tag="{http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml}a">46

V. —On the brig Grenfalls 57 VI. —The "Flying Dutchman" 68 VII. —In Her Majesty's service 85 VIII. —The cat-o'-nine-tails 101 IX. —The escape 115 X. —The sport of the waves 126 XI. —A glimpse of the Mediterranean 142 XII. —In American waters 153 XIII. —My third voyage 164 XIV. —Pretty Jennie Bell 181 XV. —Good-bye to England 198 XVI. —What money can do 207 XVII. —The New York draft riots 215 XVIII. —Acting ensign in the United States Navy 226 XIX. —After blockade-runners 239 XX. —A prisoner of war 252 XXI. —In the prison 264 XXII. —Prison life and prison fare 274 XXIII. —Disappointment and more waiting 288 XXIV. —A Cracker beauty 297 XXV. —Libby Prison 311 XXVI. —A free man again 323 XXVII. —Fort Fisher 336 XXVIII. —The Island OF Haiti 348 XXIX. —I Leave the sea and go West 357

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THE STORY OF A STRANGE CAREER

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CHAPTER I

MY FIRST VOYAGE

On my mother's side I am of an old New York family. My great-grandfather served as colonel in the war of 1812. My father was born in Dublin, being a younger son of an Irish gentleman. He was educated to be a druggist, his father paying a large bonus to have him apprenticed to a celebrated firm in that business. His elder brother was ordained as a clergyman in the Church of England, and is now a high dignitary in the Church, if living. At the age of twenty, my father came to New York and started in business. My mother, then about fourteen or fifteen years old, became acquainted with him, and they were shortly afterward married, the match being a runaway one. I was born when mother was but sixteen years old. My