"14th, 1.30 A.M. Gave chase to a sail on
lee-bow. 2.30 A.M., fired a gun for her to
heave to. Darkness prevented us knowing who
she was, so I went on board to examine her
papers, and which, if Yankee, I was to signal it
and heave to until daylight. What I did on
boarding this vessel was the course usually
adopted in taking prizes. Pulling under his
stern I saw it was the whaling ship Benjamin
Tucker, of and from New Bedford. Gaining
the quarter-deck, I was welcomed with
out- stretched hands. In answer to my questions,
the captain told me her name, port of registry,
&c. &c., of all which I was previously aware.
I then told him that he was a prize to the
Confederate States steamer Alabama, ordering him
to put his clothes in one trunk, allowing the
mates and men one bag each— all navigation
books and instruments being left behind. At
daylight sent the captain and crew with the
ship's papers and luggage to the Alabama. I
then examined the ship, and finding some cases
of stores, they were transferred to our ship.
The preparations to fire her were soon made, so
that after seeing her well fired we pushed off
and regained our vessel, the prisoners (Yankees)
being placed in single irons."

Two days afterwards, a schooner having been
captured, the crew was taken out and put on
shore, when, says the Alabama's acting master's
mate, " we stood out to sea and made a target of
prize. After some creditable shooting we burnt
her." Next day an American whaler was taken
and burnt. Next day a barque from New
Bedford was taken and burnt; so that nine vessels
were captured and burnt by the Alabama in the
first month of her cruising.

On the third of October capture was made of
the ship Brilliant, of New York, on her way to
Liverpool, with a cargo of grain and flour.
Capture had already been made on the same
morning of an American vessel, the Emily
Farnum, with a cargo found to be neutral.
All prisoners were, therefore, put on board the
Emily Farnum, and she was sent on her voyage
to Liverpool. But the Brilliant, with all the
corn in her, was burnt. " It seemed," said the
diarist, " a fearful thing to burn such a cargo as
the Brilliant had, when I thought how the operatives
in the cotton districts would have danced
with joy had they it shared amongst them." And
then he adds: "This evening, quite unexpectedly,
we were called to general quarters, going through
all the evolutions in quite a masterly manner.
Sounded fire-alarm, manned pumps as for a
leak, called away boarders, and went through
everything expected to be done in action. After
this, every Friday evening, when practicable,
was set apart for general quarters." Three
days later, another vessel, with a large cargo of
grain and flour, The Wave Crest, of New York,
bound to Cardiff, was captured. Her captain
asserted that the cargo was English, but as he
had no papers to prove it she was made a prize.
Crew having been transferred, all hands were
called to quarter, and there were two rounds of
shell-firing at the prize before she was burnt.
On the same day, before midnight, an American
brigantine, the Dunkirk, also flour laden, was
added to the number of the victims, and among
the crew of the Dunkirk was taken one George
Forrest, who was recognised by a seaman on
board the Alabama as a deserter from the
Confederate States steamer Sumter. Two
days afterwards, a grain-laden Philadelphia ship,
the Tonawanda, was captured, and a
court-martial was held on George Forrest, the
sentence being ' that all pay, prize-money, &c., due
to him be forfeited; that he fulfil his term of
service, and forfeit all pay, excepting such as is
sufficient to provide necessary clothing and
liberty money.' " Of this man, the officer's
diary records that, about a month later, he
slipped down a cable, swam to a boat, and
returned on board with a great quantity of spirits,
"and handed it round to the crew, and all
unknown to a single officer, he not tasting a drop
himself— thus showing that his aim was to cause
a mutiny on board. Those of the men that were
inflated, or rather infuriated, with liquor, were
placed in double irons, with a few exceptions;
these, in addition to irons, were gagged, and
bucket after bucket of water thrown over them,
until they became partially sober. A short time
previously one man had been stabbed severely
in the arm. The officers and some of the petty
officers were fully armed— the captain having
given orders to that effect, and to cut down the
first man that hesitated to obey an order. The
scoundrel Forrest was triced up in the mizen
rigging two hours on and two off."

A week after this, " on the twenty-sixth of
November," the officer's diary records: "All
hands aft to muster. Sentence of general
court-martial read to prisoner." The sentence was,
that George Forrest, A.B., forfeit all pay,
prize-money, &c., due to him; that all wearing
apparel (except what belonged to him when
previously captured) be taken from him, and
that he be ignominiously dismissed the ship and
service, placed in the hands of the master of
arms, and put on shore at the island of
Blanquilla. To the account thus given by an officer
of the Alabama, we shall add the version of the
same incident as given by the ex-fireman, John
Latham, in his information against the vessel
on which he had served:

"There was a man of the name of George
Forrest, who one of the midshipmen recognised
as having been a seaman on board the Sumter,
and had deserted. He was brought on board to
Captain Semmes, who told him that if he
behaved well he should have his pay and
prize-money as the other men, but that he had a right
to detain him throughout the war without paying
him a cent. Forrest was retained on board the
Alabama, was frequently punished by having his
hands and legs fastened to the rigging, the
punishment being known as the ' spread eagle,'
and he would be kept in this position for four
hours at a time, and this was done at least
twenty times, and at last they ironed his legs
and arms, and sent him on shore on a desolate
island called Blanquilla, some two hundred