Instantly preparations began for a run to sea. It was a hopeless attempt in the eyes of one of her lieutenants, for he had been on the Brooklyn, and thought her the faster ship; but Semmes was a daredevil who would “make a spoon or spoil a horn.” As they approached the bar the Brooklyn was seen coming, and she was but four miles away when the Sumter crossed the bar. But she did not overhaul the Sumter. There was a fresh breeze, and both ships made sail. The Sumter had large fore and aft sails, which enabled her, when they were set, to lie closer to the wind than the Brooklyn could do, and the Sumter fairly ran her out of sight.
As the pilot left the Sumter at the bar he said to Semmes: “Now, Captain, you are all clear; give her h-ll and let her go,” and that is just what Semmes did after “this bold and dashing adventure,” as Porter calls it. Going to the south coast of Cuba, he fell in with his first prize, a ship called the Golden Rocket, “from the Black Republican State of Maine.” A gun—the first fired by any Confederate naval officer afloat—brought her to, with the American flag flying. She was found to be in ballast, and was, of course, burned. Her flag was marked with her name and the date of capture, and stowed in a bag, where many others came to keep it company, for Semmes saved all the flags he captured, and when the Alabama was at last shot from under his feet he says: “I committed to the keeping of the guardian spirits of that famous battle ground a great many bags full of ‘old flags,’ to be stowed away in the caves of the sea as mementoes that a nation once lived whose naval officers loved liberty more than the false memorial of it, and who were capable, when it became ‘Hate’s polluted rag,’ of tearing it down.”
Within three days Semmes captured five American vessels, three of which he determined to carry into a Cuban port. On the fourth day, being then off Cienfuegos, he saw three more come out, and by hoisting false colors he disguised his ship so that they all proceeded on their courses until a marine league or more from the coast, when they were captured, and all taken into port. Semmes hoped that he should be able to sell them as prizes, but the Cuban authorities, after proper consideration, refused to allow this to be done.
In explanation of the refusal it should be said that when England declared in favor of granting the South belligerent rights, orders were issued that “required every ship-of-war or privateer of either belligerent which should enter British waters to depart within twenty-four hours afterwards, except in case of stress of weather, or of her requiring provisions, or things necessary for the subsistence of her crew, or repairs. In either of these cases she was to put to sea as soon after the expiration of the twenty-four hours as possible, taking in no supplies beyond what might be necessary for immediate use, and no more coal than would carry her to the nearest port of her own country, or some nearer destination. Nor, after coaling once in British waters, was she to be suffered to coal again within three months unless by special permission.” These orders were very annoying to the North, because when made, the Confederates had not a single ship of any kind afloat. It was simply excluding United States warships from what had once been friendly ports. On the other hand, the determination that no prizes should be sold in British ports was a hardship upon the South, because it prevented the Southern cruisers, that were eventually sent afloat, disposing of their prizes. Because of it the South did not sell a single prize, for the other nations followed England’s lead in this matter. But, on the whole, it must be said that while England’s attitude toward the cruisers of the two belligerents was, by the letter of the law, that of strict neutrality, the operation of this neutrality was a much greater hardship to the North than to the South, considered as national governments. The crews of the Confederate cruisers failed to get any prize money, but they could “sink, burn, and destroy ad lib.” They were about as great a menace to American commerce as if they had been getting prize money. There is now no disputing the oft-repeated assertion that England managed to maintain a neutrality that should help the South and hurt the North as much as was possible without causing open war with the United States.
Having failed to get his prizes sold in Cuba, because Spain had followed England in refusing to allow such sales in her ports, Semmes took another prize, the Abby Bradford, to Puerto Cabello, Venezuela, hoping to find a market there. He says of this attempt:
“All these small South American towns are, more or less, dependent upon American trade. The New England States and New York supply them with their domestic cottons, flour, bacon, and notions; sell them all their worthless old muskets, and damaged ammunition, and now and then, smuggle out a small craft to them, for naval purposes. The American Consul, who is also a merchant, represents not only those ‘grand moral ideas,’ that characterize our Northern people, but Sand’s sarsaparilla, and Smith’s wooden clocks. He is, par excellence, the big dog of the village. The big dog was present on the present occasion, looking portentous and savage, and when he ope’d his mouth, all the little dogs were silent. Of course, the poor Sumter, anchored away off in the bay, could have no chance before so august an assemblage.”
The Abby Bradford was ordered to New Orleans, but the Powhatan, Capt. D. D. Porter, captured her.
The Sumter was at Puerto Cabello on July 26th. She had taken nine prizes cruising in the island region of the Caribbean Sea. To follow her in all the details of her voyage would be monotonous. The reader can find the story in full, even to the number of ladies who showered their favors upon the Confederate captain, for Semmes was so proud of all of his conquests as to omit none. She was usually under sail, but used coal in chasing, and was able to renew her supply at Trinidad as well as other ports.
Meantime Semmes had been carrying a considerable number of merchant seamen to abide the fate of the crew of the Savannah (privateer) who were held for trial in New York on a charge of piracy. Semmes informed these merchant seamen that he should hang them if the Savannah’s crew were executed, and he says himself he should have done so, but does not tell by what process of reasoning he concluded it would be right to retaliate on men not engaged in warring against the Confederacy.
From Trinidad the Sumter went down the Brazil coast to Maranham, and thence to a point near the equator, where homeward-bound American ships from South America crossed, and then back to the Caribbean Sea islands, where, eventually, at St. Pierre, she was blockaded by the Iroquois. The Iroquois’ captain made a mistake. He arranged with an American shipmaster in the harbor to hoist signals, in case the Sumter sailed at night, to tell what course she was steering from the open roadstead. The signals were duly hoisted as Semmes started away south, but Semmes saw and understood them, and after running a mile or two with the Iroquois making all steam to head him off, he turned around and ran away to the north and escaped.