NR RIS AO

aerate

 

 

 

422 Nort Carotina Troops, 1861-’65.

to the land, became too excited to admit of irrelevant ebul-
ae ees impossible at such a moment to withhold one’s
admiration from the fitness of the vessel under our feet =i
the purpose for which she had been built, and also = t
perfection of the system under which she was handled, an
which experience had already shown to be necessary to give
her and her consorts every chance of success. When night
fell, not a single light was visible in any part of the ship,
and no one under any circumstances was allowed to smoke,
lest his cigar or cigarette or pipe might be seen by a lookout
on board of one of our vigilant enemies. Steam was blown
off under water, our coal made no visible smoke, and our
feathering paddles no noise; our hull rose only a few feet
out of the water; our only spars were two short’ lower masts
with no yards, and only a small crow’s nest in the foremast.
The forward deck was constructed in the form of a turtle back
to enable the Lilian to go through a heavy sea. Our start
from Bermuda was so well timed that a moonless night and
high tide were secured for our running into Wilmington.
For the rest, we trusted to our speed, which, as will shortly
be seen, saved our vessel next day from capture, and ourselves
from the distinguished honor of passing a few months as pris-
oners in the Old Capitol, or in a fort off Boston or Balti-
more harbor. The blockading vessels, too, were admirably
managed. No lights were carried by them except on board
one vessel, that in which the Flag-Admiral sailed. She
changed her position every night, and the absence of strong
lights on shore, discernible two or three miles away from
Fort Fisher, greatly augmented the difficulty of hitting New
Inlet, a narrow channel leading into the Cape Fear river.
Moreover, the vessels which maintained the blockade were pro-
vided with calcium or other incandescent lights, which they
flashed forth on the slightest provocation, and also with rock-
ets which they let off in the direction a blockade-runner
was taking,—talking to each other, in fact, with colored
lights at night as effectually as they did with signals by day.
“Tt will readily be imagined that during our third night out
from Bermuda, going to bed was far from our thoughts. The

BLocKADE RUNNING. 423

night wore rapidly away; 2 o’clock, 3 o’clock, 3:30 came,
but no eye peering through the thick gloom could desery the
light on top of the mound at Fort Fisher. Then, as morn-
ing dawned, Captain Maffitt stopped his engines and pre-
pared to lay to for the day between the outer and inner cordon
of blockaders. It was too much to hope that for sixteen or
seventeen hours of broad daylight we could escape observa-
tion in that cruiser-haunted neighborhood ; nevertheless from
four in the morning till 1:30 p. m., we were unmolested.
Then the tall masts of a big steamer, her immense paddle
wheels and lofty, black hull hove in sight from the direction
of Wilmington, going at full speed, and by the keen eyes on
board her, the little Lilian was instantly descried. Before
we could get up steam fully, our gigantic enemy drew un-
comfortably near, and orders were given to have all the mail
bags carried by the Lilian made ready, in case of capture,
to be dropped with weights attached to them, into the all de-
vouring ocean. Several shots flew over our heads or dropped
by our side, but going at such a pace it is not easy to hit a lit-
tle vessel with projectiles fired from the unstable platform
of a pursuer going fifteen knots an hour through a lumpy sea.
“Presently our beautiful little craft began to answer in
earnest to the driving power within her, as a thoroughbred
horse gallantly responds to the spur of his rider. As the pres-
sure of steam ascended from fifteen pounds to twenty, from
twenty to twenty-three, from twenty-three to twenty-six, and
as the revolutions of the paddle mounted from twenty-six to
twenty-eight, from twenty-eight to thirty-three per minute,
the little vessel flew out to sea swift as a startled wild duck.
Before two and a half hours had passed the hull of the big
Yankee was invisible and her top-gallant sails a mere speck
on the distant horizon. As, however, she and doubtless oth-
ers of her sisters lay between us and Wilmington, it became
necessary to run around them. Our helm accordingly was
changed and as the sun dropped into the sea our pursuer,
though a long way off, still hung upon our rear. There was
nothing for it but to stick to our course; but such had been
the speed of our flight that the inside blockading squadron
was clearly sighted by us before the close of the day. Grim