At half past eight o’clock A.M. on the sixteenth this transport got a fair start, after remaining over night inside the breakwater at Cape Henlopen, proceeding down the coast in sight of land during the day and running out to sea at night until Key West was reached at two o’clock on the afternoon of the twenty-third. The vessel struck on Fernandina Shoals, on the twentieth, about four o’clock in the morning; fortunately no damage was done, although boats were got ready to cast off in case of necessity. Leaving Key West at nine o’clock A.M. on the twenty-sixth, bound direct for Ship Island for orders, the transport arrived there at seven o’clock P.M., December 29th, proceeding to New Orleans early next morning (four o’clock), two hours later running aground and remaining for a few minutes, off Chandeleur Light; made Pass L’Outre, mouth of the Mississippi, at four o’clock in the afternoon, arriving at New Orleans at two o’clock A.M., January 1st.
Ordered forthwith to Galveston, the transport left New Orleans at four o’clock in the morning, January 2d, and anchored at South-West Pass for the night, about five o’clock in the afternoon. On the third, at six o’clock A.M., the voyage was continued, but after a five hours run gunboat Clifton hailed the Charles Osgood and ordered her back to New Orleans, because Galveston was lost. She again reached that city at three o’clock P.M. on the fourth.
Companies E and K were disembarked at Carrollton on the afternoon of January 5th, and reported to Lieutenant-Colonel Stedman, in command of Companies A, B and F, in camp at Camp Mansfield. Five companies of the regiment were now united after a month’s separation by the sea. Greetings were cordial and heartfelt. The Charles Osgood was twenty-six days making the voyage from Sandy Hook to New Orleans, although the men had to live on board for thirty-three days.
The Shetucket was another unfortunate transport, with a tedious passage. She went to sea on the morning of December 6th. The men had embarked during the day of December 3d, proceeding down the bay to Sandy Hook on the morning of the fifth, when Captain Philo B. Huntley, in command of the steamer, was obliged to seek shelter until a snow-storm, then raging, had somewhat abated.
The officers on board were: Major Stiles in command; Captain Leonard, Lieutenants White and Sanderson, of Company C; Lieutenants Phillips and Gould, of Company H; and Lieutenant Duncan, Company F, detailed to act as commissary. Captain Bailey, Company H, had been granted a two hours furlough on shore for the express purpose of obtaining oil to counteract the effect of salt water upon the muskets, and taken with him acting Commissary-Sergeant Wentworth, Company G. They failed to report on board at the limitation of time, but took passage for New Orleans on the North Star, conveying the Forty-First Massachusetts Infantry, General Banks and staff. The North Star left New York December 4th, before the Shetucket left her anchorage in the river. Captain Bailey did not assume command of his company until January 12th. He and Wentworth arrived in New Orleans December 15th. Wentworth was ordered to join his company on the Saxon. No hospital accommodations was upon the transport, and no medicines, except what meagre supplies were obtained by Major Stiles at Fortress Munroe and Hilton Head. Private Thomas M. Lewis, Company D, enlisted from Roxbury, a man forty-five years old, and a friend of Surgeon Cummings, was detailed to act as surgeon. He was familiarly known as “old salts,” a nickname given by the men, suggested by a rule he invariably followed of prescribing a dose of salts to about every man who complained of sickness.
The Shetucket was an old two-masted propeller freight boat, plying between New York and New London. A false deck-house of unsound lumber had been built upon her main deck, covering the whole vessel from bow to stern; in this deck-house bunks were built to accommodate near two hundred men, and cooking apparatus placed. In a rough sea every wave that struck her sides would send salt water into the bunks, so much so that when the water was rough very few men would occupy them; those that did arranged rubber blankets for what protection they would afford. All of the accommodations were extremely poor. Sailing orders were the same as on other transports; no one on board knew their destination until after leaving Key West, except Major Stiles, Captain Huntley, and Captain Leonard. This commendable secrecy was observed upon all four of the transports that conveyed the Forty-Second.
Slow progress was made by this vessel when at sea. On the third night, December 8th, Major Stiles retired early, worn out with loss of sleep, leaving the command with Captain Leonard, and Lieutenant White on duty as officer of the guard. About eight o’clock Lieutenant Gould, conversing with Lieutenant White, remarked that if the captain kept on in the direction he was going the vessel would be ashore, as he knew the course steered was wrong from his experience and knowledge, obtained while serving upon a Baltimore steamer. White paid no special attention to what Gould said, and it does not appear that the attention of Major Stiles was called to the matter. Lieutenants White and Phillips were engaged in a game of cards in the cabin about nine o’clock when a sudden shock was felt, bringing them to their feet in an instant. Another shock followed immediately, and on the deck they went, when another was felt, each one shaking the vessel from bow to stern. The sky was clear, the sea tolerably smooth, and the shore could be seen distinctly about one-half a mile away. There were two boats (one large and one small) upon the Shetucket; the large boat was not sea-worthy, while the small boat was capable of carrying three men. The old sailors (there were many in Companies C and H) were sharp at work trying to launch them. Captain Leonard sought the major, who sprang from his berth on the grating sound awakening him, and was dressing, and said: “The men have mutinied, and are all on deck. The officers of the boat up in the rigging assailed by the men and dare not come down, and the boat is aground; for God’s sake, come on deck.”
There was the usual commotion and confusion incident to such occasions, and the major, half-dressed, was met by Lieutenant Phillips at the head of the companion-way, who handed him a rope saying: “Make yourself fast major, or you will be washed overboard.”
Lieutenant White drove men away from the boats, not until Sergeant Henry Mann kicked a hole in one of them, and remarked as he did so: “Only the officers can use it.” They then went for the hatchway, broke it open, and commenced work on what little cargo there was aboard; for what reason it is difficult to understand, unless to obtain material to float upon in case it was necessary to take to the water as the only means of escape, or to lighten the vessel. This was soon stopped. Major Stiles ordered the men to their quarters below, answered by a chorus of voices shouting: “We will be d—d if we will.” A persuader in shape of a couple of cocked revolvers, with a determination to shoot the first man who refused to obey his order, settled the business in a very short time, and they went below.
Captain Huntley came down from aloft and informed the officers his vessel was on Hog Island Shoals. For half an hour all attempts to back off ended in failure, until a long, ocean swell lifted her bow, when she floated into deep water. An examination of the hold proved that the ship was making water slowly—not enough to be dangerous, as the pumps, when set to work, were found able to control it. Her rudder was sprung, two flukes were gone from the propeller, and two of her keel planks had been smashed. The Shetucket proceeded on, and reached Fortress Munroe next day.