=: —— acsemnennen = Lr ees as. See = == == Se a gn ee = 4 4 ==> ee — - a ee - Sea ean lee ci eee Ne ae = — = ~ - a eee pee aa _— real eosin - sation a oman . am nie : ~) ~e cic Rela aI z a a ee ee anv nina Caine dae aa incen aa Santen Ba ih SC SR al = TE a nS ‘ = erIcasyanrmeror sect eee —- = ” pro eee = —— : sso s inl ae = ] — — me ements - — aneoine - ae — : \ a eee cua renens one net ene a ares em rs Ames in ema ae = SS Se ee ee eae raat cack ieee casas na Sn 416 Chronicles of the Cape Fear River ‘The men who ran the blockade had to be men who could stand fire without returning it. It was a business in which every man took his life in his hands, and he so understood it. An ordinarily brave man had no business on a blockade runner. He who made a success of it was obliged to have the cunning of a fox, the patience of a Job, and the bravery of a Spartan warrier. The United States Government wanted at first to treat them as pirates, and was never satisfied to consider them contrabandists. The runners must not be armed and must not resist; they must simply be cool and quick and watchful and, for the rest, trust to God and their good ship to deliver them safely to their friends. “The United States blockade squadron on the Atlantic coast consisted of about 300 vessels of all kinds—sailing vessels, three- deckers, monitors, iron-clads, and swift cruisers—most of them employed to prevent the blockade runners from entering Charles- ton and Wilmington, these being the ports where most of the blockade running was done. At each of these ports there were three lines of ships anchored in a semicircle, so that our vessels had to run the gauntlet through these three lines before they had the enemy astern and their haven ahead. Besides these, the ocean between the Confederate ports and the Bermudas and the West Indies was policed by many of the fastest ships that money could buy or build, so that we had practically to run two blockades to reach a Southern port. The swiftest of the captured blockade runners were put into this service, and I have more than once been chased by ships of which I had myself been an officer. “A few instances will suffice to illustrate the fact that the risks to be taken by the blockade runners were not confined to our own coast, and they will also illustrate the impunity with which the Federal blockaders practically blockaded friendly ports in violation of the neutrality laws governing nations at peace with each other. “English steamers, with an English crew and without cargo, bound from one English port to another, were taken as prizes simply because they were suspected of being brought to the islands to be used as blockade runners. “During the afternoon of March 3, 1863, while going from Nassau to Havana in the steamer Stonewall Jackson, we were sighted by the R. R. Cuyler, which chased us for thirteen hours along the Cuban coast until early the next morning, when we Or a Blockade Running 417 passed Morro Castle flying the Confederate flag, with the Cuyler a short half-mile astern of us flying the Stars and Stripes. “Tn 1864, the Margaret and Jessie, bound from Charleston to Nassau, was chased and fired into while running along the coast of Eleutheria, within the neutral distance—an English league—the shot and shell passing over her falling into the pineapple fields of the island. She was finally run ashore by her captain to prevent her sinking from the effects of the enemy’s shot. “On one occasion I was awakened by the sound of cannon in the early morning at Nassau, and imagine my surprise to see a Confederate ship being fired at by a Federal man-of-war. The Confederate proved to be the Antonica, Captain Coxetter, who arrived off the port during the night and, waiting for a pilot and daylight, found when daylight did appear that an enemy’s ship was between him and the bar. There was nothing left for him to do but run the gauntlet and take his fire, which he did in good shape, some of the shot actually falling into the harbor. The Federal ship was commanded by Commodore Wilkes, who became widely known from taking Mason and Slidell prisoners. After the chase was over Wilkes anchored his ship, and when the Governor sent to tell him that he must not remain at anchor there, he said: ‘Tell the Governor, etc., etc., he would anchor where he pleased.’ The military authorities sent their artillery across to Hog Island, near where he was anchored, and we Confederates thought the fun was about to begin. But Wilkes remained just long enough to communicate with the consul and get what information he wanted, and left. “All this vigilance on the part of the Yankees made the trip a very hazardous one, and the man who failed to keep the sharpest kind of a lookout was more apt to bring up in a Northern prison than in a Confederate port. Then, too, the Yankee cruisers managed to keep pretty well posted as to our movements through the American consuls stationed at the different ports frequented by our vessels. “Having occasion to go from Nassau to Bermuda, and there being no regular line between the islands, I chartered a schooner to take me and part of my crew there, and we had sailed within about sixty miles of our destination when, at daylight, we were spoken by the United States man-of-war Shenandoah. Her officer asked: ‘What schooner is that, where from and where bound to? Our captain was below and I answered him: 27