The Cruise of the Alabama and the Sumter From the Private Journals and Other Papers of Commander R. Semmes, C.S.N., and Other Officers

_The Kearsarge--Preparations--The iron-clad--State of the Alabama--Out of the harbour--The Deerhound--The Captain's address--Armaments of the combatants--Plan of action--The eng...

_A French governor--At church--Visitors--On shore--Prisoners released--Coaling difficulties--Sympathy for the South--A glass of grog!--St. Pierre--Curiosity--The Iroquois--An at...

_Saturday, January 4th_.--Harbour of Cadiz--ancient Gades--with its Moorish houses and feluccas, or latteen vessels. Some fine oranges alongside--the product of this latitude, 3...

_Beginning the cruise--The first prize the Golden Rocket--The capture burnt--The Cuba and Machias--Cienfuegos--The Ben Dunning and Albert Adams--Three at once: the West Wind, th...

_Wrecked!--A narrow escape--Respect for neutral waters--The Martha Wenzell--At the Cape--Dense fogs--Heavy weather--"Are you a vessel of war?"---Firmness and obstinacy--Simon's...

The Alabama was again out of luck. For the second time since her departure from Terceira, nearly a fortnight passed without bringing a single prize. It was, indeed, hardly to be...

_Again ready--Gloomy weather--A Norther--The Arcas--The second Christmas at sea--The war--Plymouth rock leaven--On the lonely island--"Splicing the main-brace"--Searching for sh...

The Alabama was now steering for Singapore, and for three or four days kept her course without the occurrence of anything particularly noteworthy. On the 19th December she ancho...

The 8th of November saw the Alabama again in sight of land, and after anchoring for a night off Flat Point, and sending a boat ashore, in the vain hope of finding in the Malay v...

More than a week passed without the occurrence of any event worthy of record. Saturday, the 21st February, however, brought an exciting chase. By 8 A.M. four vessels had been re...

_An official "in trouble"--On shore again--A breakfast party--On horseback--Blowing hard--Taken in the net--Easy captures--The Kate Cory--The Lafayette--A polite Governor--The L...

Once more afloat on the open sea; and at 4 P.M. of Monday November 25th, a promising commencement was made in the capture of the fine ship Montmorency, of 1183 tons, laden with...

A whole month had thus been lost through the failure of the Sumter's coal off the mouth of the Amazon. News, too, had been received at Paramaribo that six or seven large fast st...

_The Sumter formerly the Savannah packet-ship--Captain Semmes joins and assumes command--Altering the vessel--Vexatious delays--The war begins--The river blockaded--Crew of the...

After this burst of good fortune in the way of prizes, during which the Alabama had destroyed upwards of 230,000 dollars' worth of United States property--or an amount very near...

Contrary to her usual aspirations, the principal wish of the Alabama, as she started on this fresh cruise, was to reach her destination without having seen a single vessel. She...

_Discomforts of life at sea--A stern chase--Seized--The Punjaub ransomed--Rain-squalls--A luxury--The Morning Star--Neutral cargo--The Fairhaven--The Ino on the look-out--The Ch...

The 18th November saw Captain Semmes again off Martinique, which he had visited in the Sumter just twelve months before. Making the north end of the island at about 4 A.M., the...

_A dull time--"Sail, oh-h-h!"--An exciting chase--No prize--A gale--Jack's holiday--A new cruising-ground--Dead calm--An enlightened Frenchman--A near thing--Patience!--The Dani...

_An insult to the Yankee flag--Fine weather--The Anna F. Schmidt--"What ship's that?"--The Express--A supply of bread--Saldanha Bay--Visitors from the country--A funeral--The Tu...

The Alabama was now on the look-out for a Californian steamer, and it was quite possible that in so doing she might run into a fight. However, should that be the case, there wou...

The morning of Sunday, the 24th August, found her afloat ready for sea; the delicate operation of transhipping stores in an open roadstead safely accomplished, a supply of coal...

_Excitement--Taking the bull by the horns--official visits--H.M.S. Cadmus--Captain Semmes' commission--At sea again--A dull time--Wind and current hostile--Cayenne--French polit...

Sunday again! The Alabama's lucky day; and this time, at least, destined to be especially marked with white chalk in the annals of the ship. The morning passed calmly enough; th...

"No. 290" ran rapidly before the S.W. gale up the Irish Channel, and past the Isle of Man and Ailsa Crag, till as the columns of the Giant's Causeway began to loom dimly through...

_Crowded with prisoners--Chasing a friend--At Jamaica--Enthusiastic reception--Rest on shore--Speech making--Up anchor!--A prize--Case of the Golden Rule--Reinstating the discip...

The imprisonment of the two gentlemen alluded to at the conclusion of the last chapter, is an episode in the history of the Sumter which demands something more than mere passing...

Meanwhile the search for coal had been continued by the Sumter and at length a promise of a supply had been obtained. It so happened, however, that this supply, so long sought a...

On the 14th January, as the Alabama was lazily drifting in a north-easterly direction, near the Malabar coast, a ship was discovered running down towards her. The useful decoy--...

The 25th May witnessed the capture of the ship Gildersliene and the barque Justina. The latter having a neutral cargo, was ransomed on a bond for 7000 dollars; the former condem...

A curious prize was the next that fell into the clutches of the all-devouring Alabama. A whaling barque, the Nye, of New Bedford, eleven months out, without having once put into...

The vessel to which Captain Semmes was now appointed had been built expressly for the Confederate navy, by Messrs. Laird and Sons, of Birkenhead. She was a small fast screw stea...

The month of October went out as it came in with severe and blustering weather. The Alabama was still upwards of two hundred miles from New York, and it seemed as though a chang...

From the 7th to the 18th of September was a busy time on board the Alabama. Prize after prize was taken, and Captain Semmes' journal, as will be seen, is chiefly taken up with r...

From the middle to the 28th February there was but little excitement on board the Alabama. On that day the usual routine of life on a man-of-war was broken by the cry of "Man ov...

The President of the American States in Confederation was gathering an army for the defence of Southern liberty. Where valour is a national inheritance, and an enthusiastic unan...