338 NortH Carottna Troops, 1861-65.

nothing in sight, yet our black smoke was giving us away.
Some of the fleet were following it, and about 8 o’clock a ves-
sel was discovered chasing us and appeared to be gaining.
Everything possible was done to inerease the speed of the
Ad-Vance, but the steaming qualities of the coal were against
us. We were using Chatham, or Egypt coal, which was very
inferior; in fact nothing but slate or the croppings of the
mine. Our good coal at Wilmington was taken for the Con-
federate cruisers, which accounts for our capture. We were
in hopes we could evade the pursuing steamer in the darkness
of the night, but, in our present condition, she was too fast
for us and was able to throw some shot over us some time be-
fore sundown, which caused us to stop the ship and surrender.
From the stopping of the ship to the boarding of the United
States officers, some time elapsed, causing an accumulation of
steam, which was blowing off very freely. The United States
Engineer Corps, seeing the condition of affairs, asked me
to have my men haul the fires and arrange to have the boilers
supplied with water. I told him I had nothing more to do

with the ship and considered him in charge. He then asked
if my assistant engineers would go down and attend to this.
I pointed them out to him, saying they would answer for
themselves and, on their refusal, the Lieutenant ordered us on
the bridge on top of the boilers, saying: “If she does blpw up

I will send you all to eternity.”” Imagine us sitting on to
PY ) g

of the boilers waiting for the explosion. However, we knew
there was no immediate danger, if they could succeed in get-
ting the pumps to work, which they did in a short time, and
we were relieved from our dangerous position and sent on
board the Santiago de Cuba, which captured us. All were
examined as to their nationality, many North Carolinians
and Virginians on board claiming British protection. In
fact, all on board except two, one from Connecticut and one
from Virginia, claimed British protection and all could
sound the letter “O” in “home” very broad. Mr. Carter,
our purser, was the only one on board that was sworn, and
this was on account of the clothing he wore, it being a suit of
North Carolina homespun. The Captain looked at him
from head to foot and vice versa, saying that he was the first

THe STEAMER AD-VANCE. 339

Englishman he ever saw with a suit of clothes of that kind.

On our way to Norfolk, with Cape Henry in sight, Sunday
morning we were ordered on deck for prayer (Episcopal ser-
vice). During the service our Captain Wiley called my at-
tention to the Captain of the Santiago de Cuba, saying the
prayers were doing him no good, from the fact that he was
turning around every minute to see if the valuable prize, the
Ad-Vance, was coming, and when satisfied that all things
were well with her, would turn around again, giving a little
more attention to the sermon for a few minutes. We arrived
in Norfolk Sunday afternoon and had the freedom of the city,
that is inside the Provost Marshal’s limits.

We, however, wanted to go ‘‘ome,” and had to appeal to the
British Consul at Norfolk. We had some trouble at first, but
the Consul finally took our case to heart and wrote a letter to
Lord Lyons, stating the way her Britannic Majesty’s subjects
were treated. This did the work for us and we were permit-
ted to find our way “‘ome”’ as best we could, without interrup-
tion.

This was the last I saw of the Ad-Vance, but I have been
told by Colonel Lamb that she was turned into a gun-boat,
The Frolic, and was in the second bombardment at Fort
Fisher, and has been seen several times at Wilmington since
the war.

Many of the North Carolinians made their way from Nor-
folk to Halifax, N. S., thence to Nassau, where I was ap-
pointed Chief Engincer of the steamer Col. Lamb, with Cap-
tain Thomas Lockwood in command. We were then ready to
run the blockade again to Wilmington, but were informed by
an incoming steamer that Forts Fisher and Caswell had been
taken. This left no port open for us but Galveston. We
then left Nassau for Havana, took on supplies and started for
Galveston; on arriving off the bar, it was thought too risky
to go in as the wind had been blowing unfavorably for several
days, which caused low water in the harbor which would
increase the risk of the steamer. On consultation with pilots
it was decided not to take the risk; we then returned to Ha-
vana, all ports being now effectively closed, and after making
some repairs to the machinery, we were ordered to Halifax,