C. S. STEAMER SUMTER, HEAD OF THE Pa.s.sES, June 22, 1861.
SIR:--This is to command you to repair on board this ship, with three or four of the most experienced pilots of the Bar. I am surprised to learn, that an unwillingness has been expressed, by some of the pilots of your a.s.sociation, to come on board the _Sumter_; and my purpose is to test the fact of such disloyalty to the Confederate States. If any man disobeys this summons I will not only have his Branch taken from him, but I will send an armed force, and arrest, and bring him on board.
This order had the desired effect, and in the course of the afternoon, Lieutenant Stribling returned, bringing with him, the Captain of the a.s.sociation, and several of the pilots. I directed them to be brought into my cabin, and when they were a.s.sembled, demanded to know the reason of their late behavior. Some stammering excuses were offered, which I cut short, by informing them that one of them must remain on board constantly, and that they might determine for themselves, who should take the first week"s service; to be relieved at the end of the week, by another, and so on, as long as I should find it necessary. One of their number being designated, I dismissed the rest. The reader will see how many faithful auxiliaries, Admiral Farragut afterward found, in the Pilots" a.s.sociation of the mouths of the Mississippi, when he made his famous ascent of the river, and captured its great seaport. Nor was this defection confined to New Orleans. The pilots along our whole Southern coast were, with few exceptions, Northern men, and as a rule they went over to the enemy, though pretending, in the beginning of our troubles, to be good secessionists. The same remark may be applied to our steamboat men, of Northern birth, as a cla.s.s. Many of them had become domiciled in the South, and were supposed to be good Southern men, until the crucial test of self-interest was applied to them, when they, too, deserted us, and took service with the enemy.
The object of the _Brooklyn"s_ boat, which, as we have seen, pulled into the telegraph station at Pa.s.s a L"Outre, just before we got under way from between the forts, was to cut the wires, and break up the station, to prevent intelligence being given me of the movements of the blockading fleet. I now resorted to a little retaliation. I dispatched an officer to the different light-houses, to stave the oil-casks, and bring away the lighting apparatus, to prevent the enemy"s shipping from using the lights.
They were of great convenience, not only to the ships employed on the blockade, but to the enemy"s transports, and other ships, bound to and from the coast of Texas. They could be of no use to our own blockade-runners, as the pa.s.ses of the Mississippi, by reason of their long, and tortuous, and frequently shifting channels, were absolutely closed to them.
The last letter addressed by me to the Secretary of the Navy, before escaping through the blockade, as hereinafter described, was the following:
C. S. STEAMER SUMTER, HEAD OF THE Pa.s.sES, June 30, 1861.
SIR:--I have the honor to inform the Department that I am still at my anchors at the "Head of the Pa.s.ses"--the enemy closely investing both of the practical outlets. At Pa.s.s a L"Outre there are three ships, the _Brooklyn_, and another propeller, and a large side-wheel steamer; and at the Southwest Pa.s.s, there is the _Powhatan_, lying within half a mile of the bar, and not stirring an inch from her anchors, night or day. I am only surprised that the _Brooklyn_ does not come up to this anchorage, which she might easily do--as there is water enough, and no military precautions, whatever, have been taken to hold the position--and thus effectually seal all the pa.s.ses of the river, by her presence alone; which would enable the enemy to withdraw the remainder of his blockading force, for use elsewhere.
With the a.s.sistance of the _Jackson_, Lieutenant Gwathmey, and the _McRae_, Lieutenant Huger--neither of which has, as yet, however, dropped down--I could probably hold my position here, until an opportunity offers of my getting to sea. I shall watch, diligently, for such an opportunity, and have no doubt, that sooner or later, it will present itself. I found, upon dropping down to this point, that the lights at Pa.s.s a L"Outre, and South Pa.s.s had been strangely overlooked, and that they were still being nightly exhibited. I caused them both to be extinguished, so that if bad weather should set in--a gale from the south-east, for instance--the blockading ships, having nothing to "hold on to," will be obliged to make an offing. At present the worst feature of the blockade of Pa.s.s a L"Outre is, that the _Brooklyn_ has the speed of me; so that even if I should run the bar, I could not hope to escape her, unless I surprised her, which with her close watch of the bar, at anchor near by, both night and day, it will be exceedingly difficult to do. I should be quite willing to try speed with the _Powhatan_, if I could hope to run the gantlet of her guns, without being crippled; but here again, unfortunately, with all the buoys, and other marks removed, the bar which she is watching is a perfectly blind bar, except by daylight. In the meantime, I am drilling my green crew, to a proper use of the great guns, and small arms. With the exception of a diarrhoea, which is prevailing, to some extent, brought on by too free use of the river water, in the excessive heats which prevail, the crew continues healthy.
Nothing in fact surprised me more, during the nine days I lay at the Head of the Pa.s.ses, than that the enemy did not attack me with some of his light-draught, but heavily armed steamers, or by his boats, by night. Here was the _Sumter_, a small ship, with a crew, all told, of a little over a hundred men, anch.o.r.ed only ten, or twelve miles from the enemy, without a gun, or an obstruction between her and him; and yet no offensive movement was made against her. The enemy watched me closely, day by day, and bent all his energies toward preventing my escape, but did not seem to think of the simple expedient of endeavoring to capture me, with a superior force.
In nightly expectation of an a.s.sault, I directed the engineer to keep the water in his boilers, as near the steam-point as possible, without actually generating the vapor, and sent a patrol of boats some distance down the Southwest Pa.s.s; the boats being relieved every four hours, and returning to the ship, at the first streaks of dawn. After I went to sea, the enemy did come in, and take possession of my anchorage, until he was driven away by Commodore Hollins, in a little nondescript ram; which, by the way, was the first ram experiment of the war. The reader may imagine the tedium, and discomforts of our position, if he will reflect that it is the month of June, and that at this season of the year, the sun comes down upon the broad, and frequently calm surface of the Father of Waters, with an African glow, and that clouds of that troublesome little insect the mosquito tormented us, by night and by day. There was no sleeping at all without the mosquito bar, and I had accordingly had a supply sent down for all the crew. Rather than stand the a.s.saults of these little _picadores_, much longer, I believe my crew would have run the gantlet of the whole Federal Navy.
My diary will now perhaps give the reader, his clearest conception of the condition of things on board the _Sumter_, for the remaining few days that she is to continue at her anchors.
_Tuesday, June 25th._--A sharp thunder-storm at half-past three A. M., jarring and shaking the ship with its crashes. The very flood-gates of the heavens seem open, and the rain is descending on our decks like a cataract. Clearing toward ten o"clock. Both blockading ships still at their anchors. The British steam sloop _Jason_ touched at the Southwest Pa.s.s, yesterday, and communicated with the _Powhatan_. We learn by the newspapers, to-day, that the enemy has taken possession of Ship Island, and established a blockade of the Sound. The anaconda is drawing his folds around us. We are filling some sh.e.l.l, and cartridges to-day, and drilling the crew at the battery.
_Wednesday, June 26th._--Cloudy, with occasional rain squalls, which have tempered the excessive heats. The _Ivy_ returned from the city to-day, and brought me eighty barrels of coal. Sent the pilot, in the light-house keeper"s boat, to sound the S. E. bar, an unused and unwatched outlet to the eastward of the South Pa.s.s--in the hope that we may find sufficient water over it, to permit the egress of the ship. The Federal ships are keeping close watch, as usual, at both the pa.s.ses, neither of them having stirred from her anchor, since we have been at the "Head of the Pa.s.ses."
_Thursday, June 27th._--Weather sultry, and atmosphere charged with moisture. Pilot returned this afternoon, and reports ten and a half feet water on the S. E. bar. Unfortunately the _Sumter_ draws twelve feet; so we must abandon this hope.
_Sat.u.r.day, June 29th._--A mistake induced us to expend a little coal, to-day, uselessly. The pilot having gone aloft, to take his usual morning"s survey of the "situation," reported that the _Brooklyn_ was nowhere to be seen! Great excitement immediately ensued, on the decks, and the officer of the watch hurried into my cabin with the information. I ordered steam to be gotten up with all dispatch, and when, in the course of a very few minutes, it was reported ready--for we always kept our fires banked--the anchor was tripped, and the ship was under way, ploughing her way through the turbid waters, toward Pa.s.s a L"Outre. When we had steamed about four miles down the pa.s.s, the _Brooklyn_ was seen riding very quietly at her anchors, _in her usual berth near the bar_. Explanation: The _Sumter_ had dragged her anchor during the night, and the alteration in her position had brought a clump of trees between her, and the enemy"s ship, which had prevented the pilot from seeing the latter! With disappointed hopes we had nothing to do, but to return to our anchors, and watch and wait. In half an hour more, the sailors were lounging idly about the decks, under well-spread awnings; the jest, and banter went round, as usual, and save the low hissing and singing of the steam, which was still escaping, there was nothing to remind the beholder of our recent disappointment. Such is the school of philosophy in which the seaman is reared. Our patience, however, was soon to be rewarded.
Early on the next morning, which was the 30th of June, the steamer, _Empire Parish_, came down from the city, and coming alongside of us, put on board some fresh provisions for the crew, and about one hundred barrels of coal, which my thoughtful, and attentive friend, Commodore Rousseau, had sent down to me. Having done this, the steamer shoved off, and proceeded on her trip, down Pa.s.s a L"Outre, to the pilots" station, and lighthouse. It was a bright Sunday morning, and we were thinking of nothing but the usual muster, and how we should get through another idle day. In the course of two or three hours, the steamer returned, and when she had come near us, she was seen to cast off a boat, which she had been towing, containing a single boatman--one of the fishermen, or oyster-men so common in these waters. The boatman pulled rapidly under our stern, and hailing the officer of the deck, told him, that the _Brooklyn_ had gone off in chase of a sail, and was no longer in sight. The crew, who had been "cleaning themselves," for Sunday muster, at once stowed away their bags; the swinging-booms were gotten alongside, the boats run up, and, in ten minutes, the steam was again hissing, as if impatient of control. The men ran round the capstan, in "double-quick," in their eagerness to get up the anchor, and in a few minutes more, the ship"s head swung off gracefully with the current, and, the propeller being started, she bounded off like a thing of life, on this new race, which was to decide whether we should continue to stagnate in midsummer, in the marshes of the Mississippi, or reach those "glad waters of the dark blue sea," which form as delightful a picture in the imagination of the sailor, as in that of the poet.
Whilst we were heaving up our anchor, I had noticed the pilot, standing near me, pale, and apparently nervous, and agitated, but, as yet, he had said not a word. When we were fairly under way, however, and it seemed probable, at last, that we should attempt the blockade, the fellow"s courage fairly broke down, and he protested to me that he knew nothing of the bar of Pa.s.s a L"Outre, and durst not attempt to run me over. "I am,"
said he, "a S. W. bar pilot, and know nothing of the other pa.s.ses."
"What," said I, "did you not know that I was lying at the Head of the Pa.s.ses, for the very purpose of taking any one of the outlets through which an opportunity of escape might present itself, and yet you dare tell me, that you know but one of them, and have been deceiving me." The fellow stammered out something in excuse, but I was too impatient to listen to him, and, turning to the first lieutenant, ordered him to hoist the "Jack"
at the fore, as a signal for a pilot. I had, in fact, resolved to attempt the pa.s.sage of the bar, from my own slight acquaintance with it, when I had been a light-house inspector, rather than forego the opportunity of escape, and caused the Jack to be hoisted, rather as a matter of course, than because I hoped for any good result from it. The _Brooklyn_ had not "chased out of sight," as reported--she had only chased to the westward, some seven or eight miles, and had been hidden from the boatman, by one of the spurs of the Delta. She had probably, all the while, had her telescopes on the _Sumter_, and as soon as she saw the black smoke issuing from her chimney, and the ship moving rapidly toward the pa.s.s, she abandoned her chase, and commenced to retrace her steps.
We had nearly equal distances to run to the bar, but I had the advantage of a four-knot current. Several of my officers now collected around me, and we were discussing the chances of escape. "What think you of our prospect," said I, turning to one of my lieutenants, who had served a short time before, on board the _Brooklyn_, and knew well her qualities.
"Prospect, sir! not the least in the world--there is no possible chance of our escaping that ship. Even if we get over the bar ahead of her, she must overhaul us, in a very short time. The _Brooklyn_ is good for fourteen knots an hour, sir." "That was the report," said I, "on her trial trip, but you know how all such reports are exaggerated; ten to one, she has no better speed, if so good, as the _Sumter_." "You will see, sir," replied my lieutenant; "we made a pa.s.sage in her, only a few months ago, from Tampico to Pensacola, and averaged about thirteen knots the whole distance."
Here the conversation dropped, for an officer now came to report to me that a boat had just shoved off from the pilots" station, evidently with a pilot in her. Casting my eyes in the given direction, I saw a whale-boat approaching us, pulled by four stout blacks, who were bending like good fellows to their long ashen oars, and in the stern sheets was seated, sure enough, the welcome pilot, swaying his body to, and fro, as his boat leaped under the oft-repeated strokes of the oars, as though he would hasten her already great speed. But more beautiful still was another object which presented itself. In the balcony of the pilot"s house, which had been built in the very marsh, on the margin of the river, there stood a beautiful woman, the pilot"s young wife, waving him on to his duty, with her handkerchief. We could have tossed a biscuit from the _Sumter_ to the sh.o.r.e, and I uncovered my head gallantly to my fair countrywoman. A few moments more, and a tow-line had been thrown to the boat, and the gallant young fellow stood on the horse-block beside me.
As we swept past the light-house wharf, almost close enough to touch it, there were other petticoats fluttering in the breeze, the owners of which were also waving handkerchiefs of encouragement to the _Sumter_. I could see my sailors" eyes brighten at these spectacles, for the sailor"s heart is capacious enough to love the whole s.e.x, and I now felt sure of their nerves, in case it should become necessary to tax them. Half a mile or so, from the light-house, and the bar is reached. There was a Bremen ship lying aground on the bar, and there was just room, and no more, for us to pa.s.s her. She had run out a kedge, and had a warp attached to it that was lying across the pa.s.sage-way. The crew considerately slackened the line, as we approached, and in another bound the _Sumter_ was outside the bar, and the Confederate flag was upon the high seas! We now slackened our speed, for an instant--only an instant, for my officers and men all had their wits about them, and worked like good fellows--to haul the pilot"s boat alongside, that he might return to the sh.o.r.e. As the gallant young fellow grasped my hand, and shook it warmly, as he descended from the horse-block, he said, "Now, Captain, you are all clear; give her h--ll, and let her go!"
We had now nothing to do, but turn our attention to the enemy. The _Brooklyn_, as we cleared the bar, was about three and a half, or four miles distant; we were therefore just out of reach of her guns, with nothing to spare. Thick volumes of smoke could be seen pouring from the chimneys of both ships; the firemen, and engineers of each evidently doing their best. I called a lieutenant, and directed him to heave the log. He reported our speed to be nine, and a half knots. Loth to believe that we could be making so little way, through the yet turbid waters, which were rushing past us with great apparent velocity, I directed the officer to repeat the experiment; but the same result followed, though he had paid out the line with a free hand. I now sent for the engineer, and, upon inquiry, found that he was doing his very best--"though," said he, "there is a little drawback, just now, in the "foaming" of our boilers, arising from the suddenness with which we got up steam; when this subsides, we may be able to add half a knot more."
The _Brooklyn_ soon loosed, and set her sails, bracing them sharp up on the starboard tack. I loosed and set mine, also. The enemy"s ship was a little on my weather quarter, say a couple of points, and had thus slightly the weather-gauge of me. As I knew I could lay nearer the wind than she, being able to brace my yards sharper, and had besides, the advantage of larger fore-and-aft sails, comparatively, stay-sails, try-sails, and a very large spanker, I resolved at once to hold my wind, so closely, as to compel her to furl her sails, though this would carry me a little athwart her bows, and bring me perhaps a little nearer to her, for the next half hour, or so. A rain squall now came up, and enveloped the two ships, hiding each from the other. As the rain blew off to leeward, and the _Brooklyn_ reappeared, she seemed fearfully near to us, and I began to fear I should realize the foreboding of my lieutenant. I could not but admire the majesty of her appearance, with her broad flaring bows, and clean, and beautiful run, and her masts, and yards, as taunt and square, as those of an old time sailing frigate. The stars and stripes of a large ensign flew out from time to time, from under the lee of her spanker, and we could see an apparently anxious crowd of officers on her quarter-deck, many of them with telescopes directed toward us. She had, evidently, I thought, gained upon us, and I expected every moment to hear the whiz of a shot; but still she did not fire.
I now ordered my paymaster to get his public chest, and papers ready for throwing overboard, if it should become necessary. At this crisis the engineer came up from below, bringing the welcome intelligence that the "foaming" of his boilers had ceased, and that his engine was "working beautifully," giving the propeller several additional turns per minute.
The breeze, too, favored me, for it had freshened considerably; and what was still more to the purpose, I began to perceive that I was "eating" the _Brooklyn_ "out of the wind"; in other words, that she was falling more and more to leeward. I knew, of course, that as soon as she fell into my wake, she would be compelled to furl her sails. This she did in half an hour or so afterward, and I at once began to breathe more freely, for I could still hold on to my own canvas. I have witnessed many beautiful sights at sea, but the most beautiful of them all was when the _Brooklyn_ let fly all her sheets, and halliards, at once, and clewed up, and furled, in man-of-war style, all her sails, from courses to royals. We now began to gain quite perceptibly on our pursuer, and at half-past three, the chase was abandoned, the baffled _Brooklyn_ retracing her steps to Pa.s.s a l"Outre, and the _Sumter_ bounding away on her course seaward.
We fired no gun of triumph in the face of the enemy--my powder was too precious for that--but I sent the crew aloft, to man the rigging, and three such cheers were given for the Confederate flag, "that little bit of striped bunting," that had waved from the _Sumter"s_ peak during the exciting chase, as could proceed only from the throats of American seamen, in the act of defying a tyrant--those cheers were but a repet.i.tion of many such cheers that had been given, by our ancestors, to that other bit of "striped bunting" which had defied the power of England in that olden war, of which our war was but the logical sequence. The reader must not suppose that our anxiety was wholly allayed, as soon as we saw the _Brooklyn_ turn away from us.
[Ill.u.s.tration: The Sumter running the blockade of Pa.s.s a l"Outre by the enemy"s Ship Brooklyn, on the 30th June, 1861.
LITH. BY A. HOEN & CO. BALTO.]
We were, as yet, only a few miles from the land, and our coast was swarming with the enemy"s cruisers. Ship Island was not a great way off, and there was a constant pa.s.sing to and fro, of ships-of-war between that island and the pa.s.ses of the Mississippi, and we might stumble upon one of these at any moment. "Sail ho!" was now shouted from the mast-head.
"Where away!" cried the officer of the deck. "Right ahead," said the look-out. A few minutes only elapsed, and a second sail was descried, "broad on the starboard bow." But nothing came of these spectres; we pa.s.sed on, seaward, without so much as raising either of them from the deck, and finally, the friendly robes of night enveloped us. When we at length realized that we had gained an offing; when we began to feel the welcome heave of the sea; when we looked upon the changing aspect of its waters, now darkening into the deepest blue, and breathed the pure air, fresh from the Gulf, untainted of malaria, and untouched of mosquito"s wing, we felt like so many prisoners who had been turned loose from a long and painful confinement; and when I reflected upon my mission, to strike for the right! to endeavor to sweep from the seas the commerce of a treacherous friend, who had become a cruel and relentless foe, I felt, in full force, the inspiration of the poet:--
"Ours the wild life in tumult still to range, From toil to rest, and joy in every change.
Oh, who can tell? Not thou, luxurious slave, Whose soul would sicken o"er the heaving wave; Not thou, vain lord of wantonness and ease, Whom slumber soothes not--pleasures cannot please; Oh, who can tell, save he whose heart hath tried, And danced in triumph o"er the waters wide, The exulting sense--the pulse"s maddening play, That thrills the wanderer of that trackless way?
* * * * * * * * * Death!
Come when it will--we s.n.a.t.c.h the life of life; When lost--what recks it--by disease or strife?
Let him who crawls, enamored of decay, Cling to his couch, and sicken years away; Heave his thick breath, and shake his palsied head; Ours! the fresh turf, and not the feverish bed; While gasp by gasp he falters forth his soul, Ours, with one pang--one bound--escapes control.
His corpse may boast its wan and narrow cave, And they who loathed his life, may gild his grave: Ours are the tears, though few, sincerely shed, When ocean shrouds and sepulchres our dead."
CHAPTER XII.
BRIEF SKETCH OF THE OFFICERS OF THE SUMTER--HER FIRST PRIZE, WITH OTHER PRIZES, IN QUICK SUCCESSION--HER FIRST PORT.
Captain Poor, the commander of the _Brooklyn_, was greatly censured by his Government, for permitting the escape of the _Sumter_. It was even hinted that there had been treason, in the engine-room of the _Brooklyn_, as one or more of the engineers had been heard to express sentiments favorable to the South. There was no truth, of course, in this report. It had its origin in the brain of a people, who, having become traitors, themselves, to their former principles, were ready to suspect, and to impute treason to every one else. The greatest offence which had been committed by Captain Poor was that he had probably permitted his cupidity to draw him away from his station. He had chased a prize, in his eagerness to clutch the prize-money, a little too far--that was all. But in this, he sinned only in common with his countrymen. The thirst of gain, as well as the malignity of hate, seemed, from the very first days of the war, to have seized upon a majority of the Northern people. The Army, and the Navy, professions. .h.i.therto held honorable, did not escape the contamination.
They were soon found, first plundering, and then maliciously burning private houses. The spectacle of cotton-thieving was more than once presented by the highest dignitaries of the two services--the Admiral quarrelling with the General, as ign.o.ble rogues are wont to quarrel, as to which rightly pertained the booty.
The evening of the escape of the _Sumter_ was one of those Gulf evenings, which can only be _felt_, and not described. The wind died gently away, as the sun declined, leaving a calm, and sleeping sea, to reflect a myriad of stars. The sun had gone down behind a screen of purple, and gold, and to add to the beauty of the scene, as night set in, a blazing comet, whose tail spanned nearly a quarter of the heavens, mirrored itself within a hundred feet of our little bark, as she ploughed her noiseless way through the waters. As I leaned on the carriage of a howitzer on the p.o.o.p of my ship, and cast a glance toward the quarter of the horizon whence the land had disappeared, memory was busy with the events of the last few months.
How hurried, and confused they had been! It seemed as though I had dreamed a dream, and found it difficult, upon waking, to unite the discordant parts. A great government had been broken up, family ties had been severed, and war--grim, ghastly war--was arraying a household against itself. A little while back, and I had served under the very flag which I had that day defied. Strange revolution of feeling, how I now hated that flag! It had been to me as a mistress to a lover; I had looked upon it with admiring eyes, had dallied with it in hours of ease, and had had recourse to it, in hours of trouble, and now I found it false! What wonder that I felt a lover"s resentment?
My first lieutenant now approached me, and touching my elbow, said, "Captain, had we not better throw this howitzer overboard? it can be of no further service to us, and is very much in the way." My waking dream was dissolved, on the instant, and I returned at once to the duties of the ship. I a.s.sented to the lieutenant"s proposition, and in a few minutes more, the p.o.o.p was cleared of the inc.u.mbrance. It was the howitzer--a heavy, awkward, iron field-piece with huge wheels--which we had received on board, when we lay between the forts, as a protection against the enemy"s boats. The rest of the night, to a late hour, was devoted to lashing, and otherwise securing such heavy articles, as were likely to be thrown from their places, by the rolling of the ship; getting the anchors in-board and stowing them, and, generally, in making the ship snug. I turned in after a day of excitement, and slept too soundly to continue the day-dream from which I had been aroused by my first lieutenant.
The sun rose in an unclouded sky, the next morning, with a gentle breeze from the south-west, or about abeam; our course being about south-east.
The look-out at the mast-head, after having carefully scanned the horizon in every direction, informed the officer of the deck, that there was nothing in sight. The awnings were soon spread, and the usual routine of a man-of-war, at sea, commenced. The crew was mustered, in clean apparel, at quarters, at nine o"clock, and a division of guns was exercised, the rest of the crew being dispersed in idle groups about the deck; the old salts overhauling their bags, and seeing that their tobacco, and soap, and needles, and thread were all right for the cruise, and the youngsters discussing their recent escape. At noon, we found ourselves in lat.i.tude 26 18", and longitude 87 23". I had provided myself with two excellent chronometers, before leaving New Orleans, and having had much experience as a master, I was always enabled, when the sun was visible, at the proper hours, to fix my position within from a quarter, to half a mile, or, what is the same thing, within from one to two seconds of time. I appointed my junior lieutenant, navigating officer, _pro forma_, but always navigated my ship, myself. I had every confidence in the ability of my young lieutenant, but I always found, that I slept better, when surrounded by danger, after I had fixed the position of my ship, by my own observations.
We held on our course, during the rest of this day, without the least incident to break in upon the monotony--not so much as a sail having been descried in any direction; not that we were in want of excitement, for we had scarcely regained our equilibrium from the excitement of the previous day. An occasional swash of the sea against the ship"s sides, the monotonous beating of time by her propeller, an occasional order from the officer of the deck, and the routine "calls" of the boatswain"s whistle, as dinner, or grog was piped, were the only sounds audible, beyond the usual hum of conversation among the crew.
If the reader will permit me, I will avail myself of this interval of calm before the storm, to introduce to him some of my officers. This is indeed but a courtesy due him, as he is to be a pa.s.senger in our midst. On the afternoon of our escape from the _Brooklyn_, the officers of the ward-room were kind enough to invite me to drink a gla.s.s of wine with them, in honor of our success, and I will avail myself of this occasion, to make the presentations. I am seated at one end of the long mess-table, and my first lieutenant at the other. The first lieutenant, as the reader has already been informed, by an inspection of the _Sumter"s_ muster-roll, is from Georgia. John McIntosh Kell is a descendant from one of the oldest families in that State, having the blood of the McIntoshes in his veins, through one branch of his ancestors. He was bred in the old Navy, and my acquaintance with him commenced when he was in trouble. He was serving as a pa.s.sed midshipman, on board the old sailing sloop _Albany_, and being ordered, on one occasion, to perform what he considered a menial duty, he resisted the order. Some of his brother pa.s.sed midshipmen were in the same category. A court-martial resulted, and, at the request of the young gentlemen, I defended them. The relation of counsel, and client, as a matter of course, brought us close together, and I discovered that young Kell had in him, the making of a man. So far from being a mutineer, he had a high respect for discipline, and had only resisted obedience to the order in question, from a refined sense of gentlemanly propriety. The reader will see these qualities in him, now, as he sits opposite me. He has developed since the time I speak of, into the tall, well-proportioned gentleman, of middle age, with brown, wavy hair, and a magnificent beard, inclining to red. See how scrupulously neat he is dressed, and how suave, and affable he is, with his a.s.sociates. His eye is now beaming gentleness, and kindness. You will scarcely recognize him, as the same man, when you see him again on deck, arraigning some culprit, "at the mast," for a breach of discipline. When Georgia seceded, Lieutenant Kell was well on his way to the commander"s list, in the old Navy, but he would have scorned the commission of an admiral, if it had been tendered him as the price of treason to his State. To have brought a Federal ship into the waters of Georgia, and ravaged her coasts, and fired upon her people, would have been, in his eyes, little less than matricide. He forthwith resigned his commission, and joined his fortunes with those of his people.
When it was decided, at Montgomery, that I was to have the _Sumter_, I at once thought of Kell, and, at my request, he was ordered to the ship--Commodore Tattnall, with whom he had been serving on the Georgia coast, giving him up very reluctantly.
Seated next to myself, on my right hand, is Lieutenant Robert T. Chapman.
This gentleman is from Alabama; he is several years younger than Kell, not so tall, but stouter, in proportion. His complexion, as you see, is dark, and he has jet-black hair, and eyes--the latter remarkable for their brilliancy, and for a twinkle of fun, and good humor. Chapman is the life of the mess-table; always in a pleasant mood, and running over with wit and anecdote. Though he has a fashion, as you see, of wearing his hair closely cropped, he is the very reverse of a round-head, being a _preux chevalier_, as ready for the fight as the dance, and having a decided preference for the music of the band, over that of "Old Hundred." He is the second lieutenant, and has, consequently, the easiest berth among the sea lieutenants, being relieved from the drudgery of the first lieutenant, and exempt from the calls for extra duty, that are sometimes made upon the junior lieutenant. When his watch is over, and his division drilled, he is a gentleman at large, for the rest of the day. You see by his build--a slight inclination to corpulency--that he is fond of his ease, and that he has fallen as naturally into the place of second lieutenant, as if it had been cut out for him on purpose. He also was bred in the old Navy, and was found to be of the pure metal, instead of the dross, when the touchstone of secession came to be applied to separate the one from the other.
At Lieutenant Kell"s right hand, sits Lieutenant John M. Stribling, the third lieutenant, and a native of the glorious little State of South Carolina. He is of medium height, somewhat spare in build, with brown hair, and whiskers, and mild and expressive blue eyes; the mildness of the eye only dwelling in it, however, in moments of repose. When excited at the thought of wrong, or oppression, it has a peculiar stare of firmness, as much as to say,
"This rock shall fly, From its firm base as soon as I."