Our position at noon—writes Captain Semmes—put us just within thirty miles of Galveston, and I stood on, intending either just to sight the shipping at a great distance, without being seen myself, or else to anchor just out of sight until the moon should rise the following night, which would be about half-past eleven, and then run in, and attack, as I hoped, "Banks' expedition." Owing, however, to a little carelessness in the look-out at "masthead," we were permitted to approach the ships anchored off the bar in such plain sight, before they were announced, that we were discovered, although we tacked immediately and stood off, in the hopes of eluding the vigilance of the enemy.
There were three ships found lying off the bar—one heavily-sparred ship, which our look-out took for a sail frigate, but which afterwards proved to be the Brooklyn steamer, our old friend that chased us in the Sumter, and two steamers supposed to be propellers. Very soon one of the steamers was seen to be getting up steam, and in about an hour and a half afterwards she was reported to be under weigh, standing out for us.
I lowered the propeller, and directed steam to be got in readiness, and awaited the approach of the stranger, who overhauled us very slowly, and seemed to reconnoitre us, as he came along, with great caution.
All this time we were standing on under topsails away from the bar, and the stranger was approaching us stern on. I gave my ship a little motion with the engine occasionally, both to draw the enemy—for I, of course, supposed him to be such—away from his consorts, so that in case of a conflict the latter might not hear our guns, and to prolong the time until dark to enable me to take in my topsails, and close with him in so short a time that the movement should not be noticed by him until too late to escape, which I feared he might attempt, if he saw me turn upon him with the intention of pursuing him.
Accordingly, soon after dark—the enemy in the meantime having approached us so near as not to endanger our losing sight of him—I clewed up, and furled the topsails, beat to quarters, and doubled suddenly upon the stranger. He came in quite boldly, and when within hailing distance of us, hailed us, and inquired—
"What ship is that?"
"Her Majesty's ship Petrel. What ship's that?"
To this inquiry there was no reply, and although we repeated it several times there was no rejoinder.
During the colloquy, I endeavoured to place myself in a raking position astern of him, which he as carefully avoided by keeping his broadside to me. From this manoeuvre I knew him pretty certainly to be an enemy, and having approached to within about two hundred yards, I directed my First Lieutenant to repeat the question. "What ship's that?" was accordingly again shouted, and this time there was a reply.
We distinctly heard that he was an United States something or other, but the name we could not make out. I then directed the First Lieutenant to tell him that this was the Confederate States steamer Alabama, and to open fire on him immediately, which we did from our starboard battery. He returned our fire in a minute or two, and the action was thus commenced.