366 NorrH Caro.ina Troops, 1861-65.

begged the captain to surrender at once. But he had no no-
tion of such a thing, and having fortified himself with a bot-
tle of brandy and a big navy revolver, was quite prepared to
hold his own against all odds, and roundly swore he would
shoot the first man who shirked his duty, a threat which they
evidently took in earnest, as they immediately went below to
make the best of it. JI had never been under fire before, and
I confess the situation was painfully distressing to me. Every
time the big, conical shells like nail kegs came tumbling over
the rail, with their diabolical wailing shriek, my knees be-
came unmanageable and smote together in a most demoraliz-
ing way. I thought every moment would be the last, but
after a while this desperate feeling was overcome, and I was
comparatively indifferent to the firing which, strange to say,
did us very little damage. Our pursuer gradually forced us
nearer the breakers, along which we dashed with fore and
aft sails set, thereby steadying our ship and making better
speed. The cruiser being of much deeper draft, kept well
off shore and continued a constant and heavy fire which did
no harm, the skells passing well over us and landing in the
surf. Our captain, expecting to strike bottom, ordered life-
boats lowered to the rail, and the crew to take their stations
the moment the ship was stranded.

I greatly admired the pluck of several officers of the Con-
federate cruiser Georgia, who were returning home as our
passengers, and who amused themselves by measuring with
their sextants the distance between the contending ships, and
by noting with their watches the time between the flash of the
guns and the passing of the projectiles. They were so sure
of capture, however, that they unfortunately threw overboard
some valuable rifles and other personal property which might
have been saved. I threw the Confederate mail bag into the
furnace, by orde# of the captain as he seemed,to think it was
quite useless to risk the lives of our crew any longer.

As the sun went down, however, we were inspired with
some:hope of escape, which increased as night drew on and
it became apparent that the cruiser was hauling off a little,
evidently fearing shoal water in the darkness. Of course we
were careful to make no lights, and later on we were over-

'~. BrockapE Runnina. 367

joyed to see that he was firing wildly and forging farther
ahead. When it became too dark for him to see us, he burned
Drummond lights and sent up rockets, hoping to attract other
cruisers to his assistance, but none responded; and then our
captain determined upon a bold movement. Lowering our
sails, we came to a full stop and anxiously awaited the result.
To our great joy, the enemy continued on his course, firing,
from his broadside guns, under the delusion that we were
still in the same position. As soon as he got well ahead of
us, we changed our course and ran under his quarter unob-
served, leaving him firing at the breakers, the roar of which
had overcome the sound of our paddles as we crossed his
wake and sped onwards towards New Inlet.

And now a new and perhaps greater danger confronted
us. By a careful computation it was ascertained that in our
crippled condition we could not possibly reach the bar before
daylight, but as our reduced speed would not save us in a
chase, our captain resolved to run the gauntlet of the block-
aders rather than risk capture at sea during the next day.
We passed a very anxious night, watching with the utmost
solicitude our unsatisfactory progress as we labored through
a heavy sea towards our dangerous destination. At the first
streak of dawn we were off Masonboro Sound, and soon-after
distinguished through the haze no fewer than eight block-
aders apparently waiting to gobble us up. To our astonish-
ment, however, they took no notice of our approach, as our
ship was painted the exact color of the sand dunes along the
beach, which we hugged as closely as we dared, and steered
straight for the fleet, through which we passed without a gun
being fired; and when we anchored off Fort Fisher it was
broad daylight. We learned afterwards that the blockaders
had not observed us until we were quite near the bar, and then
they believed, until it was tgo late, that we had come to join
the fleet; a steamer of our description being then due. We
received a hearty welcome from the boarding officer at Fort
Fisher, and steamed up towards Wilmington shortly after-
wards. While passing Fort Anderson, a gun was fired, but
having received no intimation at Fort Fisher that we would
be detained on the river, we continued our course, which was