Patient. 'Please, sir, I've got pains all over me.'
C. 'Oh, all over you, are they; that's bad.'
Then, during the pause, it was evident something was being mixed up, and I could hear C—— say: 'Here, take this, and come again in the evening.' (Exit patient.) Then C. said to himself: 'I don't think he'll come again; he has got two drops of the croton. Skulking rascal, pains all over him, eh!' I never heard the voice of that patient again; in fact, after a short time we had no cases of sickness on board. C—— explained to me that the only medicine he served out, as he called it, was croton oil; and that none of the crew came twice for treatment.
Never having run through the blockade as the commander of a vessel (though he was with me all the time and had as much to do with our luck as I had), he was naturally very anxious to get safely through. There can be no doubt that the vessel had lost much of her speed, for she had been very hardly pushed on several occasions. This told sadly against her, as the result will show. On the third afternoon after leaving Nassau she was in a good position for attempting the run when night came on. She was moving stealthily about waiting for the evening, when suddenly, on the weather, which had been hitherto thick and hazy, clearing up, she saw a cruiser unpleasantly near to her, which bore down under steam and sail, and it soon became probable that the poor little 'D——n's' twin screws would not save her this time, well and often as they had done so before.
The cruiser, a large full-rigged corvette, was coming up hand over hand, carrying a strong breeze, and the days of the 'D——n' seemed numbered, when C—— tried a ruse worthy of any of the heroes of naval history.
The wind, as I said, was very fresh, with a good deal of sea running. On came the cruiser till the 'D——n' was almost under her bows, and shortened sail in fine style. The moment the men were in the rigging, going aloft to furl the sails, C—— put his plan into execution. He turned his craft head to wind, and steamed deliberately past the corvette at not fifty yards' distance. She, with great way on, went nearly a quarter of a mile before she could turn.
I have it from good authority that the order was not given to the marines on the man-of-war's poop to fire at the plucky little craft who had so fairly out-manœuvred the cruiser, for out-manœuvred she was to all intents and purposes. The two or three guns that had been cast loose during the chase had been partially secured, and left so while the men had gone aloft to furl the sails, so that not a shot was fired as she went past. Shortly after she had done so, however, the cruiser opened fire with her bow guns, but with the sea that was running it could do no harm, being without any top weights. The 'D——n' easily dropped the corvette with her heavy spars astern, and was soon far ahead; so much so that when night came on the cruiser was shut out of sight in the darkness.
After this the 'D——n' deserved to escape, but it was otherwise fated. The next morning when day broke she was within three miles of one of the new fast vessels, which had come out on her trial trip, flying light, alas! She had an opportunity of trying her speed advantageously to herself. She snapped up the poor 'D——n' in no time, and took her into the nearest port. I may mention that the 'D——n' and her captain were well known and much sought after by the American cruisers. The first remark that the officer made on coming aboard her was: 'Well, Captain Roberts, so we have caught you at last!' and he seemed much disappointed when he was told that the captain they so particularly wanted went home in the last mail. The corvette which had chased and been cheated by the 'D——n' the day before was lying in the port into which she was taken. Her captain, when he saw the prize, said: 'I must go on board and shake hands with the gallant fellow who commands that vessel!' and he did so, warmly complimenting C—— on the courage he had shown, thus proving that he could appreciate pluck, and that American naval men did not look down on blockade-running as a grievous sin, hard work as it gave them in trying to put a stop to it. They were sometimes a little severe on men who, after having been fairly caught in a chase at sea, wantonly destroyed their compasses, chronometers, &c., rather than let them fall into the hands of the cruiser's officers. I must say that I was always prepared, had I been caught, to have made the best of things, to have given the officers who came to take possession all that they had fairly gained by luck having declared on their side, and to have had a farewell glass of champagne with the new tenant at the late owner's expense. The treatment received by persons captured engaged in running the blockade differed very materially. If a bonâ fide American man-of-war of the old school made the capture, they were always treated with kindness by their captors. But there were among the officers of vessels picked up hurriedly and employed by the Government a very rough lot, who rejoiced in making their prisoners as uncomfortable as possible. They seemed to have only one good quality, and this was that there were among them many good freemasons, and frequently a prisoner found the advantage of having been initiated into the brotherhood.
The 'D——n's' crew fell into very good hands, and till they arrived at New York were comfortable enough; but the short time they spent in prison there, while the vessel was undergoing the mockery of a trial in the Admiralty Court, was far from pleasant. However, it did not last very long—not more than ten days; and as soon as they were free most of them went back to Nassau or Bermuda ready for more work. C—— came to England and told me all his troubles. Poor fellow! I am afraid his services were not half appreciated as they ought to have been, for success, in blockade-running as in everything else, is a virtue, whereas bad luck, even though accompanied with the pluck of a hero, is always more or less a crime not to be forgiven.