The Consul was foiled; but he was a man of courage, and resolved to strike another blow for the Sea-Bride. He next charged that the prize-master had brought her within the marine league after her capture. He made this charge upon the strength of another affidavit—that ready resource of the enemy when in difficulty. Enclosing this affidavit to the Governor, he wrote as follows:—
“From the affidavit of the first officer, it appears that the alleged prize was brought within one mile and a half of Green Point lighthouse, yesterday, at one o’clock A. M. Now, as the vessel was, at the time, in charge of a prize-crew, it was a violation of neutrality, as much as if the capture had been made at the same distance from the land.”
And he required that the ship should be seized.
Without stopping to inquire into the truth of the fact stated, the Governor directed his Secretary to reply, that—
“His Excellency is not prepared to admit that the fact of a vessel having been brought, by the prize-crew, within one and a half mile of the Green Point lighthouse ‘was a violation of the neutrality, as much as if the capture had taken place at the same distance from the land,’ although both the belligerents are prohibited from bringing their prizes into British ports. The Governor does not feel warranted in taking steps for the removal of the prize-crew from the Sea-Bride.”
CHAPTER XLVII.
A GALE AT CAPE TOWN—ALABAMA GETS UNDER WAY FOR SIMON’S TOWN—CAPTURE OF THE MARTHA WENZELL—THE TUSCALOOSA; HER STATUS AS SHIP OF WAR CONSIDERED—THE TUSCALOOSA PROCEEDS TO SEA—THE ALABAMA FOLLOWS HER—THEY, WITH THE SEA-BRIDE, RENDEZVOUS AT ANGRA PEQUENA.
Having brushed away Mr. Seward’s gadfly, as described in the last chapter, we may turn our attention again to the Alabama. On the 7th of August, we took one of the gales so common at the Cape, in the winter season. Dense banks of black clouds hove up in the north-west, soon overspreading the whole heavens, and the wind came out whistling from that quarter. The reader must bear in mind, that when he crossed into the southern hemisphere he reversed the points of the compass, so far as wind and weather are concerned, and that the north-wester, at the Cape of Good Hope, answers to our south-easter, on the American coast—bringing with it thick, rainy weather. There was a number of ships in the harbor, and the gale drove in upon them without the least protection. These ships, forewarned by the usual signs, had all struck their upper masts, sent down their yards, and let go second anchors, and veered to long scopes. We did the same in the Alabama.