NAVY, CONFEDERATE. 



ascertaining that Union cruisers were on his 

 track, he burned the Tacony, to avoid recog- 

 nition, and on the 24th transferred his crew 

 and guns to the captured schooner Archer. 

 He then made for Portland harbor, with the 

 intention of burning two gunboats building 

 and cutting out the revenue cutter Caleb 

 dishing. At sunset he came to anchor near the 

 mce of the harbor, and soon after midnight, 

 tin- moon having then gone down, rowed direct 

 to the Gushing in two boats with muffled oars, 

 boarded the vessel, and having overpowered 

 the crew, started for sea. No sooner was the 

 Cushing missed from her anchorage than the 

 Forest City and Chesapeake, two merchant 

 steamers, were manned with troops and armed 

 volunteers, and started in pursuit. A short 

 distance from the harbor they overhauled her, 

 and having no guns capable of coping with her 

 heavy armament, made preparations to board, 

 perceiving which the rebels took to their boats, 

 after firing half a dozen shots at the steamers. 

 Soon after the Cushing blew up. The boats 

 however, were captured, as also the Archer, 

 and the whole crew securely confined. 



On December 17th the steamer Chesapeake, 

 plying between New York and Portland, was 

 seized on her passage to the latter place, when 

 about 20 miles northeast of Cape Cod, by 16 

 of her passengers, who represented themselves 

 as belonging to the Confederate States. The 

 captain was put in irons, one of the engineers 

 killed and thrown overboard, and the first mate 

 wounded. The crew and passengers, with the 

 exception of the first engineer, retained to 

 manage the steamer, were subsequently put 

 ashore in a boat, and the Chesapeake sailed to 

 the eastward. Upon the reception of the news 

 in the United States, a fleet of cruisers started 

 in pursuit, and on the 17th the Chesapeake was 

 captured by the Ella and Anna, in Sambro har- 

 bor, Nova Scotia, and, with a portion of her 

 crew, was carried to Halifax and delivered to 

 the authorities. The prisoners were released 

 by a mob, but the Chesapeake was subsequently 

 restored to her American owners by an order 

 of the chief colonial tribunal. (See PRIZE.) 



Of the amount of damage inflicted by rebel 

 cruisers upon American commerce no complete 

 or trustworthy estimate has yet been made. 

 While at Capetown, in September, Captain 

 Semmes stated that the total number of cap- 

 tures made by the Alabama amounted to 56 ves- 

 sels, which he supposed would involve a direct 

 loss of four million dollars, beside the loss of 

 freight, the high rates of insurance, and other 

 embarrassments caused by the danger of carry- 

 ing goods in American bottoms. The captures 

 of the Florida were estimated by her com- 

 mander in September at 72, and their total 

 value at $15,000,000, which is evidently ex- 

 aggerated. From tables prepared at the close 

 of the year it would appear that since the 

 commencement of the war 184 vessels, aggre- 

 gating 84,871 tons, and with their cargoes val- 

 ued at $15,000,000, have been destroyed upon 



the high seas. Yet this is but a small part of 

 the loss sustained by American commerce, as 

 will be seen by the following figures : 



Of the extent to which the city of New 

 York has suffered, the following table, show- 

 ing how the carrying business, of which sho 

 once enjoyed a large share, has been trans- 

 ferred to foreign flags, is sufficiently indica- 

 tive: 



Foreign trade of the port of New York, for the quarter 

 ending June 80th. 



A part of this change is doubtless in conse- 

 quence of the active employment of so many 

 American ships for purposes connected with 

 the war; but, after making allowance for this 

 fact, a sufficient number of vessels could be 

 found for commercial purposes, were not ship- 

 pers deterred by fear of capture from employ- 

 ing them as carriers. The success of their cruis- 

 ers already afloat, and the ease with which they 

 could be built and equipped in foreign coun- 

 tries, prompted the Government to contract for 

 others, and during the year the Alexandra, a 

 fast steamer of the Alabama class, and two iron- 

 clad rams, the latter undertaken by Laird, of 

 Liverpool, ostensibly for the "Emperor of 

 China " or the " Viceroy of Egypt," were un- 

 der construction in England. The vigilance of 

 the American minister and the consuls pro- 

 vented the completion of these, and at the clone 

 of the year, they were temporarily in the pos- 

 session of the British Government, subject to 

 the decision of the courts. The Alexandra 

 case, after being carried to the House of Lords, 

 on appeal from the Court of Exchequer, AV is 

 decided against the Government, and the vessel 

 was restored to her owners (see page 350.) 

 Sufficient evidence of the building of cruisers 

 in France having come to the notice of the 

 American minister in that country, he has laid 

 the facts before the Government. Early in 

 1864, a document purporting to be the annual 

 message of Mr. Mallory, the secretary of the 

 navy, was published in many of the newspapers 

 of the United States and Europe, and by its 

 frank admissions of the contracts entered into 

 with foreign shipbuilders, was supposed to 

 confirm the above statements. It subsequently, 

 however, proved to be a forgery. 



