tlement about a mile off, some of whom were apt to be at the landing at night. I felt pretty confident, how- ever, that I could manage the surprise with the force I had, even if the militia were there. Finding that our approach was unobserved by any sentry, I kept the boats under the bank, holding on by the mangrove-bushes, and then enjoining absolute silence, allowed the men to get something to eat, and look to their arms. Just as daylight was beginning to make things visi- 308 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. ble I gave the order, and we made a dash for the ves- sel, boarding her on each bow, as she lay with her head down-stream. Just before we reached her a man came out of the store-house in his shirt-sleeves and without a hat, ap- parently just awaking from his night's sleep. Seeing us, he gave a tremendous yell to alarm those on board the vessel, and then broke for the woods with most surprising speed. Tumbling on board, some of the men, according to instructions, closed and secured the forecastle-hatch, just in time to prevent the hands from coming up, some of them being actually on the ladder. At the same moment four or five men came out of the deck- cabin and commenced firing at us along the gangways left by piling the cotton-bales on deck. I felt my forehead grazed by a ball, which cut the skin and caused the blood to flow into my eyes so pro- fusely that I was blinded by it for a few minutes. I got out my handkerchief, and, binding up the wound, was soon able to see the state of affairs. I found that we had possession of the vessel. One of our oppo- nents, a man with a long black beard, had been shot dead, upon which the four others leaped over the rail and on to the wharf, whence they ran for the woods, at least two of them being badly wounded. Two of our men were hurt by buckshot, but no one was killed on our side. I knew very well that there was no time to lose, not only on account of the tide, but because the militia at the settlement would soon be down upon us, being roused by the man who had first discovered us, and who A "CUTTING-OUT" PARTY. 3Q9 had gone off like a deer. I therefore ordered the dead man to be laid on the wharf, and the howitzer and slide to be got out of the launch and mounted on the hurri- cane-deck of the prize. The engineers and firemen were directed at once to look to getting steam on the vessel, and I ordered the fasts to be cast off and the boats to go ahead and tow. We had allowed the prisoners to come up from the fore- castle one by one, and found that they were all negroes, firemen and deck-hands, much frightened, but docile enough. I set them at work, telling them they would be free as soon as we got out of the river. They told us that the man with the long beard who was killed was the captain, and that the white men who had es- caped were the mate and engineers. The boilers were found all pumped up, and the fur- naces crammed full of pine-wood all ready to light, so there was every probability of having steam within an hour. As I found the tide was still flood, and that the boats could do little in the way of towing, while the crews were much exposed, I called them alongside, and secured them well under the guards, dropping the anchor which was ready at the bows. Of course I was very anxious, and kept a bright lookout for any signs of the militia. We hastily ar- ranged some cotton-bales about the pilot-house, leaving chinks to see out of, and placed others along the guards to make bulwarks for our small-arm men. This was all arranged, and the men stationed under cover, when 1 heard sounds of axes, chopping at trees below us, at the narrow part of the river. I knew at once what this meant. Our friends were 310 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. felling trees to obstruct the narrow passage, and if they succeeded in doing this, our capture or death was only a question of time. Meantime, we could not see a soul on shore, and could hear nothing but the sound of the axes. The next few minutes seemed to me very long, but in a little time the steam began to blow from the escape- pipe, and I have never heard a more welcome sound. The engineer now reported that he would turn his wheels and then be ready to go ahead, but I restrained my impatience for a few moments longer until the steam had reached a good head, and then gave the order to slip the chain, and for every one to shelter himself. I went into the pilot-house with two good men, and away we went down-stream. As we came in sight of the narrow part, I saw that one tall cottonwood was already down on the left bank, its branches reaching much more than half-way across the narrow stream, while two stout fellows were slashing away at another on the opposite side, which appeared already tottering to its fall. If it did fall before we passed, there was a slim chance for us. Seizing the pull, I rang four bells, "go ahead strong!" and then waited breathless with suspense. As we got nearer, I hailed our men to fire at the choppers, which they did, causing one of them to throw up his hands and fall, while the other dodged behind another tree. Our fire was answered by a regular vol- ley, every tree seeming to conceal a rifleman, but, thanks to our cotton-bales, no one was hurt, though there were a number of narrow escapes. One ball came through a chink into the pilot-house, and buried itself in the 'TRAINING THE HOWITZER UPON THEM, i FIRED INTO THE MIDST OF THE GROUP." Page 311. A "CUTTING-OUT" PARTY. 3H barrel of the wheel, and barely missed stranding the tiller-rope, on which so much depended. On we went, foaming down the river at full speed, keeping well to the right bank, and in a moment the light-draft steamer had passed over the bush of the tree, depressing it suf- ficiently to escape much damage to the buckets of her wheels. We had hardly got by when the swaying tree fell, amid the yells and curses of our disappointed op- ponents, who now came out from cover and began to pepper away at us as fast as they could load. As soon as we were somewhat out of reach of their small arms I left the pilot-house, and, training the howitzer upon them, fired into the midst of the group with shrapnel. This caused great commotion and scattering, but I could not tell how much damage, for we now turned a bend in the stream, and, as we had more narrow places to pass, I did not think it prudent to delay. We had no more interruptions, however, and within an hour were at the mouth of the river. Bringing one of the negro deck-hands up, I made him pilot us over the bar, and we soon ran out to our ship, when I re- ported the steamer Suwanee prize to the United States steanier Eagle. Our wounded men were at once put in the surgeon's hands, and I am happy to say did very well. My own wound was comparatively a mere scratch, but I shall always bear an ugly scar upon my forehead. It now became necessary to send our prize to Key West, and our commander wished me to go in charge of her. But I feared detention there on account of legal formalities, and begged off, the next officer to me taking charge of her, with a few of our men, and the black 312 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. firemen and deck-bands whom we had captured in her. As it turned out, it would have been better for me if I had risked all the disagreeabilities of a detention at Key West, yellow fever, mosquitoes, eternal turtle- steaks, and all, but I could not foresee what was soon to happen to me, through my own imprudence. CHAPTER XXIX. I AM TAKEN PRISONER. ABOUT THE WORST SCRAPE OF MY LIFE. As soon as we got the Suwanee off for Key West, we turned our attention to the salt-works, which it was most important to break up. Of course they had to be situated on the very shores of the Gulf, away from any stream which discharged fresh water, so that the water used would be most saturated with salt. Being thus exposed to attack, quite a camp of men generally occupied these points, including wood-choppers, men to fill the boilers and keep the fires going, coopers to bar- rel up the salt, and finally soldiers, who were generally local militia, to protect the establishment. Sometimes as many as one hundred and fifty men were thus gath- ered, and it required cautious measures for a boat- party to attack them successfully. They had generally quite a little town of store-houses and shanties, and sometimes a breastwork of palmetto logs and sand for their defence. Moving up the coast during the night, we came to, about daylight, off the point where the works were which we had been ordered to destroy. The keys and sand-banks were so numerous that we could not bring the ship very near the place, but we could see the smoke from their fires, which were fed with pine, and from aloft could see with the glass that many people were moving about. o 27 313 314 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. By ten o'clock our preparations were all made, and we pulled in in three boats, the howitzer in the launch, and, after great trouble among the shallows and sand-banks, came within gun-shot of the works at about noon, having had an awfully hot pull of it. Not a soul was to be seen on shore, and if it had not been for the smoke curling up from under the boilers, I must say I should have thought the place deserted. As we approached the beach, however, well-aimed shots began to fly about us, one of them disabling the master's mate of the launch as he was pointing the howitzer at a spot in the bush where the puffs of smoke seemed the thickest. This would not do, of course ; so I hauled off again, and commenced a regular shelling of the place, soon driving the salt-makers from their covers, and sending them scampering into the woods. We now landed with caution, for fear of some am- buscade, throwing out skirmishers and pickets in all directions ; while our launch, with her howitzer, lay afloat and ready for action. The buildings were now set on fire, and the furnaces, of brick and coquina, knocked to pieces. The boilers and pans, which were the most important things, and the most difficult to replace, were thoroughly destroyed. Some of these were of cast- and some of wrought-iron, often curiously and ingeniously adapted from some other use. Some were so massive as to require shot from our howitzer to render them unfit for service. It was not far from sunset when all this was accom- plished, and as I was very anxious to get off before dark, I called in the pickets and hurried the men into I AM TAKEN PRISONER. 315 the boats. I found that some of the men were a little the worse for "red-eye" whiskey, a jug or two of which they had discovered somewhere about the shanties and rescued from the flames. " Jack" will find whiskey if any exists in a place, having that unfailing nose for spirits which a pig has for truffles or a ferret for rats. The pickets reported that they had seen nothing, and we supposed that the salt-makers, finding them- selves unable to do anything, had retreated to a settle- ment known to exist, a few miles from the coast. Upon "counting heads" before finally shoving off, I missed a man named Johnson, a foretopman. Hastily asking who knew anything of him, I was told that the last time he was seen he was on picket in the bushes, just on the edge of the clearing, and about two hun- dred yards from the beach. I hailed him as loudly as I could, but got no answer ; and then ordering the boats to keep fast, and taking a carbine in my hand, started towards where he was last seen, thinking he might have had some of the whiskey, and had fallen asleep. A road led into the woods from the clearing, and -as I did not see Johnson when I got to it, I went a little way along it, still hailing him, saying that I should leave him if he did not come out. Seeing and hearing nothing, I turned to go back to the boats, when I suddenly felt myself seized by the throat and by both arms from behind, and rendered at once incapable of resistance, or even of calling out. Before I could recover from my surprise I had a dirty roll of cloth shoved into my mouth, and tied behind, and was being rushed along the bush road at a tre- 316 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. mendous pace by two strapping fellows, who held each arm ; while three others, one of whom carried my car- bine in addition to his own gun, ran along abreast of us without a word ; but upon my trying to stop or strug- gle, pointed my own carbine at me in a very significant way. I suppose we must have kept up the pace for a quar- ter of a mile, when I became so exhausted, from the difficulty in breathing with the gag in my mouth, that my legs gave way under me and I sank down. Seeing this, the person who seemed to be in command of the party ordered the gag to be taken out, and then allowed me to sit with my back against a tree. Everything appeared to swim before my eyes for a few moments, and then I was all right again, although my heart still beat violently and I felt very weak. By this time it was growing dusk among the trees, but I could see that a large party of arraej^ men had joined us, mostly clad in butternut linsey-woolsey, but with belts and cartridge-boxes, which constituted their only resemblance to soldiers. Just then I heard musket-firing on the beach and the report of our howitzer booming through the woods. The officer in command now hailed a man who was perched in the top of a huge pine, just above our heads, and asked " what those d d Yanks were doing now ?" " They 'pear like they've fired to call that 'un in ; and now they're a shovin' off fur ther dog-goned steamer !" In a few minutes the lookout came scuffling down from the tree, and reported that the boats had gone off, with several wounded or killed. I AM TAKEN PRISONER. 317 The officer, who was addressed as " Cap," now de- tailed a squad to return to the beach to ascertain the amount of damage done by us, and to remain all night and watch the proceedings of the ship. He then or- dered the rest to fall in, placing me between the strag- gling ranks, and in half an hour we saw the lights of the settlement we were approaching. We were soon surrounded by a crowd of men and women, with negroes and dogs on the outskirts, and one man levelled a shot-gun at my head, and if the captain had not promptly interfered, would have blown my brains out, then and there. Even then he contin- ued to assert that he ought to shoot me, because we had killed his brother, down at the salt-works, with "them rotten shot," by which he meant our howitzer-shells. I was now marched away and put in a log house of one room, where, by the light of a flaring pine-knot, I recognized Johnson lying on the ground, with his head and face covered with blood and bruises. The captain told me that if we tried to leave the house during the night we would be shot; a negro brought in some corn-bread and cold bacon and a bucket of water, and the pine-knot was then taken away, and the door shut. I could hear a guard, on post outside, growling and cursing at being put to watch us, and swearing that the best way to secure us was to " let daylight through us." Speaking to Johnson, I found him still somewhat under the influence of the whiskey which he confessed to have drank, but he was evidently suffering very much from his injuries also. He said he had been sur- prised by men who jumped from the bushes, and was 27* 318 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. knocked down and beaten with the butt of a musket. In all probability, however, he had been asleep, and probably owed his being beaten, instead of being shot, to their unwillingness to draw the fire of our howitzer. I think I never passed a more miserable night. I was feverish and sick, and the mosquitoes and fleas were in myriads. I could eat nothing, although I had not tasted a morsel since I left the ship, but I drank quantities of the tepid water from the bucket which had been left us. My reflections, too, were anything but pleasant, for in addition to the fact that I was a prisoner, I had the disagreeable consciousness that I had become so through my own want of caution. The next morning, soon after daylight, the captain opened the door and entered, followed by two or three of his men. Ordering me to strip, they took away my coat and waistcoat, with my watch and pocket-book. The trousers I had on were torn, ragged, and dirty from the work of the previous day, and they told me I could put them on again. As I was doing so, it flashed across my mind that when I was going up to cut out the Suwanee I had sewed into the waist- band four five-dollar "greenbacks," wrapped in oiled silk, and about the same amount in gold pieces. This I had done in case we were captured on that occasion, and the subsequent stirring events had driven the matter completely from my recollection. I had lost ray cap in the scuffle of the previous evening, and the captain, who seemed to be not a bad fellow at bottom (apparently to carry out the idea that exchange is no robbery), brought me a well-worn and / AM TAKEN PRISONER, 319 greasy gray felt hat, and a nondescript garment of coarse yellowish-gray negro cloth, which he called a coat; but, with the exception that it had sleeves, it bore very little resemblance to that garment. In this rig, and all dirty and unshaven, I looked uncommonly like the " crackers" around me. The captain then informed me that he had to go to Newnansville, to report the result of the attack on the salt-works, and that he should take us with him and deliver us as prisoners of war to the officer commanding the district. He also gave me a hint to keep pretty close to him until we were well clear of the settlement, " as some of the boys felt pretty sore-headed, and might go for me." After a breakfast of corn-bread and fried fish, and some excellent coffee (no doubt run in from Havana), we set off on our march. The captain took with him four men, and, following a road cut through the woods, in five minutes after we left the clearing, and its patches of corn and sweet-potatoes, we were in the primeval forest. Although I was not in condition, either physical or mental, to enjoy the beauties of nature, I could not help, both then and afterwards, being struck by the wealth of vegetation of these Florida woods, which constantly revived my recollection of tropical scenes in widely-separated parts of the world. Trudging along the sandy road through the piney woods, with rough stumps sticking up and almost obstructing it in places, we would emerge upon a " savannah" or level prairie, with the rank grass waving like grain, and kept green even in the summer 320 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. heats by the water which everywhere lies so near the surface. Skirting this, perhaps we come upon a dry creek-bed with some pools remaining, into which slide at our approach ugly mud-colored alligators of all sizes. Then we pass round the head of a cypress swamp, with the curious " knees" protruding from the slimy water, and fringed by jungles of "saw-grass," ready to tear the skin as well as the clothes from the explorer. After this is passed the trail leads over a higher tract, where sand again prevails, and giant pines rustle and murmur, although not a breath of air is felt below, and the heat is stifling. Then comes a thick palmetto scrub, and then a rough "corduroy" road through the swamp again, with a wilderness of briers and vines, and air-plants, and long, ghostly, gray Spanish moss, mud, soft and black, stagnant pools, and green slime, and ochery ooze, the hiding-place of the deadly moccasin-snake. During the early hours of the day we saw many birds: woodpeckers of all sizes and colors, jays, crows, kingfishers of gorgeous plumage, parroquets, mock- ing-birds, cardinals, and hundreds of others; while overheard, in the savannahs, soared in great circles hawks and buzzards. But by the time we halted, at about noon, to eat the eternal corn-bread and bacon, which we produced from pockets and haversacks, the heat had driven all these birds into the recesses of the woods, and the silence of the forest was most awful and impressive. Though far more intelligent than the " crackers" he commanded, my captor was a man of very few ideas, knowing singularly little about the war, or indeed any- I AM TAKEN PRISONER. 321 thing outside of cattle-raising, in which he had always been engaged, somewhere down about the Withlacoo- chee. His idea of the " wah" seemed to be that the Yankees were coming down to appropriate their land and negroes, if they were able. But he was clear upon one point, and that was that " the blockade had played h with the business of shipping cattle to Havana and Key West," In the course of the day he had also let drop that he expected to "get particular goss," whatever that may be, from his commanding officer, on account of the destruction of the salt-works. Finding that conversation always came round to these points, causing considerable ruffling of the cap- tain's temper, I ceased to talk, and our halt was passed in a silence in keeping with that of the woods around us, and as soon as the guard had finished their cob- pipes, we got the order to move on again. Late in the afternoon, the captain informed me that we were approaching Old Suwanee, on the river of the same name, where he intended to stop that night. I might have known we were near some settlement, for we began to see half-wild cattle and long-legged black pigs running in the woods, and soon a baying of crackers' hounds and the barking of negroes' coon-dogs fell on our ears, and we found ourselves in the village of Suwanee. This consisted of a few dilapidated frame houses, innocent of paint or whitewash, a " grocery," where the whole male population seemed to be concen- trated on a tumble-down piazza with a shed over it, and a small steam saw-mill, with its iron smoke-stack, o* 322 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. close to the bank of the river, which is here a consider- able stream. The captain was immediately surrounded by a crowd, asked to drink, and plied with questions, while we were gaped at by every one, and comments passed on our appearance, as if we had been some strange animals just caught in the woods. After being again and again told that we were "sure enough Yanks," the opinion was generally expressed that Yanks were not so much unlike " we'uns," after all. We were now taken to a small empty shanty near the saw-mill, the doors closed upon us and a batten nailed across to secure it, after which a guard was set, and we were left in the dark to amuse ourselves with the remnants of the cold bacon and bread. I was so worn out that I soon went to sleep, although the fleas and mosquitoes were worse than on the night before. I only woke up once, and then I heard John- son groaning over his head, which was by this time so swollen and bruised that it looked more like a ripe egg- plant than an ordinary human cranium. CHAPTER XXX. MY EXPERIENCE AS A PRISONER. AT daylight next morning we were roused out by the guard, some breakfast given us, and orders to be ready to go on at once. I was now really alarmed about Johnson's condition. He had eaten nothing for more than twenty-four hours, was somewhat delirious, and I thought the man very ill. When the captain appeared I told him so, and that I did not think Johnson was fit to march. Upon this he took a look at him, and after exhausting a repertory of strange oaths, said he was bound to take him on, and that he could see a doctor at Newnansville. Finally it was arranged that the man should be put into a country cart on the other side of the river, which vehicle the captain intended to take on for the purpose of bringing back ammunition and stores. This settled, there now arose loud cries for "Boy Jem," the ferryman of the place, who at last turned up, and who proved to be a white-headed negro of at least seventy. Boy Jem soon put us across the river in his "dug-out," and here we found the " ky-art," as they called it, under a shed of logs, thatched with corn-stalks and palmetto. This " ky-art" was on very high and rickety wheels, and of the most primitive construc- tion throughout. To this vehicle they proceeded to harness first a small cow in the shafts, and then, as a 323 324 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. leader, a queer kind of a sorrel pony, with his mane, tail, and fetlocks full of burrs. Placing some fodder in the bottom of the cart, we laid Johnson upon it and started eastward. The road was better than on the day before, inasmuch as there was less swamp and less corduroy, but the motion of the springless machine jarred the man terribly. The weather was delightful, only a little too warm, but we were shaded by the woods during most of the day. Not unfrequently we came to solitary farms and clearings, and once or twice to settlements, but much of the way was through virgin forest and savannahs which had never known the plough or hoe. We saw plenty of rabbits, fox-squirrels, sand-hill cranes, and other birds and animals, with an occasional glimpse of a deer or wild turkey; but the captain sternly repressed the wish of his men for a shot at the latter, and we pressed doggedly on, only taking a short noon-rest. Whether moving or at rest, Johnson mut- tered, or screamed and moaned all the time. Occa- sionally I gave him some water mixed with wild orange-juice from a gourd, and he would take nothing else, nor would he keep over his face a ragged piece of mosquito-netting which an old colored woman had given me at the ferry to keep the flies off. But for his condition I should really have enjoyed our march that day, for I had somewhat recovered from my fatigue and depression of mind, and I had been in too many awkward scrapes before to take a gloomy view of matters now. I had besides made up my mind that this was no time or place to think of MY EXPERIENCE AS A PRISONER. 325 escape, and had dismissed the subject from my thoughts for the present. The vegetation, as we receded from the coast, some- what varied from that of the day before. Huge pines continued to be seen ; but there were now black walnuts and gums, with more magnolias, oleanders, and wild orange-trees, as well as the everlasting pal- metto. Jessamines and trailing vines, of many kinds, filled the air with lovely odors, in spite of the strong tobacco smoke from the cob-pipes of my " cracker" friends, the guard. That night we rested ten miles from Newnansville, and I was locked up with Johnson, who was now dread- fully ill, in an empty corn-crib, made of slabs, and ele- vated above the ground about three feet. The guard sat under a shed, a few feet off, with his gun between his knees, and was snoring loudly long before I got to sleep. At early daylight I was awakened by some gaunt, long-legged black pigs, which were rooting at me with their snouts between the slabs, apparently thinking me some new kind of corn. As I sat up and recalled my ideas, I must say that I had what they call a " realizing sense" of how the Prodigal son must have felt when about " played out" and consorting with swine. We started early, and reached Newnansville by ten o'clock. Here there was quite an appearance of life, as compared with the other places we had passed through. There was a court-house, one or two law- yers' and doctors' offices, and a store. In the latter, beside its legitimate business, were concentrated the 28 326 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. post-office, bar-room, and general loafing and debating hall for all the males of the place. The captain inquiring at the store where he would find "the colonel," was told that they "reckoned he was over to the court-house," and then the surrounding crowd began to ask me the stereotyped questions of which I was so tired. "What do you all want? What did ye come down yer fur ? Do you think you can whip us ?" etc. Fortunately, this was soon interrupted by a summons before the colonel who commanded the district; look- ing out for the conscription, guarding part of the coast, and forwarding recruits and provisions. He was, apparently, a well-educated and refined- looking man of about thirty, tall and good-looking. He did not give me much of his conversation, however, merely asking me my name, rank, and ship, all of which he noted down. I asked him for parole, but he answered, very curtly, " No parole for pirates," and then ordered me to be locked up in the prison attached to the court-house. At the suggestion of the captain, he allowed the doctor of the place to be sent for to look at Johnson, who was laid on the floor of an outer room. The prison-room was about twelve by fifteen feet square, and contained already about five or six de- serters, in a state of filth and squalor, to which my own condition was immaculate cleanliness. Here I at once made acquaintance with some minute but active friends, who never left me from that time until after I reached the Union lines. Several days passed away in this hole, during which Johnson died, as the jailer informed me, of " arrysiplus MY EXPERIENCE AS A PRISONER. 327 into his head," and was buried by some negroes, without any ceremony. I could not help feeling sorry for the poor man, although his bad conduct had been the means of get- ting us both into the scrape. But, at the same time, I could not forget that I was also responsible, in a great degree, for my capture, from my want of caution. I tried my best to learn what was to be done with me, but the jailer did not know. The prison, as I have said, was infested with all manner of creeping and crawling things, while we had field-beans, cold sweet potatoes, and corn-bread for food ; and for drink, luke- warm, muddy water. My companions were not above the commonest negro in intelligence, and below him in stolidity, so that I often passed the whole day without speaking to any one. Every afternoon the population of the little town collected in front of the court-house, and, while waiting for the evening parade, would amuse themselves by gaping in at the grated windows of our prison, and exchanging remarks about us. The dress-parade was "richness" itself. Of the seventy or eighty men, no two were dressed alike, although most of them were in homespun, dyed various shades of dirty brown. The preliminary dressing and aligning was done by a foul-mouthed sergeant, who seemed to know something of his business, however, and was evidently an old soldier. Two or three lieu- tenants looked languidly on, while the sergeant "cussed" this one's " picter" and " d d" that one's " eyes," until, like the man in the Sparrowgrass papers, he had cussed them out straight. Then the drum and fife beat off; 328 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. the colonel appeared ; the manual was gone through with, after a fashion, and the " troops" marched off. These same men, however, fought like tigers when brought, under good officers, into line of battle. About this time a woman, who was admitted to see her husband, one of the deserters, saw fit, after the fashion of womankind, to take pity upon me because I was a prisoner. . She took an opportunity to ask me what she could do for me, and I told her to bring me a comb, some soap, and a piece of stuff for a towel. Working in the night, I got a piece of gold out of my waistband, and gave it to her when she brought the articles, which were worth more than their weight in gold to me, and I afterwards carried them about stowed away in the recesses of my nondescript butternut gar- ment. Three weeks passed in this manner, and I began to get sick. My usual appetite and elasticity of spirits deserted me, and I think I should never have written these lines if I had been kept in that hole many days longer. But one day I was sent for by the colonel, who informed me that he was going to send some recruits to Tallahassee, and that I was to go with them as a prisoner, giving my parole that I would not attempt to escape during the journey. This seemed to me rather hard after I had been kept so long in this vile prison, on account of parole having been refused me. I therefore declined to do anything of the kind, much to his displeasure ; but he was too much of a gentleman to revenge himself upon a helpless man, as he might so easily have done. Early next morning we set out, the party consisting MY EXPERIENCE AS A PRISONER. 329 of about forty men, who had been collected for one of the Florida regiments, four deserters returning to their companies, and myself, all under the command of a lieutenant. This march was a hard one upon those of us who had been prisoners, especially as the deserters and myself were put in irons at night by special order. The lieutenant in charge of the party was rather a good-natured young man, however, so he halted us at about four o'clock on our first day's march, in a deserted clearing. Here we rested, and passed the night under some sheds and corn-cribs, the roofs of which were still in pretty good preservation. The next morning about ten o'clock we came to a little town named Lake City, although some of the men called it Alligator. The railroad from Jacksonville passed through this place, and here we were to take the "ky-ars" for Tallahassee. It was a most dilapidated station, being merely a tumble-down platform and a shed. There appeared to be no particular time for trains. One or two passed during the day with most rheumatic-looking cars, and asthmatic engines, but they had no room for our party. After a good deal of telegraphing, which most of the soldiers, being from the woods, regarded with speechless wonder as they pressed round the operator, it was announced that we could not have a train before the next day. So we had to pick out a soft plank at the station for the night. Next day the train came, and we got down to Tallahassee at the rate, including stoppages, of about eight miles an hour. I am sure I was in no hurry, for the air and exercise 18* 330 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. were bringing me up again, and anything was pref- erable to the jail. There was great improvement in the country as we approached Tallahassee, fine plantations and good houses appearing, while the little city itself seemed quite metro- politan in comparison with the towns I had lately seen. When we arrived I was marched off to the jail, which was a great improvement on my last place of detention, but I was only fated to spend one night there. I found in the same room in which I was con- fined two naval officers and ten sailors, who had been captured in a boat somewhere down about St. Mark's. The next morning after my arrival we were all for- warded by rail to Quincy. Thence we marched to a little place called Attapulgus, where there was a post- office, with the usual " grocery" or whiskey-shop, and thence to Bainbridge, on the Flint River. Here we were transferred to a small " stern-wheeler," and taken up the river to Albany, quite a smart and flourishing little place. While we were on board the boat our guard gave themselves no concern about us ; we had a full chance to wash ourselves and our clothes, and it was altogether the most comfortable time I had had since my capture. The boat was loaded with army-stores for Macon, where we were also to be sent to the prison camp. At Albany we took the " ky-ars" again, and passed through Oglethorpe and other towns, the country becoming high and broken, as well as less fertile, as we approached our destination. At Macon we were marched to the prison camp, which consisted of a stockade, with some rough sheds MY EXPERIENCE AS A PRISONER. 331 and shanties and a few ragged tents as shelter, which were overcrowded by a great mass of officers and sol- diers, gathered there from all points. I must confess my heart sank within me as I entered the gate, and took in at a glance the wretchedness and suffering of the hundreds confined in the place. The rule here was very severe, and the food bad and scanty. The sentries were elevated on platforms, run- ning round the outside of the stockade, and they not unfrequently fired upon prisoners who had unwittingly approached the "dead line"; the killing or wounding of a " Yank" being attributed to zeal, and not too closely inquired into. The officials of the permanent guard were mostly men who preferred such duty to going into the field, and they were, as a rule, tyrants against whom there was no appeal. Fortunately, my clothing was too poor for any one to take a fancy to it, and probably for this reason I escaped any search. Time wore on, and November came. Want of proper food, clothing, and shelter, and the depression arising from want of exercise and want of hope, were doing their work, and men were dying in numbers every day. Each morning a detail of prisoners brought out the dead, and laid them in a ghastly row near the gate, whence they were piled into carts and taken away to be buried in pits, in their filth and rags, just as they had died. Pneumonia, typhus, and hospital gangrene filled the shanty which was called a hospital, and it was certain death to occupy a bed there; so that men ill with pneumonia, racked with cough, or crippled with rheumatism had, like sick animals, to creep into some corner, and take their chances. 332 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. I think the doctor did his best, but I heard him say what I believe was true, that he had no command of food and medicine proper for such cases. The smallest cut or abrasion of the skin festered and caused sores in the healthiest of the men, while the food and water caused diarrhoea and dysentery, which carried off many. Water was hauled and placed in barrels just inside the gate. The quantity was too small for the needs of the prisoners, and, as if that was not bad enough, I have more than once seen the guards wash their hands and rinse their mouths in the very water we were obliged to drink. I don't know whether the officers knew this or not. If remonstrated with, aHlow of the fist, or the butt of a musket, was the answer, and if this treatment was resented the prisoner soon found himself " bucked and gagged," or decorated with a heavy ball and chain. But I do not intend to dwell any more upon my prison experience. The story has been told a hundred times, and for the most part truthfully. I have only to be thankful that I came through that trying time better than most men. I made up my mind, how- ever, that I must get out of that, or I should not sur- vive the winter ; and there was then no prospect of an exchange. By cautiously changing my greenbacks I managed occasionally to procure eggs, fresh meat, and bread from the people who were allowed to trade in such things, paying the most enormous prices in Confederate notes, after suffering a frightful " shave" in having the money exchanged. EXPERIENCE AS A PRISONER. 333 To cook these articles, as well as that which was served out as a ration, we had ovens and fireplaces made in the earth, and as little or no fuel was supplied, we gathered brush, sticks, corn-stalks, or any other matters which would burn. I had become quite intimate with an officer named Beck ford, who had come up with me from Tallahassee, and I divided with him what I bought to eat, so that we were in much better condition than most of the unfortunate fellows about us. Our whole thoughts and conversation turned on the subject of escape, and after turning over and discussing the matter in every way, we concluded to try to dig out. CHAPTER XXXI. WE DIG OUT OF PRISON. WORK HARD FOR LIBERTY. AND ARE RECAPTURED. BY the drafting away of some of us to other places of confinement, and by death vacancies, I had succeeded, by right of being one of the oldest inhabitants, to a " bunk" built of fence-rails in an inner corner of one of the shanties near the stockade. To be successful in digging out it was necessary to take into our confidence more than a dozen people, some of whom were willing to assist and take the chances of escape, while others were so ill or so depressed in spirit that they could only promise to preserve our secret. When a man gets to that state he is only one remove from camp fever, and is most probably destined soon to take passage iu the carts to the burial-pits. We began to work underneath my bunk, digging with sharpened sticks, knives, and tin cans, going down about eight feet, and carrying the earth away in shirts and other garments, spreading it carefully in the sinks every morning before daylight. Fortunately, we had no impediment from rocks. We then struck out hori- zontally, and as no one was allowed to go between the back of our shanty and the stockade, we could work without much fear of being heard. At this time some one managed to secrete an axe, which we used as a pick, and got on much faster, often putting two men down and letting them work there during the day, calling 334 WE DIG OUT OF PRISON. them up if there was any chance of a roll-call or mus- ter. When we had passed the stockade and it was time to decide upon how we were to approach the surface, I became fearfully anxious lest we should be exposed by the carelessness of some of our number, or that our ex- cavation should be discovered by some of the patrol on the outside. But all went well, and we so engineered our work that it would terminate among a clump of bushes and briers, which grew about forty feet outside the stockade. The whole length of the tunnel was about seventy-five feet, and large enough to allow one person to pass easily in a very stooping posture. The last part of the digging was extremely laborious from want of air, and from the necessity of transporting all the earth to the entrance and then getting rid of it. Had we had any more supervision and inspection than actually was the case, we must surely have been dis- covered. As it was, we were treated very much as a drove of cattle turned into a field. Finally the time was fixed for the attempt. It was to be on Sunday evening just at dusk, for then we had never any roll-call, and there appeared to us to be less vigilance on that day. The weather was cold, but settled, and promised to remain fair for some time. When it came to the point, only three beside Beck- ford and myself could be found willing to make a dash for liberty, most of those in the secret saying that they wished us well, but were too weak and sick to venture. We had determined to endeavor to reach the coast of Georgia, and to try to get on board of some one of our blockading vessels in Sapelo, Wassaw, or Ossabaw 336 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. Sounds ; but how, exactly, we were to manage the dis- tance between Macon and the coast we did not know. During Sunday I managed to get the last of my gold pieces changed for Confederate money, there being a number of persons employed about the camp through whom such things could be managed, if one was will- ing to be sufficiently cheated in the transaction. With part of the money I laid in about a dozen hard-boiled eggs and a loaf of bread, which I stowed in a ragged haversack belonging to one of the party. We were not troubled with packing our wardrobe, but I ex- changed my worn and broken boots with a newly- arrived prisoner whose shoes were quite good, and who, for a wonder, had been allowed to retain them. The consideration, or boot, was a dollar note, a tin cup, .a bottle for water, and nine onions, the latter being considered worth, in prison barter, twenty-five cents apiece, and seldom to be had at that price. Although the days were now very short the time passed very slowly, for I was impatient. When the hour arrived, one of the five could not make up his mind to encounter the risk, fatigue, and prolonged exposure which we must certainly have, even if we were ultimately successful. We started just at dusk, some of those who were left behind watching the sentry on post nearest to us, and signalling to us at the extremity of the tunnel by knocking together two stones, which we could hear underground with great distinctness. Working with our axe and hands according to these signals, we soon broke through to the surface in the very centre of the clump of briers. One by one we emerged, lying down WE DIG OUT OF PRISON. 337 at once, both to get breath and to see whether we had been observed. It was now quite dark, but starlight, and we could see, through the bushes, the form of the sentry on the platform of the stockade, as he marched to and fro on his beat, and sometimes stood still for two or three minutes, humming a tune which we could distinctly hear. Once he suddenly hailed in a loud voice, causing our hearts to jump; but it proved that he was calling to some prisoners inside to keep away from the line. He was a good-hearted fellow, and did not shoot first and hail afterwards. After about twenty minutes we cautiously crawled out, and walked at some distance from each other round the outskirts of the town, striking off afterwards on a road leading to the south. We did not dare to try to cross the bridge, where there was, no doubt, a guard, and so we kept down parallel with the right bank of the Ocmulgee. Going in Indian file, we walked as fast as we could, being all pretty well shod, which was fortunate, for the road was very rough and stony. Beckford had managed by judicious exchanges, to get a suit of gray and a felt hat, but the other two wore the remains of their blue uniform, with their shabby blue fatigue caps, and I felt rather uneasy about that. After we had gone a couples of miles we heard foot- steps and loud voices in advance of us, so we dropped down in the angles of a worm-fence, and lay quiet. Before they got to us we knew by the voices that they were negroes, who were wrangling about whether a skiff which they had left "at de mouf ob de creek^ had been properly made fast or not. A small dog which p 29 338 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. was with them came toward me, and sniffed and whined ; but one of the negroes just then calling him, he went on, after a low, doubtful growl. We now hurried on, the road being down-hill all the time, and at last came to a creek of considerable size, which emptied into the Ocmulgee. After a little search we found the skiff, with the oars in her, and tied to a bush, and jumping in, we shoved off at once, pulling quietly down and out into the river. I knew that the Ocmulgee emptied into the Altamaha, and the latter into the Atlantic, but that was about all I knew of the geography of our intended route. But I considered that we were fortunate in getting the boat, as we should probably thus elude any immediate pursuit; besides which, I felt a sort of confi- dence from being once more afloat, even on a river far inland. When once we were in mid-stream I took charge, and steered with a piece of board, although I should much rather have pulled an oar, for the night was very chilly. It was now so late that the lights in the houses on the river-banks were extinguished, but we easily recognized their situation by the barking of the dogs, and then would cease pulling until we had drifted well by. There are rapids and falls at Macon, which is at the head of navigation, and the current in the river below is quite strong, so that, with it and the oars, I suppose we made at least five miles an hour. Including the distance we had walked, I considered that before day- light we were thirty miles in a direct line from Macon. The river-banks were much lower, and woods appeared WE DIG OUT OF PRISON. 339 at intervals on both shores. At daylight we hauled into a clump of bushes growing partly in the water, closing them behind us, and intending to remain there during the day. There was a little channel of water running between the bar, or low island, on which we were and the bank, and a dense pine wood came down to the edge of the water. We now ate something, and, when the sun was up and it became warm enough, laid down close together in the bottom of the skiff and slept for several hours. A small stern-wheel steamer passed up in the after- noon, and we saw a negro on horseback on the other side of the river, who was driving in some cattle, but no one observed us. At night we floated down again in the same way. The country appeared to be much more sparsely settled, and there was a good deal more woods. At daylight we stopped, but not in nearly so good a place as the day before, for we were forced to leave the skiff ex- posed on the river-bank and to go quite deep in among the pines before we found a clump of undergrowth and briers in which to hide. Here we finished the last of our bread. During the day we heard voices in the dis- tance, but could see no one, nor even tell exactly from which direction the sounds came. Just at sundown we went cautiously back to the place where we had left our boat, and to our consternation found her gone. We could see where she had been shoved off, and there were a good many footprints about which were not ours. We were at first uncer- tain whether the persons who had taken the boat had been in search of us, but, after looking about more 340 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. closely, by the fading light I saw the prints of the butts of muskets, and two or three torn cartridge papers, where they had evidently loaded some pieces, which satisfied me that we were being searched for. I could only account for their not having searched the woods by the probability that they were a small party and that the woods were very extensive. We now had a long discussion as to what we should do. Beckford and myself were for remaining in the woods, or for partially retracing our steps, but the two others, who were officers of a Western regiment, were for pushing on down the bank, trusting to chance for finding another boat, and something to eat. In regard to the latter point, I did not feel any great anxiety. As soon as we could establish communication with some of the negroes we would get something, and I thought it most important to evade the first pursuit, even at the cost of suffering from hunger. After much talk, which at last became somewhat angry, we agreed to separate, and the two others pushed on down the river-bank, while Beckford and I walked inland, stumbling and falling in the darkness. At daylight we found ourselves on the edge of the woods, and saw that we were near a small farm-house, close to which ran a country road. We remained there, watching, for some time. Pres- ently a negro man came out of a small log house, or " quarter," and went over towards the stable, where he began to attend to the stock. Then a negro woman came out, and began to bustle about in a sort of shed kitchen, the blue smoke beginning to curl up from the mud chimney. WE DIG OUT OF PRISON. 341 By-and-by a gray-haired old man, in his shirt-sleeves and smoking a cob-pipe, came to the door of the main house and called to " Nancy" to fetch in breakfast. A most tantalizing smell of frying bacon now rose in the morning air, and we could almost hear it "frizzing" in the pan. Two little black imps in tow-cloth shirts now occupied Nancy's attention by skirmishing about the fireplace, requiring them to be cuffed and scolded, and turned out-of-doors, by which time the breakfast ap- peared to be ready, and Nancy began dishing up. It had now became evident to us that there were no other persons about the place ; and I proposed to Beck- ford to go farther down, emerge upon the road, and then walk up it towards the house, as if we were going to- wards Macon. A suitable story suggested itself to me to tell the old man ; and, at any rate, I was bound to have some of that bacon, as well as obtain some infor- mation which would be of use to us. As we were walking up the road I heard the negro woman call out, " Mass' Jeems ! here's two men !" The old man came to the door, stared at us for a moment, and then said, " Hello, boys ! Whar's ye goin' ?" I told him we were going to Macon ; that we were from Tel- fair County, and had been on furlough on account of sickness, but were now going back to report. He asked us to come in and have some breakfast, and at once began to talk at a great rate, hardly stopping for any answers from us. He told us about a son of his in the Ninth Georgia, who had been wounded in Virginia, and made a lieutenant ; and how the son's wife had died since he went away, leaving a little granddaughter to take care of; and how powerful bad his son felt because :9* 342 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. he couldn't get home while his wife was ill. In his re- mote little plantation, the garrulous old man evidently seldom had a chance to talk to new listeners. At last he asked us what regiment we belonged to, and I told him the Thirteenth Georgia, a detachment of which I knew to be in Macon. Remarking that he did not know any one in that regiment, he went on to talk about the war and the Yankees, and asked us what battles we had been in. But before we could answer he got back again to his son, the lieutenant, and the death of his son's wife, which we had all over again, varied by some talk about the " craps," and a circumstantial account of the choking to death of a brindle heifer. Nancy now appeared with the breakfast, and the granddaughter came in, a nice little girl, about eleven years old. While Beckford listened to the old man, I began to talk to the child, asking her if she had seen any of " our" soldiers about lately. She said, " No, none had been by for a long time ; not since they took off grand- daddy's mule." The old man's ear caught the word " mule," and he went on to tell us about a " dog-goned quartermaster" who had been going round collecting mules and horses for the army, returning, without any pause, to the heifer, which he said had always been "an ornery, breachy creater." I now happened to ask the little girl if she went to school, and she said she did not; the schoolmaster had gone in the army and the school was broken up, but she tried to study some geography, arithmetic, and spelling. Finding I appeared interested, she brought me her books to look at. Among them was an atlas, and, turn- WE DIG OUT OF PRISON. 343 ing it over, I saw a very good map of Georgia. It struck me at once that I must have that map ; so watch- ing a chance, while she had her back turned, I tore it out, and, folding it up, slipped it into my breast. Stealing that little girl's map was one of the meanest things I ever did in my life, but I knew it would prove a most valuable aid to us if we were to succeed in es- caping. As it turned out it did us no good, but I could not foresee that at the time. After more than an hour, during which we had eaten a tremendous breakfast, Nancy being summoned more than once to replenish the dishes of bacon and corn- pone, we said we must move on. The kind old man filled my haversack with the remains of the breakfast, and gave us some eggs which he had had boiled, say- ing that we had a long way to go yet: more than forty miles by the road. "We started off briskly up the road, the old man shouting after us directions how to go, but as soon as we were fairly out of sight of the house we struck to the right, and circled back into the same pine woods from which we had come. Here we continued to walk cautiously during the day, parallel with the course of the river, crossing several sandy roads cut up by wheels, but seeing no one. Late in the afternoon we heard a sound of an axe, chopping, and carefully approaching, discovered a negro, who was cutting cord-wood. No one appeared to be with him, and after a few minutes we walked right up to the man, who was at first much startled by our appearance. As far as my observation had gone, I found the negroes much better informed as to the 344 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. course and events of the war than the rural whites of the South, and they were universally inclined to assist any Northern prisoners to the extent of their power, so I determined to trust this man. We told him we were Union prisoners escaped from Macon, and that we wanted, if possible, to get a skiff and some provisions, so that we could follow the river down. He seemed to take in the situation at once, and said he would do anything he could for us, but that we must take care, for a squad of soldiers were looking for us, and that they had caught two men that morning not very far from where we then were. He also said that they had taken them down towards Hawkinsville, a few miles farther down the river. The negro then directed us to a thicket not far off, where we could lie down on the dried leaves, promising to come to us that night with whatever he could bring. We slept for two or three hours, when we woke up very much chilled, and were obliged to walk about to keep warm until about eleven o'clock, when our friend appeared. He had a small bagful of corn-meal and a large piece of bacon side, which I suspect was a con- tribution from his master's smoke-house ; but we asked no questions. We then followed him as he piloted us down to where a stream, called Mossy Creek, entered the Ocmulgee. Here we found two or three skiffs and canoes made fast under the bushes, and selecting one, we jumped in and shoved off, first thanking our black friend sincerely. He said, " Neber mind 'bout dat, mass'. I'd do mor'n dat for you all. But mind, ef ye git cotched don't ye tell on me, or dey'll cut de WE ARE CAPTURED AGAIN. 345 hide offen me ! Good-by, mass'. Mind ye git by Hawkinsville afore daylight, fur ther's sogers thar." It Avas a beautiful starlight night, and we kept down the middle of the river, paddling at a good rate, until a light or two and the dim outline of roofs against the sky showed us we were approaching Hawkinsville, when we edged over towards the opposite bank. Everything was quiet, and I thought we were going to slip by nicely, when a musket-shot was fired, and then two or three more, the balls " pinging" and skip- ping along the water close to us. Then there was a hail to halt, and a large skiff, with five or six men in her, pulled out from the bank, just below us, and before we well knew what was going on, or which way to pull, we found ourselves prisoners again, all our toil and trouble gone for nothing. \\ r e were in the hands of a squad which had left Macon in search of us; and with many curses at the trouble we had given them, and jeers at our want of success, we were taken across the river, put in irons, and confined in a store-house on the wharf at Hawkinsville. Here we found the two others from whom we had parted some thirty hours before. We learned from them that our captors had felt certain that we would again try the river, and so had lain in wait and caught us, as they expected. The next morning we were placed on board a stern- wheel steamboat, having still hand-irons on ; and that night, at sundown, found ourselves once more within the prison-pen at Macon. After a tirade from the officer of the guard, our hand-irons were taken off, and we were each fitted with a ball and chain, p* 346 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. I take it for granted that few of those who will read this have worn a ball and chain, and they may like to know exactly what they were like. Those which were put upon us were evidently made by some country blacksmith, and consisted of a shackle, to surround the ankle, which was riveted on, and attached to which was a piece of ox-chain about three feet long, which was again firmly attached to an iron ball, which weighed about twelve pounds. This we had to carry in our hands whenever we moved about, or else tie it up about the waist with any string or rope we could get hold off. To prevent the shackle from galling the ankle too much we bound and twisted about the iron any old rags which we could spare from our scanty apparel. Every morning and evening we had to report our- selves to the guard at the gate to have our irons examined, so that they might be sure we were not tampering with them. In addition to this we were liable to be called and examined at any hour of the day or night. CHAPTER XXXII. I AM EXCHANGED, AND GET HOME AGAIN. I DO not propose to give any further details of my prison life. The ball and chain were taken off at the end of ten days, more, I think, because the supply was short and they were wanted for more recent offenders, than from any disposition to be merciful to us. But we were singled out for all sorts of annoyances still, having to report ourselves three times a day to the officer of the guard, who generally amused himself by cursing us for having the audacity to suppose that we could escape. Leading this sort of life, of course time dragged with us fearfully. Exposure, filth, bad food, and disappoint- ment began to tell, and I felt myself each day weaker and more depressed. At last, on Christmas-day, a report was circulated that a selection was to be made of the naval prisoners and those of the army above a certain rank, for transfer to Richmond, with a view to exchange. It seemed too good news to be true. Next day, however, we were mustered, and my name was read out as included among those who were to go. When my name was called the commandant of pris- oners said, " I have a great mind not to send that of a runaway !" The adjutant said something in a low voice, to which 347 348 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. the commandant replied, " Well, let the go, then, and be !" This was the " good-by and God-speed" I got from Macon. We had no baggage to pack, and I could not bear to look into the faces of the poor fellows who were to be left behind, many of whom could never hope to see their homes again, and so I was very glad when we were marched away, some two hundred in number, to take the train. From Macon we went by Millen to Augusta, thence to Branchville, and across South Carolina to Wilming- ton, and thence to Richmond. The trip took about a week, for the railroads were in wretched condition, and crowded with trains of ramshackle old cars. Sometimes we were delayed for many hours. The weather grew very cold and raw as we went North, and, as we were all poorly clad, we suffered a good deal from that cause, while the food supplied us was not only scanty and poor, but we often went as long as twenty-four hours without any. Probably, however, this could not be helped. While our train was standing at the station at Wil- mington, some soldiers of a South Carolina regiment came upon the platform, all very drunk. They com- menced hooting and abusing us, and one of them was flourishing a revolver, threatening to " lay out a few Yanks" with it. A guard soon came to arrest them, and in the struggle the revolver was discharged, the ball going through the window of the car, just grazing my shoulder, and cutting off three fingers of an officer / AM EXCHANGED, AND GET HOME AGAIN. 349 who sat on the other side of the car. This added another to the many narrow escapes from sudden and violent death, for which I have to be thankful. By the time we readied Richmond, and were confined in Libby Prison, I was completely worn out and really ill, being glad to lie down and rest on the floor, under a blanket lent me by a good Samaritan. Seven days in a wretched car, without fire or proper food, and with no chance to lie down or to walk about, is enough to make a well man sick. A doctor in the prison next morning gave me two opium pills, of which he had a little box in his pocket, and they enabled me to keep up sufficiently to march down that afternoon, with five or six hundred others, to Aiken's Landing. Here we found the flag-of-truce boat New York lying, with the stars and stripes flying. It seemed to me as if it had been years since I saw the flag. The business of the exchange occupied some time, during which we shivered on the bluff in the cool air of the January evening ; but at last we were marched on board, and I found myself once more a free man. Then I broke down completely and realized how ill I was. The doctors detailed to take charge of the sick prisoners were very kind, considering how full their hands were, and I was given a mattress, spread on deck, to lie upon, and two blankets, most unaccustomed luxuries. Then I was given some medicine, which eased the pain and put me to sleep for several hours. I woke up before daylight, however, and remained awake, as the people in charge had, unavoidably, to step over me to get at others lying inside of me, so 30 350 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. thickly was the deck covered with sick and weary men. Several died in the course of the night, having apparently mustered their energies sufficiently to get down to the boat with the aid of comrades, and then succumbed to the effects of the exertion and excitement. Quite early in the morning we arrived at Fortress Monroe, when most of us who were ill were transferred to the hospital-steamer Spaulding, and sent to New York. On the third day I found myself in my old quarters, the naval hospital at Brooklyn j but this time, being an officer, I had a private room. The doctor said I had dysentery and was thoroughly broken down from malarious poison, and they held out no hopes of my being fit for duty for six months, at least. But I was soon able to sit up a little and to write, when I reported myself by letter to the Navy Depart- ment, and had my account taken up from the date of my capture. It appeared that I was considered dead, having been reported as cut off and killed by guerillas at the time of the destruction of the salt-works. My old friend, the skipper, from New Haven, came down to see me in response to a note, and seemed over- joyed to find that I was not dead, as had been sup- posed. He did not say much, for he was a very taciturn person, but I had never seen him so much moved in all our long acquaintance as he was when he first saw rne, so pale, thin, and haggard. While sick in hospital I got my certificate for prize- money from the Nighthawk, and found myself, what with that and the money from the sale of my turpen- tine and rosin, worth more than twenty thousand dol- / AM EXCHANGED, AND GET HOME AGAIN. 351 lars. Beside this, I had yet to receive my share of the prize-money coining from the Suwanee, which would be very considerable. At the end of three months, when the spring began to open, I was able to walk about, though still far from well, and, as the hospital was very much crowded and my room needed, it was suggested to me by the doctor in charge to obtain a sick-leave. This was readily granted, arid I went up to New Haven, where I slowly, but steadily, recovered my health. October had arrived before I felt able to go upon duty again. When I reported myself, I received orders to recruiting duty in New York. Here I remained nearly a year, often travelling in charge of drafts of men to Boston, Philadelphia, and Washington, and once I went out as far as Cairo, Illinois, with men for the Mississippi flotilla. When I had completely re- gained my strength, I sat down and made an applica- tion to be sent to a sea-going ship. I was tired of shore duty, and especially of recruiting duty, which is always unpleasant, and never more so than at the time of which I speak, when one was brought into daily contact with bounty-brokers, bounty-jumpers, crimps, and scoundrels of all sorts, who were fattening upon the robbery of recruits, who were receiving the large State and county bounties then given. Almost by return mail I received my orders to the New Ironsides, then lying at Philadelphia, having come up from off Charleston for repairs. Going on at once, I reported, finding the ship almost ready for sea again. The Ironsides was an ironclad, barque-rigged, mount- 352 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. ing, in broadside, fourteen eleven-inch guns on wrought- iron carriages, beside two one-hundred-and-fifty-pounder Parrott rifles. She had also, on her spar-deck, two sixty-pounder rifles and two howitzers. She had immense beam and a very light draft of water, so that she could carry her heavy battery into water where most large vessels could not go. Her armor was of four-inch iron plates, with port shutters of the same, which plates were much indented by shot thrown from the rebel forts at Charleston. Carrying a large complement of officers and men, and handling her heavy guns with almost as much ease and quickness as if they were thirty -two-pounders, she was a terror to all rebel forts, for once in position, she could pour in such a fire of shell that it was almost impossible for her opponents to stand at their guns. With the monitors and their slow fire there was some chance to "cover," but the Ironsides, when once at work, generally made it necessary to " cover" all the time. Her ends were not armored, and they had been often penetrated by shot, but no one had ever been killed on her gun-deck by the enemy's fire, during the many actions in which she had participated against Forts Moultrie, Sumter, and Wagner. She had had several narrow escapes from destruction, however. During one of the attacks upon the forts at Charleston, she lay for an hour right over an immense torpedo, containing two thousand pounds of powder, which was sunk in the main ship channel. It was intended to be exploded by electricity, but providentially, something about the wires was out of order, and the charge could not be I AM EXCHANGED, AND GET HOME AGAIN. 353 exploded, and finally, after doing her work, the good old ship moved off unscathed. On another occasion, when lying off the bar, she was approached after dark by a cigar-shaped torpedo steamer, called a " David," which was suddenly discovered run- ning straight for her broadside. The officer of the deck, an acting ensign, jumped on the rail to hail the stranger, when he was shot by a musket, in the hands of the person who was directing the torpedo-boat. At the next instant the torpedo itself was exploded along- side the ship, shaking her very much, knocking people down, and starting some knees and stanchions, but not causing any material leak. The torpedo-boat sank; and her manager, an ex- lieutenant in the navy, named Glassell, swam to a schooner at anchor near by, and was made a prisoner. In most steamers the great hole for outboard delivery is about amidships, on the starboard side, and just below the water. In the Ironsides it happened to be upon the port side ; and this saved her, for if Glassell had managed to insert his torpedo in the outboard delivery, he must have sunk the ship, with all on board. He steered straight enough for the place, being guided by the smoke-stack, and was only baffled by the arrange- ment of the machinery, which was the reverse of that which was usual. The engines and boilers of the Ironsides were very fine, but, unfortunately, they had not power enough for the great mass of wood and iron in which they were placed, and would only drive her six knots under the most favorable circumstances. Her steering apparatus, too, was always getting out of order, as she had a curi- 30* 354 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. ously-contrived rudder, which was fashioned like a double flap, or folding shutter, and which was intended to double upon itself, something like the tail of a fish. But we should not complain of defects, for, in spite of them, she did her work nobly. The greater part of her crew had been in her when off Charleston, but we had a number of newly-enlisted " whitewashed rebs" among the landsmen. This term was applied to men who had been made prisoners while fighting in the Confederate ranks, had taken the oath of allegiance, and then enlisted in the navy, as they there ran less danger of recapture than in the army. I have seen these men, when brought to New York from our prison camps in the West, dressed in the same butternut-dyed homespun clothes in which they had been working on their farms when impressed, or conscripted. A few weeks only, in some instances, had elapsed between the time when they were ploughing in North Carolina or Georgia and their finding themselves in New York, landsmen in the navy, having, in the mean time, participated in some battle, and passed to the North as prisoners. Most of them had never seen, and scarcely heard of, salt water, and groups of them frequently gathered on the cob-dock, dipping the fagged end of a hawser into the East River, and then tasting it with great gravity, to see " if it was sure-enough salt." As soon as our repairs were completed we sailed for Hampton Roads, arriving there about the middle of October. On the passage the ship surprised every one who had not been in her before by her liveliness in a / AM EXCHANGED, AND GET HOME AGAIN. 355 sea-way. In fact, on account of her flat floor and light draft, she required a great weight of coal and ammu- nition to give her that sedateness of motion which was consistent with her severe and ponderous appearance. Many persons on board were very sea-sick, and our ex-rebel landsmen seemed especially to suffer upon making their first acquaintance with sea-life. Hampton Roads at this time was as busy and crowded as any first-class commercial port, but no vessel there was on a peaceful errand. Beside our own armed vessels, frigates, monitors, sloops-of-war, and nonde- scripts, there were always some foreign men-of-war, mostly English and French. There were also crowds of steam- and sailing-transports, with coal, powder, shell, provisions, and soldiers. It was well understood that the powerful fleet col- lecting here was to attack some important stronghold, which could be no other than Fort Fisher, on Federal Point, at the eastern entrance of the Cape Fear River. At this period of the war the principal infractions of the blockade took place here, the other ports being either in our possession or effectually closed. To guard both entrances of the Cape Fear a space of sixty miles had to be patrolled ; and although a very large force was stationed here, the blockade-runners, swift, low vessels, commanded by daring and skilful men, would slip in, in spite of every exertion. Once under the guns of Fort Fisher they could laugh at the cruisers, and choose their time to pick their way over the dangerous bar, the tortuous channel of which did not, at the best tides, give much more than eleven feet. Yet this has been the entrance and 356 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. exit of many millions of dollars' worth of stores and cotton during the war. It was, therefore, all-important to close this river, and to do so we must take Fort Fisher, when Fort Caswell and the other forts and batteries would fall of themselves. From Hampton Roads the Ironsides went up to Norfolk (long before captured by our forces), and moored at the old navy-yard. Here the effects of war were manifest in the destruction by fire of the splendid store- and ship-houses and shops, and the blowing up of the fine docks, while in the river were sunk the hulks of several well-known men-of-war. We stripped the ship of all spars except the lower masts, putting her in "fighting trim," and then, after coaling, went down to the magazine at Fort Norfolk to fill up our huge magazines with powder, shot, and shell. We also filled twenty-five hundred bread-bags with sand, which were placed upon our spar-deck, to protect us from a plunging fire. This involved no small amount of labor, for large bags of sand are very hard to handle. While in Norfolk several of our ex-rebel lands- men, who had taken the oath and regularly enlisted, deserted. Upon strict search being made in the town, some of them were found secreted by certain " widows of Confederates," some of whom had also " taken the oath," and were drawing rations. I never heard that the persons who secreted these deserters were punished in any way, but the renegade deserters were, in several instances, sentenced to pass a few years wearing a ball and chain at that secluded post, the Dry Tortugas. I AM EXCHANGED, AND GET HOME AGAIN. 357 We soon returned to Hampton Roads, where drill, target-firing, and boat exercise was the order of the day. The weather became wintry and bad, but still we did not move, and it began to be rumored that we were waiting for some infernal machine, or powder- boat, to be finished, which had been conceived in the fertile brain of General Butler. This was to be run in at night close under the walls* of Fort Fisher, and then exploded, when the walls of the fort were to crumble more promptly than those of Jericho, and the garrison was to be so completely stunned as to allow us, next morning, to walk into 'the fort. At last everything was ready. General Butler was to command the troops which had come down the James River, packed in the transports, like herrings in casks. On the 13th of December we sailed from Hampton Roads, and a fine sight it was to see the fleet of iron- clads, sloops-of-war, frigates, and transports at sea together. Next day we got round Hatteras and hauled up to cross the bight (or Onslow Bay) to Cape Lookout, under which the large vessels anchored, while the monitors, transports, and small craft went into Beau- fort. Here we remained until the 18th, when the fleet got under way again for the rendezvous, which was twenty miles east ot New Inlet. Here we anchored literally at sea, and in a position where in peace times it would have been thought foolhardy to remain at that season of the year. Fogs, gales, heavy seas, and every kind of weather 358 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. but good weather prevailed for the next week. The vessels, and especially the ironclads, though making good weather and in no real danger, were half under water, wet, and uncomfortable. It was, most curious and interesting to see the little monitors, at anchor out of sight of land, steaming up to their anchors. Often submerged completely by huge seas, with only the tops of the turret and smoke-stack appearing, they resem- beld rocks awash. Well tired of such dull and disagreeable work, every one was glad when the final orders came for the attack. A day or two before there had appeared among the fleet the powder-boat for the much-talked-of explosion. This vessel was the steamer Louisiana, a purchased vessel of light draft, which had been used as a gun- boat, and was now altered into a huge torpedo. About two hundred tons of powder had been placed on board, and ingenious means devised to fire it. The vessel was painted lead color all over, and even her officers wore lead-colored tarpaulins, and a false smoke-stack was mounted in addition to the genuine one; so that in general appearance, and especially at night, she very much resembled the English blockade-runners. The fleet had a great respect for this dangerous neighbor, and once when she parted her cable in the heavy sea, and came drifting down upon the Ironsides, every one was in a rather anxious state until it was certain she would go clear of us, for we were not desirous of rasping our iron sides against such a maga- zine of powder. CHAPTER XXXIII. THE FIRST BATTLE OF FORT FISHER. ON the 23d of December the weather at last became settled, clear, and cold, with light airs off shore. The powder-boat was sent in, and exploded about two in the morning, making a report which seemed to us, some miles off, as not greater than two fifteen-inch guns fired together. As I have said, it was supposed by some persons that the explosion would either kill or paralyze the whole of the enemy's garrison. But its result was nil, a waste of time and money, so far as we were able to take Advantage of it. We heard afterwards that it did cause some consternation, and had an assaulting force been in front of the fort at that moment, it would perhaps have met with but little opposition. But so little was the explosion sup- posed to be an act of war, that it was reported next day, in the Wilmington papers, that a "Federal" cruiser chasing a blockade-runner in under Fort Fisher had got on shore and been blown up, to prevent her from falling into the Confederate hands. In fact, a blockade-runner did go in that night just ahead of the Louisiana, the officers of which latter vessel availed themselves of her pilotage. She had coolly passed under the very noses of our numerous men-of-war and got in, the garrison also showing 359 360 THIRTY TEARS AT SEA. range-lights to guide in the powder-boat, thinking she was one of the same sort, as they well might. Some- times these blockade-runners would make the land many miles to the northward, and then run in close to the breakers, when, trusting to their color and the dark- ness for concealment, they would run down along the beach close to the surf, until New Inlet was reached. Indeed, every trick and dodge was tried by them ; and although a great many fine and fast vessels were captured or destroyed by the blockading force, yet many made successful runs, enough to repay their owners well for their outfit, and leave something very handsome over. In their construction everything was sacrificed to speed and power, so that they were, as Jack says, " Like a spider-crab, all arms and legs." When we caught any of them, they were purchased by the Navy Department, armed, and set to chasing their former partners, on the principle " set a thief to catch a thief." The morning of December 24th was fine, with a light northwest wind, and smooth sea. Galley-fires were lighted early throughout the fleet, and every one had breakfast before daylight, for the bombardment was ordered to commence at once. After various de- lays, caused by vessels not forming line promptly, we stood in and anchored off the fort, commencing the bombardment about noon. The Ironsides led the fleet in, and it was a splendid sight to see each vessel in her turn follow in and as- sume her allotted station, opening fire as her guns bore. I suppose that so severe a fire was never concentrated upon any fort before, and the return was not very brisk ; THE FIRST BATTLE OF FORT FISHER. 361 indeed, it could not be, from barbette guns under such a storm of shell. A few heavy shot struck us, but the fort devoted most of its fire to the wooden vessels. Most of those which struck us cut away our rail and lower rigging, and dashed about the sand-bags on our spar-deck. But one ten-inch solid shot came in our unarmored end, forward, driving before it an air-port, with its heavy iron stem and lead casing. It then entered the sick- bay, made a general smash of the contents of the dis- pensary, and was deflected by a barricade of hammocks. Then it just cleared a cot in which was lying the dead body of a marine, who had died just before we went into action, and finally embedded itself in the oak water-way. At sunset we all drew off out of range, and anchored for the night. All hands got something to eat, and then we buried the marine whose body the ten-inch shot had so curiously spared. After this the watch was set, and every one who could went to sleep. We now knew what Fort Fisher looked like, but it was very hard to tell what damage we had done to it, for earthworks are very hard things to injure by any amount of hammering, and Fort Fisher proved to be a tremendous earthwork. That night, just as our weary ship's company had got to sleep, the drum beat to quarters, upon an alarm of a torpedo-boat approaching us. After a considerable time it was discovered that the thing was a ship's boat, bottom up and adrift, and her round bottom, lapped by the ripple, was very much like the rounded hull of the " David" torpedo-boats, which the rebels were Q 31 362 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. then using. It was provoking, but it at least showed that our sentries had good eyes. The next day, Christmas, was fine and mild, and we stood in and opened fire again about half-past ten, just as the good people at home were going to church. We soon got into very sharp work, the fleet being answered by the fort much better than the day before. During the forenoon the transport fleet approached, and began to land troops on the beach two miles or more from the fort. After a considerable body had been landed, at about three o'clock, they began to move down towards the fort; but we soon saw that they did not intend to fight that night, and were only picketing and skirmishing. At dusk all the vessels retired from range except the ironclads, which were ordered to keep fast. The crews of these vessels were more fagged out than any of the others, not only because we had kept up a more constant fire, beginning first and last to cease, but from the construction of the vessels, the heavy guns, and the fact that we were firing against the wind, the men's eyes and throats were more affected by the powder-smoke. The concussion from the heavy eleven-inch guns on our low, covered deck was very troublesome. The eleven-inch has a mellow, pealing sound as compared with the sharp report of smaller guns ; but, of course, the volume of sound is much greater. The blast and concussion was driven inboard by the breeze, and many of the spongers were temporarily blinded by the rush of hot sulphurous air when loading and firing rapidly. Very few complained, however, or left their stations. THE FIRST BATTLE OF FORT FISHER. 363 The next day the weather had changed, and there was a southeast swell. The fleet did not renew the attack upon the fort, but the troops were skirmishing in the woods with some forces from Wilmington, and the gunboats were shelling the bush at intervals. Everything seemed uncertain, and waiting for the gen- eral on shore to make up his mind. It was finally decided by the military commander that the assault was not feasible, and the attack was abandoned. Many competent judges believe that the fort would have yielded to assault on that day, much more readily than it did three weeks afterwards; but it was not to be. On the 27th the weather was fine, and the troops re-embarked, the transports moving off for Hampton Roads as fast as they were loaded ; while the naval vessels for the most part anchored in the offing, and replenished their ammunition and stores from store- vessels. In the afternoon the rebel garrison, interested spec- tators of our proceedings, and hardly able to credit the evidence o their own eyes, fired a salute, about as aggravating a thing as they could do under the circum- stances. It was but little consolation to reflect that it was no fault of the navy, or of the brave troops which had been brought so far for nothing. The expedition, which had been so long in preparing, and which had set out with such a flourish of trumpets, had failed. On the 28th of December we had mild weather, but heavy showers, with a strong swell setting in, and we all sailed for our first rendezvous, the bight under Cape 364 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. Lookout. The ship was so light, from having fired away nearly two thousand three hundred rounds of shell, that we were obliged to get a number of the sand- bags below to steady her. On the 29th we anchored in the bight, and remained there until the 12th of January, having a succession of gales, with heavy seas, during one of which we lost an anchor, and one hundred fathoms of chain, and came very near going into the breakers and being lost. Some of the vessels put to sea to ride it out, but we were obliged to lie still and make the best weather we could. The ship was wet all the time, rolling heavily, and everybody most disgusted and uncomfortable. During the few moderate spells we managed to fill up with shell and coal from the store-schooners, and we now learned that we were not to give it up so, but were to try conclusions with Fort Fisher again, the troops, this time, being under the command of General Terry. So, on the 12th of January we sailed once more for New Inlet with a northwest wind and smooth sea, the transports with troops being in close company, and every one seeming to feel that this time -we meant business. It was really a great relief to feel that we were to have another chance, with proper co-operation. On the 13th, early in the morning, we led the fleet in once more, and began pounding away at the huge earthwork, the troops in the mean time landing on the beach above. Our fire was returned briskly, cutting us up, somewhat, and it was evident that they had re- ceived reinforcements, and had mounted more heavy guns. A water-battery, with naval guns, was especially active and spiteful. THE FIRST BATTLE OF FORT FISHER. 365 During this day's engagement we were much amused with the conduct of a game-cock, a great pet among the men. On previous days he had been carefully put away below, but this time he had escaped from durance vile, and promenaded the spar-deck, fluttering his wings and crowing loudly, and apparently enjoying the roar of the battle. By nightfall he was as hoarse and husky as some of the division officers, and had one or two very narrow escapes from shot and splinters. We ceased fire at dark, and were ordered to retain our position; but about ten o'clock we had to shift our berth, as the fort had obtained our range before dark, and occasionally during the evening would pitch a ten- inch shot uncomfortably near us. Some of the smaller vessels, which had heavy guns, fired at intervals during the night, to prevent the enemy from repairing damages, which were much greater than in our bombardment in December, several fires having occurred during the day within the fort. The 14th of January broke clear and fine, with a smooth beach. We went in closer than ever, in fact, until we were barely afloat, and recommenced the bom- bardment about eight o'clock. About this time rein- forcements were thrown into the fort from Wilmington, by a steamer which came down the Cape Fear River, and both sides were girding up their loins for the final struggle. At eleven o'clock, the troops being all landed and entrenched on shore among some scrubby woods, the storm ing-party of sailors and marines from the fleet pulled for the beach, and were soon through the slight surf and established on the dry land. The ironclad 31* 366 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. division sent no men to the storm ing-party, as these vessels were to keep up a deliberate fire as occasion re- quired, or to open on the fort again, in case our men were repulsed. At this time I was ordered to take position in our main-top, and to keep my glass upon the operations on shore and report events as they occurred. From this position I had a view which could not be finer, it being as if a mimic contest on a stage, and I a spectator looking down from the boxes. About half-past two the naval column was ready to advance, after having thrown up some rifle-pits in the sand, and the firing from the fleet suddenly ceased by signal ; the quiet after such continued uproar seeming something unnatural. The column moved along the beach by the flank, with the intention of assaulting or boarding the sea-face of the work. This was very steep and high, and was difficult for an unarmed man to climb, quite as much so as any railroad embankment of forty feet height. As the fire from the fleet ceased, the garrison came out of their bomb-proofs in a swarm, and manning the parapet of the sea-face, shot down our men as if they were partridges in a covey. Those who manned the parapet appeared only to fire, while loaded pieces were handed them by others in the rear. The beach was soon strewn with the dead and wounded, for there was no natural protection, and some of the wounded staggered into the surf, and fall- ing, were unable to get out of the water without assist- ance. A few of the men, with many of the officers, reached the foot of the mound, where there was a heavy THE FIRST BATTLE OF FORT FISHER. 367 palisade, but could go no farther, while the bulk of the naval force retreated down the beach, losing heavily, as they did so, from the deliberate "pot-shots" of the enemy. Those who had reached a place of partial shelter, at the foot of the sea-face of the fort, were forced to crouch there until approaching darkness and hard fighting on the flank of the defences drew the garrison off, and enabled our people to steal away. The losses were very heavy. Twenty-one of officers alone, from the navy, were killed and wounded, and, as far as the assault went, the naval attack was a failure. But the lives lost were not utterly thrown away, for the naval attack made a diversion, drawing the garrison to the sea-face, and distracting their attention from the movements of the troops. Soon after the naval attack, and about the time it was evident that it was not to succeed, there emerged from temporary earthworks and from the fringe of scrub wood, above the fort, a line of battle composed of veterans from the James River. Rough and weather- worn as to faces and uniforms, but with ranks dressed and aligned as if on parade, without beat of drum and with arms at " right shoulder shift," they proceeded at a double-quick across the sandy plain which intervened between them and the huge mamelons which formed the land-side of the fort, at right angles with the beach. I think I never saw a more magnificent sight. A few patches of salt grass, or dried rushes, were scattered over the plain, but there was nothing high enough to obstruct the view. The garrison of the fort opened on the assaulting force with musketry as soon as they came within range, 368 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. while a howitzer (run out from a sally-port to fire, and then withdrawn to load) cut gaps in the advancing line at each discharge. Two field-pieces at the west- ern angle also began to fire at the advancing troops, but were soon silenced by shell from the ironclads; but the one in the sally-port could not be hit, owing to the protection of the covered way. Not a shot was returned by our men. The line curved sometimes, as the grape from the howitzer tore through it, but the officers would spring to the front, steady the men, and the gap was soon closed. The officers then fell into their places, and the line swept on without a pause, but leaving many a poor fellow behind, with the salt sand drinking in his life's blood. Soon they reached the foot of the huge earthworks ; and the axes were seen to gleam, as the strong palisade, already shattered by the bombardment, was cleared away. The fire of small arms was growing sharper and sharper all the time, and now the assailants begin to respond. At last our men are through the obstruction, and we see them and their colors on one of the western mamelons, their outlines sharply defined against the clear western sky. A sharp fight takes place for the first traverse, men, killed or wounded, roll down the steep incline. The yells and shouts grow louder, and then comes a rush down, a pell-mell struggle, and we see the colors slowly rise, and finally gain the top of the next mound. Here the same determined resistance and close fighting goes on ; to be followed by another cheer, another rush, and the taking of the next point. THE FIRST BATTLE OF FORT FISHER. 369 At this time General Terry signalled to our ship to fire into the traverses ahead of the assaulting troops, and afterwards signalled again to say, " Just right ; you are throwing your shell just where they are needed." Pretty fair practice, this ! where a deviation of a few yards to the right would have made the difference be- tween shelling the enemy and shelling our own people. The sun went down, and the winter night closed in, while this desperate infantry fight was still going on. At dusk our ship was obliged to cease firing, as we could no longer distinguish between friends and foes. We waited, fearfully anxious, but hopeful, listening eagerly to the sounds of the fight now advancing ob- liquely towards us, the opposing troops fighting hand to hand in the- darkness, only guided in their fire by the flashes of their muskets. Finally, about ten o'clock, there was a tremendous peal of cheers, and then the tide of battle swept sud- denly away through the fort and down towards the point, where the remaining garrison, to the number of about nineteen hundred, laid down their arms, and surrendered. The fact was at once telegraphed to the fleet by sig- nal-lanterns, and round after round of hearty cheers went up from every ship. The weary, smoke-begrimed crews then turned in, satisfied that at last their perse- verance in braving the perils of our coast, in winter, had been rewarded by complete success. The " impregnable" Fort Fisher was taken, a place pronounced by those who had seen both to be much stronger than the Malakoff. The Cape Fear River, the grand blockade-runners' port, was effectually closed, and 370 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. the Confederacy at last completely isolated. How con- siderable and important were the supplies introduced by this channel may be known when we remember the fact that General Lee had telegraphed " that Fort Fisher must be held at any cost, otherwise he must evacuate Richmond." CHAPTER XXXIV. THE END OP THE WAR, AND OF MY NAVAL SERVICE. EVERY one was up with the sun, next morning, to find our colors hoisted on the fort, and gunboats and " double-enders" already working their way through the intricate and shallow channels of the bar, to reach the Cape Fear River, where, for the next few days, they were busy in capturing and occupying forts and batteries, and in sweeping the channel for torpedoes. While we were standing on deck looking at the scene, a terrible explosion occurred within the fort. Masses of earth and timber and bodies of men were sent high into the air, and a dense balloon-shaped cloud of powder-smoke hung for many minutes over the spot. The magazine in the fort had blown up. No one ever knew or ever will know how it happened. There were rumors of trains laid by the garrison to be fired in case of our success, while others talked of careless and drunken soldiers, or contrabands, explor- ing with candles and torches; but it was all surmise. It is altogether probable that had the garrison in- tended to blow up the magazine, they would have done so immediately after our men had made their success- ful assault, and entered the work. Many officers and seamen from the fleet, who had been led by curiosity to enter the fort, lost their lives in this explosion, their fate being for the most part inferred from the fact that 371 372 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. they were missing, and that their bodies were not found among those killed in the assault. Soon after the explosion the Ironsides was ordered to haul off to a safer anchorage, and to the great joy of all to heave overboard the mass of sand which had so long encumbered our spar-deck. Many of the bags had rotted, and others had been torn to pieces by shot, so that our deck looked more like a ragged piece of waste ground than the white and spotless promenade usually to be seen on a man-of-war. There was an- other good reason for getting rid of our sand. We had, in the two bombardments, fired nearly four thou- sand rounds, and our shell-room and magazine being nearly empty, the sand on the upper deck made her very top-heavy and tipsy in her motions. While we were getting rid of the sand and washing the powder grime from the paint-work, I went on shore with our commanding officer, and a party, to gratify a natural curiosity to see a place that had given us so much trouble. On our way we met boats conveying to their own vessels, or to the hospital-ship, the wounded in the as- sault of the day before, and we found on the beach parties collecting for burial the bodies of those who had been killed. The beach, as well as the whole space in the land front of the fort, was strewn with large fragments of shell, musket-balls, muskets, bayonets, cartridge-boxes and belts, articles of clothing, caps, and dead bodies. As we approached the land-face we began to find the bodies of soldiers instead of sailors. Some of these were lying in the strangest postures, just as death struck THE END OF THE WAR. 373 them. While the faces of some showed all the energy and excitement and deadly purpose of the fight, others looked as calm and peaceful as any sleeping baby. Many of the dead were covered with dust and dirt from rolling down the steep earthwork after being shot. Passing through a gap in the palisades, we climbed up to the top of one of the traverses, a distance of at least forty feet, and then had a view of the fort. The great extent of the works was the first thing which struck one, and then the eye was attracted at once by the huge crater near the angle where the ex- plosion of that morning had taken place, and from which the sulphurous smoke was still curling lazily up. While taking in this view we were accosted by a major of a Pennsylvania regiment, who said he was trying hard to bring some order out of the indescribable confusion caused by the bombardment, the assault, and the explosion combined. This gentleman said that he was the only regimental field-officer left for duty in the regiments which composed the assaulting force, all the others being either killed or wounded. We now proceeded to the subterranean passage, lead- ing under one of the great earthen mounds or traverses, to the sally-port, whence the field-piece had been used which had so cut up the soldiers during the assault. This passage was dark and damp, of course, too low for a tall man to walk upright in, and six or eight feet wide, supported and roofed with logs. A fearful stench came from the place, for it had been occupied as a bomb-proof refuge by a part of the garrison during the bombardment, and was in the filthy condition which such places always are after men have been 32 374 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. forced to remain in them for any length of time. The floor was literally paved with the dead bodies of sol- diers, who had been placed there when wounded during the heavy shell fire. Lying in the shocking filth, damp, and darkness, nearly all had died just where they were laid, but an occasional groan showed that a very few still survived, and our fatigue-parties were just about to take them out, and separate the living from the dead. At the outer end of this place stood the field-piece, on its light carriage, the crew of which, when they fired their last shot, and retired within the fort, must have passed over the bodies of their comrades. We did not stop here long, nor did we care to look into other bomb-proofs, which were, no doubt, in the same condition, but passed on to the northeast angle, where in a huge embrasure formed of sand-bags and plank was a very heavy gun. This was a rifled Arm- strong, bearing the broad arrow of the English govern- ment, and which had been presented, it was said, to the " Confederacy" by some English sympathizers. This gun had been very marked in its attentions to the ironclads, and we, in turn, had frequently made it a special object for our fire. Our shell often caused the gunners to leave it, but they always returned when- ever our fire slacked or was temporarily diverted. Just before the assault, however, it had had its car- riage disabled, and we found it in this condition, with a sergeant and some men of the signal corps quietly cooking their breakfast on the parapet close by its now harmless muzzle. The great shells had scarred and seamed the face of THE END OF THE WAR. 375 the defences, and in bursting had excavated great holes in the sandy soil around the platform of the gun, in which some dead were partially buried. "While standing here and looking about, I saw a delicate hand and wrist sticking up out of the sand, covered by a knitted glove, delicately fastened about the wrist by a silken cord and tassel. I could not help fancying that that home-made glove was the gift of a mother or sister to the young officer who was lying below, buried possibly by the very shell which had killed him. Against the heavy plank side of the embrasure was crushed the body of an officer, who had evidently been killed by the concussion of a bursting shell. One side of his head and face was smashed in and literally plas- tered against the plank, leaving the other side in relief, the profile and black moustache standing out like a plaster-cast. He must have been a very handsome man, and the side of his face which was exposed was not at all disfigured, and looked like wax- work. Perhaps I have dwelt too much upon these horrors, but they made a great impression upon me, and the appearance of some of the dead I saw that day I shall 'never forget. I had seen men dreadfully mangled be- fore ; but that was in the midst of fight, when one is in hot blood, and there is no time for moralizing. But going over such a scene in cool blood, with the sun- light searching out every ugly spot, is a very different matter. I was rather glad when we had to return to the ship, and as there was plenty for all to do on board, our time for looking about was limited. 376 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. As we were leaving the fort we noticed two or three huge piles of muskets, some of them curiously contorted by missiles, which were the arms of the captured gar- rison, as well as those belonging to our own dead and wounded, which a detail of men were collecting and piling up. Just by these piles were the bodies of many dead Confederates, and near them two officers, in their gray uniform, laid out on stretchers, with their caps over their faces. Thinking they were dead, as I passed I lifted the cap from one of them to see what his face was like. I was startled to find a very live, face indeed, with two fever-bright eyes gazing up into mine. He seemed to enjoy my confusion, and said, in reply to a question, that he was wounded in the legs and was on his way to the field-hospital. Making an apology for my curi- osity, I hastened on to rejoin my party, finding, as we got down to the beach again, that the row of bodies in navy-blue was getting longer and longer. We were glad to jump into our boat and pull away from such sad sights. On board the Ironsides we found " Jack" at work, with hose and buckets, brooms and squillgees, washing down the spar-deck, and getting rid of our " farm," as the men called the sand. That afternoon all hands were called to muster, and a letter from the admiral was read, thanking us for the handsome way in which the ship had been fought, and for the accuracy of our fire, alluding also to the fact that we had led the fleet into action on each occasion. I think I may be excused for here giving a portion THE END OF THE WAR. 377 of the official despatch commending the commodore commanding the Ironsides. " His vessel did more ex- ecution than any vessel in the fleet, and even when our troops were on the parapet, I had so much confidence in the accuracy of his fire that he was directed to fire on the traverses in advance of our troops, and clear them out. This he did most effectually, and but for this victory might not have been ours Hav- ing broken his rudder in a heavy gale, he rigged up a temporary one under adverse circumstances, and had his ship ready as soon as the rest. He seemed never to tire of fighting, and for three days laid within one thousand yards of Fort Fisher without moving his anchor, and made the rebels feel that we had come there to stay." The weather remained wonderfully fine all this time, and here we were at anchor day after day on a part of the coast where, before the war, it would have been considered foolhardy voluntarily to anchor at all. On January 17th the large vessels made their way North, leaving the gunboats and small craft to occupy the river and force the enemy to blow up and evacuate the numerous forts and batteries. This they effected in a great hurry and amidst much consternation. Indeed, it was very natural for them to suppose that Fort Fisher would come off victoriously from the second attack, as she was much better garrisoned and prepared than at the time of the first one. Our success this time was due to the change in the commanding officer of the troops ; for the men who carried the muskets were the same. All the forts in the river were of the most ap- proved and careful construction, and contained in all 32* 378 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. about one hundred and seventy heavy guns, while lines of torpedoes, to be exploded by electricity, filled the approaches to them. It was remarked by an officer high in authority, that the engineers who built such works, at the expense of so much time and trouble, must have had an abiding faith in the Confederacy. The armed vessel Chicamauga, which had already created such havoc among our coasters, and which was ready for sea again, and watching an opportunity to slip out, was run high up the river and into one of the branches, and there sunk by her own crew. Several fine blockade-runners came in under Fort Caswell, quite ignorant of the change of aifairs. Lights were shown them to guide them in, and when they anchored they were quietly taken possession of. On board of one of them were found some English army officers, who had come over from Bermuda " on a lark" to see what blockade-running was like. When the vessel was boarded these gentry were found seated over their champagne, and felicitating themselves upon their successful run, and upon having escaped serious dam- age from some shots which had struck the vessel as she was running through the outside blockaders. Their astonishment may be imagined, as well as their disgust, at being shipped to New York under arrest, and thence sent back to Bermuda by the first opportunity. We arrived in Hampton Roads just in time to avoid another long spell of cold, easterly, stormy weather, and were almost immediately ordered up the James River to Bermuda Hundred, to protect the immense stores of the Army of the Potomac, then before Petersburg, from the threatened raids of some small ironclad THE END OF THE WAR. 379 rams, which the enemy still had at Rocketts, near Rich- mond. If they had succeeded in destroying the great accu- mulation of material and provisions at City Point, or even in interrupting communication temporarily, it would have been a very serious matter, and at least would have delayed the successful prosecution of the final campaign. We went foaming up James River with our own steam, and a powerful tug under each quarter, and when we reached Bermuda Hundred, effectually plugged up the channel by running the Ironsides' huge bulk up it as far as she could go, and then leaving her sticking in the soft mud. As soon as General Ord, who commanded on that flank, saw what manner of craft we were, he seemed satisfied, and said he should now cease to trouble himself about ironclads and rams. The rams never came within miles of us, however, and were, not long afterwards, destroyed by their own people. But I have no doubt our presence there pre- vented them from giving trouble. During our stay at this point we had many oppor- tunities of seeing the operations in front of Petersburg, and the working of a huge army in daily conflict with a vigilant enemy. We were lying not far from, and we almost daily visited, City Point, where General Grant's headquarters were, a row of most beautifully built log cabins. Here was often seen the general in consultation with General Meade and Mr. Lincoln, as well as the Southern Peace Commissioners, who paid City Point a visit while we were there. Several im- portant battles and skirmishes also took place, so that 380 THIRTY YEARS AT SEA. we had stirring events to enliven the monotony of our river blockade. When satisfactory evidence was had that the rams were no longer to be feared, our mission in the James River was accomplished, and we went down again to Norfolk. Thence we were ordered to Philadelphia, arriving there just at the time when the news of the murder of Mr. Lincoln sent a thrill of horror through the nation, and the world. The good old ship was now put out of cominiasion, and with my orders detaching me from her came an appointment as acting lieutenant, which had been obtained for me by the kind recommen- dations of the commanding officers with whom I had served. This appointment gratified me exceedingly, especially when I considered how I had first entered the navy some twenty years before. I was conscious, however, that I had always faithfully performed my duty, and was worthy of the compliment. It was nothing more, as the war was now at an end ; and not very long after this I was, in common with hundreds of other volun- teers, mustered out of the service with an honorable discharge. And now I think this a proper place to pause in my "yarn." Although the past twelve years have been to me by no means uneventful, I am disposed before recounting their voyages to see how the first part is received, so here I pipe " belay." THE END. PUBLICATIONS OF J. B. LIPPINCOTT &> CO. Florida : Its Scenery, Climate, and History. With an Account of Charleston, Savannah, Augusta, and Aiken, a Chapter for Consumptives; Various Papers on Fruit-Cul- ture; and a Complete Handbook and Guide. By SIDNEY LANIER. Profusely Illustrated. I2mo. 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