CONTENTS
| [I.] | England and the Blockade |
| [II.] | Escape of the “290” |
| [III.] | Arming at the Azores |
| [IV.] | Semmes and His Officers |
| [V.] | Destruction of the Whalers |
| [VI.] | Burning the Grain Fleet |
| [VII.] | Settling a “Yankee Hash” |
| [VIII.] | Off Duty Amusements |
| [IX.] | Dodging the San Jacinto |
| [X.] | Capture of the Ariel |
| [XI.] | Recreation at Arcas Keys |
| [XII.] | Fight with the Hatteras |
| [XIII.] | Escape from the Gulf of Mexico |
| [XIV.] | In Ambush on the Highway |
| [XV.] | Admiral Wilkes Is Mistaken |
| [XVI.] | Strewing the Sea with Valuables |
| [XVII.] | Hide and Seek with the Vanderbilt |
| [XVIII.] | Palsied Commerce in the Far East |
| [XIX.] | A New Adversary |
| [XX.] | Battle with the Kearsarge |
| [XXI.] | Conclusion |
CRUISE AND CAPTURES OF THE ALABAMA.
CHAPTER I.
ENGLAND AND THE BLOCKADE.
In the decade preceding the Civil War in America the carrying trade of the United States had grown into a vast industry. The hardy seamen of New England had flung out the stars and stripes to every breeze, and cast anchor in the most remote regions where a paying cargo might be found. Up to October, 1862, they hardly felt that they had more at stake in the war of the Rebellion than any other loyal citizens. But in that month the news swept along the seaboard that the Alabama lay within a few days’ sail of their harbors, dealing out swift vengeance upon all Northern vessels which came in her way.
Whether or not the decline of American shipping is principally due to unwise legislation, certain it is that its downfall dates from the appearance in the mid-Atlantic of this awful scourge of the seas. Northern newspapers called the craft a pirate, and no other word seemed to the New England sea captains adequate to describe the ruthless destroyer. Although regularly commissioned by the Confederate government, she never entered a Confederate port from the time she left the stocks until she tried conclusions with the Kearsarge off the coast of France; and this, together with the further fact that her crew was chiefly of European origin—largely English—was used as an argument that she could not be considered as a legitimate vessel of war. None of the great nations of the world adopted this view, however, and she was everywhere accorded the same treatment that was extended to war vessels of the United States.