434 Chronicles of the Cape Fear River

lights.’ An answer came as quick as thought: ‘All right, the

lights will be set.’ We signaled our respects to Colonel Lamb,
and asked about his health. The answer was: ‘The colonel is
quite well. (He was then lying dangerously wounded.) How
are all on board, and what is the news from Bermuda?’ I in-
structed the officer to amuse himself talking to them, that I
was going aloft, which I did, and as I reached the masthead
and could look over the low sandhills which line the North Caro-
lina coast, I could see the camp fires of the armies, and decided
that either there had been an attack on Fort Fisher, or there
soon would be one. Upon reaching the deck I said to the pilot:
‘The tide is falling, and I think we will not take the risk on a
falling tide. I will wait until the flood tide makes, and go in
just before daylight. I remained among the fleet the best part
of the night. I counted seven monitors; we came very near
colliding with three of them, and not a word was said and not
a shot was fired. I concluded that we had met with a very cool
reception, and it was not a healthy place for us just then; so, at
2 a. m., I shaped our course for Nassau. When, upon arrival
there, I asked the pilot what was the news from Wilmington, he
answered: ‘Wilmington has gone up the spout, sir.’ I learned
afterwards that several ships had gone in and congratulated
themselves upon getting in so easily; but to their dismay, when
the boarding officer came on board, he wore the blue instead of
the gray. At the fall of Fort Fisher our signal-book fell into
the hands of the enemy, and all that was necessary was to draw

the ships in and take possession, which accounted for our not
being shot at.

“After the surrender, on my way to England, I buried my
faithful Tinker among the icebergs of the North Atlantic, and
every man on board stood with uncovered head when he was
consigned to his watery grave. When blockade running ceased,
his spirits drooped, his occupation gone, and he soon sickened
and died.

“His master felt much the same way, but survived. It was
one of the saddest moments of my life—the Confederacy, of
whose success I had never lost hope, no longer in existence;
leaving my native land, as I then thought never more to return.
I felt that all the ties that I had formed during my childhood
and youth were become mere memories; that all the fast friends
I had made during our bitter fight were to be only as some
much-beloved hero of a favorite novel, with whom we become

  

Blockade Running 435

i t
very familiar until the tale 1s all told, and who then passes ou

of mind and is never heard of more. But it was ordained other-
wise, and I am happy now to be in my old home, meeting every
y]

ies 1 d struggle were the
where men whose sympathies in that gran
same as my own, and who feel as I do, that though our fighting

days are over, the memory of our dead comrades is strong
enough to bind us to each other until we all shall be called away

to join them in the land of eternal peace.”

Tuomas EK. Taytor.

Several large and important shipping firms in Liverpool were

interested in blockade running at Wilmington, eo =
these houses owned and operated from five to ten of the

Beers eect Thomas E. Taylor, scarcely twenty-one

years of age, was sent out from England - pan ~ a
which ultimately designed and ran some or the Hnest ship
d in this perilous, though profitable, business ; but it may
eciied ted or any
be doubted if the company with whom he was associa
other owners realized, in the end, large profits on their eerie
because, while the returns were very large under oe ers
ditions, the frequent losses by capture and the final fa : e
Confederacy, which left them with ships unsalable for or —
trade, so reduced their earnings that the game was scarcely
le. :
nase ar Taylor published a most readable book entitled
Running the Blockade, in which he tells most graphically =
of his extraordinary experiences. He was much liked by a
who were fortunate enough to know him, and I well remember
his genial, happy spirits and his masterful leadership into
danger when duty called him in the interest of his employers.
I quote from his narrative an exciting incident which made a
Sensation in blockade-running circles at the time: ssa gp
“The reason for my leaving the Banshee was the arrival a
Nassau of a new steamer, which my firm had sent out to roe
This was the Will-o’-the-Wisp, and great things were expecte
from her. She was built on the Clyde and was a much larger
and faster boat than the Banshee, but shamefully put together
and most fragile. My first introduction to her was seeing her

appear off Nassau, and receiving a message by the gc
from Capper, the captain, to say that the vessel was leaking