RUNNING THE BLOCKADE.

Western Star, Issue 1294, 6 March 1897, Page 2 (Supplement)

RUNNING THE BLOCKADE.

He was enveloped by an atmosphere so highly charged wi f h dignity and all that is foreign to lawlessness that it seemed impossible he could ever have engaged in an enterprise so hazardous and semi-piratical as blockade running. Besides, he wears the official title of * Judge'as it should be worn, and has for so many years administered punishment upon offenders against the majesty of the law that even in telling a story exacts, without an effort, the same dead' silence and close attention that one expects to find in a court of justice while the arbiter ia delivering a charge. Nevertheless, during the American Rebellion, he had inn the blockade ; and is now able to recall the feat as an interesting experience, though at the time it may have given his nervous system something like a shock. ' It was in 1864,' said the Judge' which seems a good wlule I ago now. Two agents of the Confederate Government were at Wilmington, North Carolina, and anxious to get out of the place tor there was official business to transact, and it couid not be di'posed of at Wi'mington. There was a blockade runner at the port at the time, and as she was ready to make a dash for freedom we went aboard. She looked a blockade runner all over, and I have always entertained a most profonnd respect for her builders. It's all over now and paid for, go it is no harm to say that she was built in England. She was about 2000 tons, and lay very low in the water. She was painted in dull grey. Her engines were the finest that could be turned out at the time, and when she was going at full speed there wasn't much more noise in the engine room than you would hear.in a church when the sexton—you call him a verger here —has it all to himself. Her cargo consisted of 1000 bales of cotton and a large quantity ot naval stores. The cotton was bought for ten. cents, per pound in Confederate money which was worth nothing, for paper in the North was at that time even below par. and in the South, as I said, it waß worth nothing, The blockade runner was bound for the Bahamas, where cotton was worth twenty cents per pound in gold, so that, you see, it meant a good deal of money to the owners whether tne vessel run the blockade oi* was captured or sunk, for, as far as they were concerned, capture and sinking meant'tbe same thing. When we went aboard we took a rather large amount of money with us, as the business ,we had in hand required money. No ; it was not Confederate money, but the sort that passes current wherever the banner of civilisation waves. The captain of the blockade runner was a Scotchman, and the moment I looked him over and heard his voice I concluded that he was intended for the business. He was as keen as a razor, as cool as a piece o! natural ice, was a sailor of the first water, and as we afterwards discovered, did not object Jo a glass of whisky when the conditions were favourable. Yes, we had whisky on ' board, though no mention of it was made in the manifest. The Drew were foreigners that is to say—added the judge, as if correcting himself, 'they were-Englishmen and Scotchmen. They knew .their duty, and they did it, and it would have taken a good deal to excite that crew. When it was announced that we were about to put to sea. they went to work in such a calm, matter of fact way that I had begun to think that blockade«running might not be so very dangerous as I had imagined. It became evident to me later on that I had not accurately ganged the character of that crew, for when we got into'so tight a place that I began to feel sorry for myself, the crew attended their duties in" exactly the same style Every man of them waß obviously cut out for a blockade-runner, just as the captain i was. A more unobtrusive ship than ours never sailed the seas. I have said that her hull was low, and that she was painted a dull grey. Her funnell was of the same modest hue. She burned anthracite coal, which generated very little smoke, and, as if to dissipate that little, the smoke stack was i covered with a hood. Even a prejudiced person, if truthful, could not say that a single detail of her appearance was calcu« lated to notify to other vessels that she was in the ( vicinity. She, was not armed, because she was constructed with the sole idea of carrying a good cargo and of running away. We steamed Out of Wilmington after nightfall; She slipped through the water as noiselessly as an eel. Not a light was visible on board, as the coast was simply barricaded with Northern oruisers. Nobody went to bed that night, I went below finally but I had no desire to sleep. Once I crawled up on deck and took a good look round. Suddenly I saw looming up, about fifty yards,' it seemed to me, a big man-o'-war. I wished I was on shore. Every moment I expected to hear a hail, and as that would probably not be answered, a shot. But the Northerner may have been a quarter of a mile away, as she stood high out of the water and her lights looked unnaturally bright in the darkness. We slipped by unnoticed. I learned in the morning that we had made our way through seventeen ships that formed part of the blockade. Early next day we fell in with a' Confederate ironclad, and were told by her captain that it would» hot be safe to make Bahamas, as Northern men-o'-war were too numerous in that locality for such a peaceful vessel as ours. The ironclad had been despatched to make it pleasant for the blockading fleet, and was obeying orders in a most business-like way, as she had destroyed several vessels, and was prowling about in search of more prey. We said good-bye to each other, and our captain set his course for Bermudes. We begun to feel that our troubles were'over, and that luck was on our side. I said to the captain, ' I suppose captain, we'll have a clear run to the Bermudas now V He laughed and said nothing. There waß something about the laugh that wasn't satisfying, so I said,' What have we to fear now?' ■Why,'he said oui troubles are only beginning.' I began to thins that I was not built for a blockade runner, and my fellowpassenger may have felt the same way although he did not say so. Still when a couple of hours passed and nothing happened we began to pluck up hope again. We were at breakfast at nine o'clock in the morning when the captain came into the cabin. He wasn't a man who wasted words. He said, 1 Gentlemen, I don't think we'll make the Bermudas this trip,' Pood had no further charms for me. I rose from the table and ran on deck. I looked towards every. point of the compass, but could see nothing but sea and sky. I said as much.. The captain, said, * We're pursued, and she'? coming ■up' hand over hand,' ' But,' I insisted,' this is one of the fastest ships afloat, and she's going her best, and tbat'is 17 knots an hour.' * and let me tell you,' said the Judge after a slight pause, during whioh he lighted a fresh cigar and changed his legs by throwing the left over right, * that seventeen knots was a racing pace thirty one years ago. While we stood on deck we saw the smoke of a steamer a long way off in our wake. ' Gentlemen,' said the captain, • We'll be hers in two hours unless something happens. ' But will anything happen, captain?' said my fallow paeseuger, ' you can never tell what may not happen at sea, sir,' said the captain. Then he added,' Take ray advice ; go below and arrange your affairs,' We looked at each other. I had been in Richmond for months when iherij was hardly anything to eat and nothing to drink. The life aboard ship was heaven-in comparison, and the Bermudas seemed an improvement on the Garden of faesperides. The thoughts of a Northern prison for a home, and- perhaps something worse to fallow, made me fee] that a second dose of Richmond, even with nothing tp eat and nothing moist but waijar, was not utt«rly lacking in features that assist in making existence worth striving for. As we stood glued to the deck with those thoughts and others equally cheering flying through our heads, we could see the pursuer gaining. She was gaining so fast (hat I couldn't help saying to the captain, ' This isn't the fastest ship afloat,' ' No, sir,' he replied, she isn't. The fastest ship afloat will be alongside in about an ijour and a quarter. There's pnly one ship in the Northern navy that can catch mine, and

that is the Connecticut. I think, gentlemen V ; the Connecticut will be in our immediate neighbourhood in about an hour and a quarter.' Had we been on the Mississippi steamer racing with a rival the captain might havo sung out down the speaking " tube, * Chuck out another nigger.' but as we were on a blockade runner, with the steam gauge close to danger point, he said nothing being a man who did not waste words. We went below. The first thing we did was to take a drink, not from force of habit but because we needed it. Then we burned all our papers, for some of them would, in the opinion of a Northerner, have seemed compromising; at least so we judged; Then we divided the money and agroed that* wo were merchants who had paid a visit to the A United States before the war broke out, and, - ; hadn't been able to get awav before, and: were anxious 40 see our own firesides; The ' last would have been true enough, t for they had been incinerated daring the war. We had onr stories all arranged when the captain came below. 'How much longer have wegot, captain ?'Tasked- » For what, sir?' he replied, « Why for arranging our affairs, of course,' I said. ' I think, gentlemen,' he said, in his cool quiet way, 'there's no par- $ ticular hurry.' Neither of as :could catch i our breath for a minute, so he added, • The fact is, the pursuer has broken down,* and we'll make the Bermudas all right.' ,- We rushed on deck.' There was the Connecticut but she looked to me nearer, than when we had been on deck before. I said, \ But, captain, it looks to me as if she were gaining onus.' ' Just keep your eye on her, sir, for five minutes,' he said, Vand you'll aee she isn't.' He was right, How\he knew that ' her machinery had broken down, I don't, know; but as I said before, he was cut out for a blockade r runner. At any rate,' our pursuer. gradually faded away, and towards evening we sighted the Bermudas; A Bermudan pilot came off, but the channel is, or was, so tortuous that is was six d'clock'the next morning, before we came to an anchor. The English treated us with great kindness, They did all they had a right to do, and perr baps a little more. However they 'ban'to - r pay for that*error of judgement, so the less said the better. We stayed there a -couple of weeks and then took .passage aboard a British veasel that was bound from Havana for Halifax, Nova Scotia. Under the British flag we were safe. We landed 'at Halifax with unimpaired constitutions and consciences at rest. No, sir, I did not return to. my old Kentucky home in the following year. Asyoußay,thewarwasover in 1865, but the class of rebels, as they called us to which I had the honor to belong, was not invited to return to the fold for a considerable .period. Oh, yas, the war came to a close a long while ago now, and we are again one j but 1 would like to see the Scotebman'who commanded that blockade-runner. Gazette."