One of the funny incidents of this adventure was Lieutenant Sanderson appearing on deck with a patent rubber pillow, for use in case of shipwreck, at that period sold extensively in New York City, so fixed about his body near the hips that if he should have been washed overboard it would be difficult, if not impossible, to keep either head or feet above water. The lieutenant was obliged to hear many sharp jokes on this account the remainder of the trip.
At Fortress Munroe the vessel was ordered to Norfolk for necessary repairs, arriving in the evening at six o’clock. In passing Craney Island on the way to Norfolk they came to a blockade of piles with bare room enough for a vessel to pass through, and a gunboat on guard. In answer to a hail from this gunboat a dare-devil in Company H shouted in reply: “Go to h—ll!” an answer that aroused the anger of Mr. gunboat commander, who threatened to blow them to pieces. Apologies were of no avail; a demand was made for the man who made the insulting reply, but no one would point him out. The affair calmed down and the Shetucket went on her way.
The men disembarked, quartered in the Seamen’s Bethel on West Wide Water Street, and gave their officers considerable trouble by pranks they carried on while in the city. General Vialle at one time threatened to send a battery and fire into them; they made so much disturbance ringing the church bell. During their stay Privates Luke Armstrong and Alexander B. Ralsea, Company H, were taken sick and placed in the general hospital; neither men rejoined the regiment during its term of service. Private Ralsea was mustered out of service at Fortress Munroe, for disability, May 27th.
Repairs finished, on the afternoon of December 21st the Shetucket proceeded to sea, making very slow time, and ran short of coal and water, causing Captain Huntley to bear up for Hilton Head. In the attempt to make that port he ran into the blockading squadron off Charleston, S. C., at three A.M. on the twenty-fifth, sailing a direct course for Fort Sumter, when hailed by war-vessel Powhattan, whose crew were beat to quarters, with a command: “Stop, or I will sink you!” The naval officers were out of temper, and used strong language to Captain Huntley for his stupidity, intimating that he deserved sinking, and would have got it but for the troops on board. Anchor was dropped at Hilton Head in the afternoon at half-past five o’clock.
The next day, twenty-sixth, an affair happened that threatened serious consequences to one of the participators. Coal schooner J. G. Babcock was alongside coaling the steamer. For some time the men had been chaffing the schooner’s crew in a good-natured manner, and when a drummer-boy of Company H began to climb the rigging he was ordered down by the sailing-master, who was in an angry mood. This drummer paid no attention to the order until the master sprang into the rigging to force the boy back. He was coming down as the officer passed up, and was kicked by the latter a few times in the head. That was enough to make the men furious. Seizing lumps of coal they began to hurl the missiles into the rigging, uttering threats to kick him overboard if he came down, and frightened the officer to such an extent that he dare not do so, but kept on going up to the crosstrees with an intention of coming down on the other side of the mast. Privates John Davis, Company H, Con. Dougherty, William Cook and Joseph Cole, Company C, and others, all rough fighters, jumped on board the schooner and were in the rigging on that side to get at him, when Lieutenant White, whose personal courage no one ever had occasion to doubt, sprang to the schooner’s deck ordering them down. All of the company officers then got these men aboard the Shetucket, and the Babcock’s crew cut the ropes, letting her drift away to a safe distance. On the twenty-seventh another schooner finished coaling.
As water was scarce at Hilton Head, the Shetucket was ordered to Beaufort to replenish water casks, doing so on Sunday, the twenty-eighth. With a few hours to spare while at Beaufort, Major Stiles decided to give the men leave of absence on shore until five o’clock P.M., for at that hour the tide would serve to proceed to sea. Thoroughly disgusted with the Shetucket, the men held a mass meeting in a square of the town during the day and voted not to go on board the old boat again. A committee was appointed to notify Major Stiles of their decision; this committee attending to that duty between two and three o’clock in the afternoon. No time was to be lost if the men were to be got aboard that day in season to sail. The quality and temper of the men was such, that any attempt to persuade them was useless and merely involved loss of valuable time. Major Stiles called upon the provost-marshal, informed him of the situation and asked his assistance, which he was willing to give if the major would assume all responsibility if trouble ensued. Of course this was done.
With about one hundred cavalry-men and seventy-five infantry the provost-marshal, almost at the point of the bayonet and sabre, it might be said, drove the men slowly toward the wharf, and every man but one (a member of Company H) was got aboard at the appointed time. The missing man was asleep in a house and overlooked, but found next morning, brought down to Hilton Head and put aboard. On casting off and reaching the channel, the provost-guard was saluted with many forcible compliments, such as can only be given by men in a like situation.
It is not surprising such an incipient mutiny should have occurred when all the circumstances of the case are considered: an old, unseaworthy boat; indifferently officered, manned and equipped; consuming days of valuable time to make a comparatively short voyage; liable to founder, if caught in a heavy gale; not able to make over four knots an hour at her best speed. The regimental officers consider it creditable that the men bore their hardships patiently so long as they did.
Sailing from Hilton Head on the twenty-ninth, the steamer arrived at Key West January 2d, 1863, for provisions. There was much amusement on board when the U. S. gunboat Sagamore hailed them in the afternoon of the day they went into Key West, and the officer in charge of her deck, when informed what day the vessel left New York, replied: “Where in h—ll have you been all this time?”
Lieutenant Duncan, who was sea-sick whenever at sea, had a penchant for collecting leaves and flowers wherever a landing was made, placing them between leaves of books to press, and thus preserve them. While at Key West some wags among the officers, who were ashore strolling around, conceived the idea of carrying on board an appropriate sample of the product of the soil. A huge cactus plant was obtained, taken aboard, and presented to Lieutenant Duncan to press and preserve. He had to stand many a joke about that cactus for a long time.