Part 15

Our third and last day at sea began auspiciously, but we were drawing toward the coast much farther north than our usual landfall. At about half past three in the afternoon we were startled by the lookout in the crow's nest, with a lusty "Sail ho!" "Whereaway?" called the officer of the watch. "On the port quarter, sir, heading toward us." We were in a bad position, to the northward of Cape Lookout, but the stranger had not yet perceived us. In our eagerness for more steam, however, the telltale smoke was vomited from our funnels, and in a short time it was evident that we were being overhauled by a faster vessel under crowded canvas and full steam. The rising wind favored him, because we had but two sails, fore and aft, which served to steady us in a seaway, but this added little to our speed. As the stranger drew rapidly nearer, pushing us toward a lee shore, she opened fire with her rifled cannon, and for the first time in my life I heard the scream of a hostile shell as it passed between our funnels and plunged into the sea a half mile beyond. The sensation was most unpleasant; had we been able to return the fire, the excitement of battle must have been exhilarating, but to be hunted like a rabbit and pelted with Parrott shells and 11-inch projectiles was enough to reduce my backbone to such laxation that my trembling knees refused to bear it. The cruiser's aim was deadly, for the 11-inch shells came tumbling end over end with such fearful accuracy that many of them passed only a few feet from my head. Others sent the salt spray flying into our faces; and yet there were, up to six o'clock, no casualties of any importance. The admirable conduct of our naval passengers soon inspired me with courage--such is the influence of veterans beside raw troops--and, strangely enough, as the firing of single batteries was changed to broadsides, my despairful feelings gave way to hope and confidence. Our pursuer was now fairly abeam and sailing the same course. Why she did not destroy us utterly at such short range must have appeared to them incomprehensible, because we easily distinguished without glasses the movements of their gunners and the working of their crew at quarters; and our pursuer must have been surprised at the audacity of our passengers, who tranquilly measured with their watches the intervals between the firing of his projectiles and their passage overhead. They also used their sextants continuously during the chase, and it was doubtless owing to their superior knowledge and fortitude that our commander held on his course in the face of imminent destruction, for, be it remembered, we were loaded to the hatch combings with gunpowder for Lee's army. As the sun sank lower on the horizon, so sank our hopes of escape, for every moment seemed to be drawing us nearer to the end. Even our passengers became disheartened and said at last that it was a useless risk to all the lives on board. They accordingly proceeded to their cabins and destroyed their official papers, and threw overboard some valuable side arms and rifles, and I, by the captain's orders, took the Confederate mail bag and government dispatches to the furnace and saw them go up in smoke. Orders were now given to lower the boats to the rail, for what purpose I do not know, when a strange thing happened. There was a loud explosion in the forward fireroom, not made by the bursting of a shell but accompanied by a cloud of steam. Immediately the stokers and firemen swarmed up the iron ladders to the deck, terror-stricken and bewildered. They had been kept at their work for hours at the point of a pistol in the hands of desperate and determined men, but now, panic-stricken, they rushed aft, not knowing what they would do. Our chief engineer quietly reported the collapse of one of our boilers, cause unknown, steam reduced nearly one-half in consequence, but our slackened speed proved to be the means of our salvation. The sun had gone behind a cloud bank, a mist hung over the land to leeward, our ship, painted the dull grey color of the sand dunes along the shore line, was obscured from the view of the enemy, which was quite visible to us, forging ahead and firing wildly. Our engines were stopped and sails lowered, every eye was upon the cruiser. Would she discover our desperate expedient? Had she done so, I believe our crew would have been ordered to the boats and the _Lilian_ abandoned, with a lighted fuse for her destruction. But the cruiser drew farther away, firing his broadsides at an invisible foe. Cautiously and slowly we limped to windward, crossing the wake of our discomfited antagonist, and laying our course straight and true for Wilmington. It was now eight o'clock in the evening, a hundred miles between us and our dangerous destination, and daylight comes early in the summer months. By the closest calculation we might, without accidents, reach the Cape Fear by sunrise, and then in our disabled condition how could we hope to run the gauntlet of the blockading fleet? It was resolved to do it or die. Fortune had favored us in an extremity, perhaps she would still be kind. We had an anxious night; sleep, even after the excitement and exhaustion of the previous day, was impossible. We saw the first faint streaks of day off Masonboro Sound, where our watchful Gregory picked up the signal lights ashore and passed the word along the beach for our protection by the fort. It was a cloudy morning; on and on we drove the little ship; she seemed to feel the crisis while she labored like a sentient being to meet her fate as speedily as possible. At last, in the friendly haze of dawn, we were among them; blockaders to the right of us, blockaders to the left of us, blockaders ahead of us loomed up like monsters of the deep. Craig coolly but anxiously peered ahead. Long Tom, well forward on the turtleback, whispered the words which a line of picked men reported to the bridge. Again and again we stopped for the passage of a picket barge or gunboat in the darkness ahead, who saw us not, and for the bearings, which in our devious course we had lost in confusion. Once more we slowly proceeded, when suddenly, out of the darkness and close aboard, flashed the fiery train of a rocket, and a deep, commanding voice, just over the side, shouted "Heave to, or I'll sink you." Quickly our bridge responded "Aye, aye, sir, we stop the engines." "Back your engines, sir, and stand by for my boats," called the lusty man-of-war. But our paddles were not reversed. Lockhart said he never heeded such an order with the bar at hand; on the contrary our engines were evidently running away with the ship, and, while the confident blockader, diverted from his guns, was engaged in lowering his boats, the _Lilian_ was gliding away toward the bar. A trail of rockets and Drummond lights and bombshells from the rest of the fleet followed in our wake, but the friendly flash of signals from the fort encouraged us, while Gregory, with his masked lights, revealed to them our steady progress until we anchored under the Confederate guns. It was now broad daylight and the blockading fleet had sullenly withdrawn to a safe distance. We proceeded toward Fort Anderson and came to anchor at quarantine. The clouds had passed away, revealing in the brightness of the morning light the stately white columns of Orton House in the distance. Accompanied by our faithful Scipio and escorted beyond the fort by its courteous Colonel Hedrick, we proceeded in silence through St. Philip's churchyard and the dead colonial town of Brunswick, past Russellboro, where Governor Tryon met the first armed colonists (the cradle of American independence), through the long avenue of oaks, where, looking ahead, we beheld a sight which cheered our hearts; my friend and his daughter surrounded by the yelping hounds returning from a chase, for reynard's brush was at her saddlebow. With mutual exclamations of astonishment and delight we learned that the young captain had written by a flag of truce of his convalescence in a Northern hospital. I will not say the touching words that Scipio heard, as, with hands clasped by master and mistress, and with bowed head, he received their tearful benedictions. My friend has long since gone to his eternal rest and Scipio's white soul soon followed him. They are buried at Orton in a grove where the mocking bird builds its nest and sings; where, above the murmur of the tree tops, which bend to the soft south wind, is heard the distant booming of the sea, and in their death they were not divided.

INDEX

Abaco Light, Federal ships stationed near, 144.

_Ada Iredale_ (_Annie Johnson_), derelict merchant ship, 5, 6.

Adair, Capt. W.F., blockade runner _Antonica_, 107.

_Advance_, blockade runner, ix.

_Agnes E. Fry_, steamer, 241.

_Alapaha_, steamer, 45.

_Albemarle_, Confederate ram, Captain Maffitt ordered to take charge of, 266; paper by Captain Maffitt on building of, 202.

_Albert_, U.S.S., 26.

Alexander, Captain, Confederate States Signal Corps, 191.

Allingham, William, quoted, 2-14.

_Alma Cumming_, derelict merchant ship, 8.

_Alonzo_, blockade runner, ix.

_Amalco_, U.S.S., log of gives last information concerning U.S.S. _Cyclops_, 28, 29.

_Antonica_,[7] derelict blockade runner, 107-109.

_Arabian_, derelict blockade runner, 90.

_Aries_, U.S.S. blockader, 98, 99, 104.

_Arizona_, steamship, damage to, 35.

_Atlantic_, blockade runner, change of name, 61.

_Badger_, derelict blockade runner, 102, 109, 110.

Badham, Captain, Confederate service, 59.

Bahnson, Captain, Confederate service, 59.

Bald Head, wrecks near, 58.

_Banshee_, derelict blockade runner, first steel vessel to cross Atlantic, 66, 83, 85, 160.

_Banshee_, Number 2, blockade runner, 127.

_Bat_, blockade runner, 102.

Beaufort, N.C., held by Federals, 93, 226.

Beery, Benjamin, 168.

_Bendigo_, derelict blockade runner, 105, 106.

_Bergitte_, derelict merchant ship, 7.

Bermuda, Federal spies in, 276.

Bertholf, Commodore E.P., letter by, 18-20.

Bier, Capt. George H., blockade runner Dee, 81.

Blake, Capt. Eugene, jr., U.S.S. _Seminole_, official report by, 42-47.

Blockade, Federal, effectiveness of, xii.

Blockaders, names of: _Aries_, 98, 99, 104; _Boston_, 203; _Cambridge_, 60, 81; _Cherokee_, 133; _Connecticut_, 103, 104; _Daylight_, 98, 99, 106; _Fahkee_, 106; _Florida_, 54, 55, 56, 76, 252; _Fort Jackson_, 103, 106; _Gettysburg_, 203; _Glaucus_, ix; _Governor Buckingham_, 98, 99, 107; _Howquah_, 79; _Iron Age_, 87, 106; _James Adger_, 195; _Keystone State_, ix, 99, 134, 198, 203; _Minnesota_, 91; _Montgomery_, 104, 106; _Nansemond_, 62, 80, 85, 86; _New Berne_, 133, 139, 142; _Niphon_, 84, 86, 90, 91, 137, 138, 143; _Penobscot_, 119; _Quaker City_, 99, 102, 133; _Sassacus_, 82, 83; _Shenandoah_, 94, 141; _Shokokon_, 91; _Stars and Stripes_, 60; _Tuscarora_, 79, 99; stations of, 57, 224.

Blockade runners, advantages of Wilmington, N.C., as port for, 94, 223; cargoes of, 52, 53, 58, 59, 60, 61, 66, 80, 81, 82, 83, 87, 103, 108, 118, 133, 138, 141, 144, 148, 170, 173, 219; Halifax, N.S., rendezvous of blockade runners escaping from Federal prisons, 38; losses through destruction of, 52; number of (1863), 88, 89; number of wrecks on Cape Fear coast of, 51-152; type of construction of, 87, 105, 106, 107, 120, 130, 131, 265, 266.

Blockade running, advantages of North Carolina coast for, 57; effect of Gulf Stream on, 225, 226; methods of, 57.

Bonneau, Capt. F.N., blockade runner _Ella_ and _Annie_, quoted, 142; rams U.S.S. _Niphon_, 137, 140, 143.

_Boston_, U.S. blockader, 203.

Braine, Lieut.-Commander D.L., U.S.S. _Monticello_, official report by, 167-170.

Breck, Acting Master J.B., U.S.S. _Niphon_, official reports by, 140-143.

Brown, Governor Joseph (Georgia), part owner of blockade runner _Florie_, 109.

Brunswick, N.C. (colonial), 169, 284.

_Bulldog_, British gunboat, 218.

Burgoyne, Capt. Hugh, loses life on British man-of-war _Captain_, runs the blockade, 160, 163, 165.

Burroughs, Captain, blockade runner _North Heath_, 112-114; _Cornubia_, 192, 193.

Butler's powder ship, 162.

_Cambridge_, U.S.S. blockader, 60, 81.

Camp Brown, fort, location of, 169.

Cantwell, Edward, 63.

_Cape Fear_, derelict blockade runner, 112.

Cape Fear blockade, accounts of, 57-59, 224, 225.

Cape Fear River, approaches to, 223, 266; forts on, 169.

Capper, Captain, blockade runner, 67, 70, 71.

_Captain_, man-of-war, capsizing of, 33, 165.

Carolina Beach, wrecks near, 79.

Caswell, Fort, 57, 61, 65, 72, 73, 102, 103, 116, 117, 118, 135, 174, 210, 266.

_Celestina_, derelict merchant ship, 10, 11.

_C.E. Morrison_, derelict merchant ship, 10.

_Chambers's Edinburgh Journal_, quoted, 2-14, 250-262.

_Chameleon_, blockade runner, xii.

_Cherokee_, U.S.S. blockader, 133.

_Chickamauga_, Confederate warship, 38.

_City of Boston_, lost liner, 22, 24.

_City of Glasgow_, lost liner, 24.

_City of Paris_, steamship, damage to, 32, 33.

Clark, Chief Justice Walter, mentioned, ix; quoted, xi, xii.

Clitz, Commander J.M.B., U.S.S. gunboat _Penobscot_, official report by, 171.

Clover, Admiral Richardson, U.S. hydrographer, 4.

_Coamo_, steamer, aid in rescue of steamer _Korona_ by, 43.

Coast Guard, U.S., coast service of in derelict destruction, 20; intended international service of in derelict destruction, 19; rescue service of, 41-49.

_Condor_, British gunboat, lost, 24.

_Condor_, derelict blockade runner, 127, 131, 152.

Confederacy, lack of navy by, x, xi; several times on eve of success, xi.

Confederate flag, experiences of Captain Whiting with, 216, 217; meeting of the _Lilian_ at sea with, 278.

Confederate Government, need of powder by, 241; purchase of _Virginia_ by, 112; purchase of _Cornubia_ by, 192; purchase of _Douro_ by, 79; purchase of _Giraffe_ by, 191; seizure of _North Heath_ by, 114.

Confederate money, depreciation of, 174, 175, 228.

Confederate Navy Department, orders to Capt. John N. Maffitt by, 110, 111, 212.

Confederate States, commissariat of sustained by blockade runners, 53.

Confederate States Signal Corps, work of, 189-198.

Confederate steamers, attempts of fanatics to destroy, 277.

_Connecticut_, U.S.S., blockader, 103.

Contrabands, intelligent, information secured from, 109, 167-175.

_Cornubia_, derelict blockade runner, 112, 137, 191-195. See also _Lady Davis_.

Coxetter, Captain, blockade runner _Antonica_, 108; _Fannie and Jennie_, 54, 55.

Craig, Rev. James William, Cape Fear pilot, 95, 267, 268, 283.

Crosby, Capt. Peirce, U.S.S. _Florida_, 54, 56, 76, 77; U.S.S. _Keystone State_, 203.

Cushing, Lieut. W.B., U.S.S. _Shokokon_, 91.

_Cyclops_, U.S.S. collier, loss of, 25-29.

_Dare_, derelict blockade runner, 104, 105.

_David G. Worth_, lost freighter, 21.

Davis, Hon. George, Attorney-General of the Confederacy, quoted, 53.

Davis, President Jefferson, commissioners sent to England by, xi; issue of thanksgiving proclamation by, 173.

_Daylight_, U.S.S. blockader, 98, 99, 106.

_Dee_, derelict blockade runner, 81, 82.

_Delhi_, steamship, stranding of, 33.

Derelict blockade runners, accounts of, 51-153.

Derelict blockade runners, accounts of individual ships: _Antonica_, 107-109; _Badger_, 109, 110; _Banshee_, 83-85; _Bendigo_, 105, 106; _Cape Fear_, 112; _Cornubia_, 191-195; _Dare_, 104, 105; _Dee_, 81, 82; _Don_, 81; _Douro_, 79, 80; _Elizabeth_, 61, 62; _Ella_, 57-59; _Ella and Annie_, 136-143; _Emily of London_, 55, 56; _Fannie and Jennie_, 53-55; _Florie_, 109; _General Beauregard_, 78, 79; _Georgiana McCaw_, 62-66; _Hebe_, 90-93; _Kate_, 114-118; _Kate_, second, 118, 119; _Lynx_, escape of, 95-97; _Modern Greece_, 59-61; _Night Hawk_, 119-130; _North Heath_, 112-114; _Nutfield_, 82, 83; _Phantom_, 103, 104; _Pevensey_, 131-136; _Ranger_, 97-100, 101-102; _Spunkie_, 102, 103; _Venus_, 85-88; _Vesta_, 97, 100, 101; _Wild Dayrell_, 72-78.

Derelict destroyers, 7.

Derelict merchant ships, accounts of individual ships: _Ada Iredale_ (_Annie Johnson_), 6; _Alma Cumming_, 8; _Birgitte_, 7; _Celestina_, 10, 11; _C.E. Morrison_, 10; _Drisko_, 14; _Duncow_, 6; _Falls of Afton_, 6; _Fannie E. Wolston_, 16, 17; _Glenalvon_, 9; _Korea_, 9; _L.E. Cann_, 9, 10; _Louise_, 8; _Marie Celeste_, 11; _Resolute_, H.M.S., 13, 14; _Savannah_, 41; _Siddartha_, 7; _Vila_, 10; _W.L. White_, 5.

Derelicts, accounts of, 1-17; drift of, 5, 7, 8, 13, 16, 17; failure to destroy, 1, 2; fictitious accounts of, 11-13; life of, 4, 5, 6, 8; number of, 3, 4; United States destruction of asked by international agreement, 18, 19.

DeRosset, Doctor, 62.

DeRosset, Mrs. A.J., work for convalescent soldiers by, 229.

Deserters, condition of, 175; treatment of, 230, 231.

Devens, Lieut. Edward F., U.S.S. _Aries_, official report by, 100, 101.

Diamond Shoals, buoy at, 43.

_Dispatch_, blockade runner, 66.

Doggett, Lieutenant, Confederate States Signal Corps, 192.

_Don_, derelict blockade runner, 81, 164, 177.

_Douro_, derelict blockade runner, 62, 79, 80, 87, 90.

_Doyle_, Capt. Austin, British steamer _Korona_, 47.

_Drisko_, derelict merchant ship, 14.

_Duncow_, derelict merchant ship, 6.

_Ella_, derelict blockade runner, 57-59.

_Ella and Annie_, blockade runner, capture of, 136, 137, 143; named changed, 137.

_Elizabeth_, derelict blockade runner, 61, 62, 106.

_Emily of London_, derelict blockade runner, 55, 56.

_Emily St. Pierre_, British ship, account of, 250-262.

_Etruria_, steamship, swept by tidal wave, 36.

_Eugénie_, blockade runner, ix, 240, 241.

Everson, Acting Master, U.S.S. _Victoria_, official report by, 64-66.

_Fahkee_, U.S.S. blockader, 106.

_Falcon_, blockade runner, 131.

_Falls of Afton_, derelict merchant ship, 6.

_Fannie and Jessie_, derelict blockade runner, 53-55, 56.

_Fannie E. Wolston_, derelict merchant ship, 16, 17.

Fayetteville, N.C., making of arms and ammunition at, 169.

Fisher, Fort, 54, 57, 60, 61, 68, 74, 78, 80, 83, 91, 92, 93, 95, 97, 112, 114, 120, 141, 157, 161, 162, 173, 174, 175, 192, 209, 224, 231, 263, 266.

_Flamingo_, blockade runner, 131.

_Flora_, blockade runner, 196.

_Florida_, U.S.S., blockader, 54, 55, 56, 76, 252.

_Florida_, Confederate ship, captured by U.S.S. _Wachusetts_, 278; cruise of, 202, 277; failure of Commander Preble to capture, 205-208; formerly _Oreto_, 215; meets _Lilian_ on high seas, 277, 278; remarkable escape into Mobile Bay, 205-207.

_Florie_, derelict blockade runner, 109.

_Fort Jackson_, U.S.S., blockader, 103, 106.

Forts, see Camp Brown, Caswell, Fisher, Mount Tirza, St. Philip.

Foster, Capt. James, U.S.S. _James Adger_, 195.

Fraser, Trenholm & Company, owners of _Emily St. Pierre_, 251.

Fry, Capt. Joseph, in command of _Agnes E. Fry_, 241; _Eugénie_, 240; Confederate gunboat _Morgan_, 241; _Virginius_, 241; sketch of life and death of, 239-244.

Frying Pan Shoals, buoy at, 46; wrecks near, 107, 108.

Gale, Captain, blockade runner _Lady Davis_, 194, 195.

_General Beauregard_, derelict blockade runner, 78, 79.

_Georgiana McCaw_, derelict blockade runner, 62-66.

_Gettysburg_, U.S.S., blockader, 203.

Gift, Lieut. George W., blockade runner _Ranger_, 97; official report by, 101, 102.

_Giraffe_, blockade runner, name changed, 226; purchased by Confederate Government, 191.

_Glenalvon_, derelict merchant ship, 9.

_Governor Buckingham_, U.S.S., blockader, 98, 99, 107.

Greenhow, Mrs. Rose O'Neal, aid given Confederacy by, 148-153; death of, 131, 153, 161; imprisoned in Old Capitol Prison, 151.

Gregory, Frederick W., Confederate States Signal Corps, character of, 190; mentioned, 187, 267, 269, 284; quoted, 191-193, 194-200.

Grosvenor, Gilbert H., editor _National Geographic Magazine_, quoted, 14-17.

Gulf Stream, effect on blockade running, 225, 226.

Guthrie, Captain, 112.

Halifax, Nova Scotia, rendezvous of blockade runners escaping from Federal prisons, 38.

Hamilton, Prof. J.G. deRoulhac, v, 53.

Harris, Lieut. T.A., U.S.S. _New Berne_, official report by, 132-135.

_Hebe_, derelict blockade runner, 80, 87, 90-93.

Herring, Robert, Confederate States Signal Corps, 191.

Hewett, Admiral, British Navy, runs the blockade, 127, 131, 160, 163, 165.

Hobart, Captain, blockade runner _Don_, 81, 160, 163, 164, 177, 178.

Hobart Pasha. See Hobart, Captain.

Holcombe, Professor, rescued from drowning, 161.

Hone, Major, 187.

Horner, Captain, blockade runner _Flora_, 196.

Horner, Joseph, quoted, 21-25, 30-37.

_Howquah_, U.S.S., blockader, 79.

_Huronian_, lost liner, 24.

Hydrographic Office, U.S., work regarding derelicts, 4, 7, 16, 17.

_Index_, blockade runner, account of, 196, 197.

_Integrity_, finding of valuable derelict by, 9.

Intelligent contrabands. See Contrabands, intelligent.

_Iron Age_, U.S.S., blockader, 87, 106.

_Ionian_, steamer, damaged by collision with derelict, 9.

_James Adger_, U.S.S., blockader, capture of _Emily St. Pierre_ by, 251, 252; capture of _Lady Davis_ by, 195.

_James T. Petteway_, Confederate transport, 118.

Jordan, Adj.-Gen. Thomas, Confederate Army, 149.

_Kate_, derelict blockade runner, 114-118, 120, 170, 173, 213, 214, 219.

_Kate_, second, derelict blockade runner, 118, 119.

_Keystone State_, U.S.S., blockader, 99, 134, 198, 203.

_Korea_, derelict merchant ship, 9.

_Korona_, British steamer, account of rescue by U.S.S. _Seminole_, 41-49; aid of steamer _Coamo_ in rescue of, 43; letter of Alexander Sprunt & Son relative to rescue of, 47, 48; letter of Franklin D. Roosevelt relative to rescue of, 48, 49.

_Lady Davis_, blockade runner, capture of, 194-196; former name of, 112, 137.

Lamar, Col. C.A.L., part owner of blockade runner _Florie_, 109.

Lamb, Col. William, commander of Fort Fisher, 67, 69, 85, 93, 97, 157, 173, 193, 197, 231; quoted, 157-163.

Lamb, Mrs. William, story of devotion of, 157-163.

Lamson, Lieutenant, U.S.S. _Nansemond_, official report by, 85-87.

_Lancaster_, finding of derelict by, 9.

Lawley, Francis C., correspondent of _London Times_, 160.

_L.E. Cann_, derelict merchant ship, 9, 10.

Lee, Gen. R.E., loss of gift sword for, 55.

Lee, Admiral S.P., U.S. Navy, commanding North Atlantic Blockading Squadron, 74, 78, 106, 135, 143; official reports by, 98-100, 135, 136, 137-139.

Lights. See Range Lights.

_Lilian_, blockade runner, account of last successful run of, 263-285; capture of, 38, 203; chase of, 94, 95, 264, 265, 279-284; mentioned, ix, 39, 177, 202; quarantine experiences of, 181-188.

_Loch Torridon_, steamship, swept by tidal wave, 36.

Lockwood, Capt. Thomas J., blockade runner _Elizabeth_, 61; _Kate_, 115, 116, 117, 213.

Lockwood's Folly, wrecks near, 52, 61, 106.

_London_, sinking of, 22.

Long, Joseph Brown, 131, 134.

Lorraine, Sir Lambton, captain British man-of-war, _Niobe_, rescue of part of crew of steamer _Virginius_ by, 244, 245.

Lost Liners, accounts of, 21-40; financial losses by, 23; number of, 22; number of lives lost on, 23.