miles from the mainland, and left him. The
crew subscribed some seventeen pounds,
unknown to Captain Semmes, which we gave him,
in the hope of its being some inducement to
a vessel to take him off."

Blanquilla is a little barren island in the
Caribbean Sea, much visited by turtles, and
inhabited by three men who keep goats and
go fishing. It has also a harbour visited by
ships.

How the Alabama took and destroyed the
Manchester, laden with wheat and cotton, from
New York; how she took eighty thousand
dollars ransom for the Tonawanda, which had
seventy-five passengers on board, who, says the
diarist officer, "testified in rather a ludicrous
manner (to me) their joy at their deliverance;"
how the good ship rode out a squall; how she
captured the Lafayette, grain laden; for the
captain, although he, too, said that his cargo
was English, had no papers to prove it; how
the prisoners, who had been living under a tent
rigged for them on the maindeck, were, in
consideration of cold weather, put below in the
forward fire-room, it being vacated for that
purpose, and the fires kindled in the after one
instead; how it angered the men of the Alabama
to read in the American papers, taken from the
Lafayette, that they treated their prisoners worse
than dogs; how, presently afterwards, more
papers were taken from another prize, a schooner
from New York, on her way, grain laden, to
Glasgow, and when " we read the infamous
assertions made by the captain of the Brilliant
with respect to our treatment of prisoners, a
conviction was forced upon every mind that
kindness extended to them was completely
thrown away;" how, two days afterwards, an
American barque was taken, and two days after
that the brigantine Baron de Custine, which
was ransomed on condition that she took charge
of and landed all the Alabama's prisoners; how
also the Alabama took and burnt several more
vessels, we read in the officer's journal of the
cruise, until the anchorage of the privateer in
the harbour of Port Royal, Martinique, when its
officers and crew had a most cordial reception
from the inhabitants, both civil and military.
There the United States war steamer San
Jacinto, fourteen guns, was on the look-out for
the audacious rebels. Her commander was
warned by the governor at Port Royal that the
San Jacinto must either come in and anchor, in
which case she was bound to remain till twenty-four
hours after the Alabama had left, or she
must remain on the watch three miles out at
sea. He chose the latter course. The Alabama
slipped out unobserved, and the San Jacinto
continued her blockade during the next four
days after the Alabama had departed. Having
met at Blanquilla the vessel that brought her a
fresh supply of coals, the Alabama set to work
again, and, omitting note of small captures, her
next notable prize was made on the 7th of
December, in the United States mail steamer
Ariel, running from New York to Aspinwall.

' The steamer turned and made for off. The
order was then given to train and fire the pivot
guns at her; a second order was given to fire
at her smoke-stack. In the position she then
was, her foremast was in a line with the
smoke-stack. Both guns were then fired, one shot of
which struck the foremast about ten feet from
the deck, taking away two-thirds of it, the stick
still standing; fortunately, they did not explode
at the time, else the carnage amongst the
passengers would have been frightful. She then
hove to. A boat was sent on board, and the
captain brought on board us with his papers.
Three boxes of specie, a twenty-four pound
rifled gun, one hundred and twenty-five new
rifles, sixteen swords, and about one thousand
rounds of ammunition, were quickly transferred
to our vessel, there being on board one hundred
and forty officers and men (marines) going out
to join the United States Pacific squadron, and
about five hundred passengers, men, women,
and children, several naval and military officers
being also on board. The military were paroled.
On boarding, the marines were found drawn up
in fighting order. From the captain of the
steamer I learnt that the marine officers first
advised the surrender of the vessel. The
Yankees said that they had not the remotest
idea we should dare show ourselves in that part
of the world."

As there were women and children among the
passengers, it was resolved to land them at
Jamaica, but from a vessel afterwards boarded,
it was learnt that yellow fever had broken out
at Jamaica, so it was determined to ransom the
Ariel and let her go. Just at that time an accident
had happened to the machinery of the
Alabama, but the crippled state of the captor
was carefully kept secret, and afterwards the
engineers worked night and day at the repairs.

The next event of note in the story of the
Alabama's cruise was her fight on Sunday, the
eleventh of January, 'sixty-three, with the
Federal gunboat Hatteras, carrying nine guns.
This was one of seven war vessels sent to
re-capture Galveston, and her battle at sea with
the Alabama, twenty-eight miles from Galveston,
was, between two steamers out at sea, the first
yard-arm action of the civil war. Says the
diarist:

"At 6.30, the strange steamer hailed and
asked, 'What steamer is that?' We replied (in
order to be certain who he was) ' Her Majesty's
steamer Petrel!' ' What steamer is that?" Two
or three times we asked the question, until we
heard, ' This is the United States steamer——,'
not hearing the name. However, United States
was sufficient. As no doubt existed as to her
character, we said, at 6.35, that this was the
' Confederate States steamer Alabama,'
accompanying the last syllable of our name with a
shell fired over him. The signal being given,
the other guns took up the refrain, and a
tremendous volley from our whole broadside given
to him, every shell striking her side, the shot
striking being distinctly heard on board our
vessel, and thus found that she was iron.

"The enemy replied, and the action became