lieutenant, R. F. Armstrong, and the third lieutenant, Joseph D. Wilson, also came from the Sumter, and were fresh from the instructions of the United States naval academy at Annapolis. The fourth lieutenant was John Low, an Englishman, and a master of seamanship. The fifth lieutenant, Arthur Sinclair, came of a family which had furnished two captains to the United States navy. The acting master, I. D. Bulloch, was a younger brother of Commander Bulloch. Dr. E. L. Gait, from the Sumter, and the ill-fated Dr. D. H. Llewelyn, of Wiltshire, England, occupied the positions of surgeon and assistant surgeon respectively. Lieutenant of Marines B. K. Howell was a brother-in-law of Jefferson Davis, and Midshipman E. A. Maffit was a son of the commander of the Oreto, soon to be known as the Florida. Other officers were Chief Engineer Miles J. Freeman and three assistants, who were excellent machinists and able to make any repairs which could be made with the appliances on board, Midshipman E. M. Anderson and Master’s Mates G. T. Fullam and James Evans.

First Lieutenant J. McIntosh Kell.

The Alabama was 220 feet long, 32 feet in breadth of beam, and 18 feet from deck to keel. She carried two horizontal engines of 300 horse power each, and had bunkers for 350 tons of coal, sufficient for eighteen days’ continuous steaming. Captain Semmes was, however, very economical with his coal supply and only used the engines for emergencies. The Alabama proved to be a good sailor under canvas, and the greater number of her prizes were taken simply under sail. This enabled the vessel to keep at sea three or four months at a time, and to strike Northern commerce at the most unexpected places, while only once did a Federal war vessel succeed in getting a glimpse of her against the will of her commander.

The engines were provided with a condensing apparatus, which supplied the crew with water. The Alabama was barkentine rigged, her standing gear being entirely of wire rope. Her propeller was so built as to be readily detached from the shaft, and in fifteen minutes could be lifted out of the water in a well constructed for the purpose, and so would not impede the speed of the vessel when under sail. On the main deck the vessel was pierced for twelve guns, but carried only eight; one Blakely hundred-pounder rifled gun, pivoted forward, one eight-inch solid-shot gun, pivoted abaft the mainmast, and three thirty-two pounders on each side.

The semicircular cabin at the stern, with its horse-hair sofa and horse-shoe shaped table, was appropriated to the use of Captain Semmes, and became the center of attraction for hero-worshippers when the vessel was in port. A little forward of the mizzen mast was the steering apparatus, a double wheel inscribed with the French motto:

“Aide-toi et Dieu t’aidera.”[1]

CHAPTER V.

DESTRUCTION OF THE WHALERS.

The Confederate flag was first hoisted on the Alabama, Sunday, August 24th, 1862. When once the shipping articles had been signed coaxing and persuasion were at an end, and the man with the gray mustache had become a dictator, to disobey whom meant severe or even capital punishment. Semmes says:

The democratic part of the proceedings closed as soon as the articles were signed. The “public meeting” just described was the first and last ever held on board the Alabama, and no other stump speech was ever made to the crew. When I wanted a man to do anything after this, I did not talk to him about “nationalities” or “liberties” or “double wages,” but I gave him a rather sharp order, and if the order was not obeyed in “double-quick,” the delinquent found himself in limbo. Democracies may do very well for the land, but monarchies, and pretty absolute monarchies at that, are the only successful governments for the sea.

The hasty transfer of stores to the deck of the vessel, a large part of which had been accomplished in a rolling sea, had not been favorable to an orderly bestowal. A gale sprang up, and the boxes and chests on deck went tumbling about. The hot sun of the Azores had opened seams in the deck and upper works, and the clank of the pumps, so familiar to those who had been in the Sumter during the latter part of her cruise, once more disturbed their dreams.

It was the purpose of Captain Semmes to strike at the American whaling vessels which he knew would be at work in the vicinity of the Azores. The season would close about the first of October, after which time the whales would seek other feeding waters. The following week was spent in getting the pivot guns mounted and in putting the ship in order. The captain was not at once successful in locating the whaling fleet. On Friday, August 29th, a blank shot was fired at a brig which had been pursued all day, but the latter refused to heave to or show her colors, and not having the look of an American craft, the chase was abandoned. Another week was spent in the search, and several vessels were overhauled, but all showed neutral colors. September 5th the Alabama was in chase of a brig which showed very fast sailing qualities, and came unexpectedly upon a ship lying to in mid-ocean with her foretopsail to the mast. Excitement grew apace as a nearer approach justified the opinion that the motionless stranger was a Yankee whaler. The English flag was hoisted on the Alabama, and all doubt was set at rest when the ship responded with the stars and stripes. The chase of the brig was forthwith abandoned. The master of the whaler made no effort to get under way. He had struck a fine large sperm whale, which was now alongside and partly hoisted out of the water by the yard tackles, and his crew were hard at work, cutting it up and getting the blubber aboard. A boat was sent from the Alabama, and as the boarding officer gained the whaler’s deck, the cruiser dropped her false colors, and ran up the Confederate flag.

The astonishment and consternation of Captain Abraham Osborn when he realized that he was a prisoner and that his ship and cargo were subject to confiscation, can only be imagined. International law, which is so careful of property rights on land, affords no protection whatever at sea in the presence of a hostile force. The ship was the Ocmulgee, of Edgartown, Massachusetts. Captain and crew were removed to the deck of the Alabama and placed in irons. Some beef, pork and other stores were also transferred, and the ship left, anchored to the whale, as Captain Semmes did not wish to burn her during the night, for fear of alarming other whaling masters, who were probably not far away. Next morning the torch was applied, and the most of the Alabama’s crew saw for the first time a burning ship.

Sunday, September 7th, the Alabama approached the south shore of the island of Flores, one of the westernmost of the Azore group, and the crew of the Ocmulgee were permitted to pull ashore in their own whaleboats. At four o’clock p. m. the Alabama filled away to