586 



PRIVATEERING. 



tion, who are to take charge of their safe keep- 

 ing ami support. A bounty of $20 is to be paid 

 for every person on board any armed vessel of 

 the United States, which shall be destroyed by 

 any vessel of equal or inferior force, and $25 

 for every prisoner brought into port ; five per 

 cent, upon all prizes to be retained by the Gov- 

 ernment, as a fund for the support of those dis- 

 abled in action and the families of those who 

 have been killed." Pursuant to this law, suit- 

 able instructions were issued. (See p. 138.) 



The announcement of this privateering policy 

 produced at the North, where there was so much 

 at risk, a great sensation, after it was seen that 

 the Confederates would be successful in obtain- 

 ing vessels, and were determined to do all the 

 injury possible to Northern commerce. 



The following privateers took out papers at 

 once; some of them were very unfortunate, 

 while others made many prizes. Among the 

 first was the Petrel, formerly the revenue- 

 cutter Aiken, which had been surrendered to 

 the Confederates iu Charleston harbor, and the 

 crew of which had volunteered under the new 

 government. This vessel had run the blockade, 

 but was no sooner at sea than she fell in, July 

 28, with the United States frigate St. Law- 

 rence, and was captured. The captain of the 

 St. Lawrence observed the Southern vessel in 

 the distance, and immediately hauled down his 

 heavy spars and closed his ports. Then, with 

 the men below, the old frigate looked very 

 much like a large merchant vessel, and the pri- 

 vateer bore down, hoping to take a good prize. 

 The commander of the Petrel, William Perry, 

 of South Carolina, gave the St. Lawrence a 

 round ball over her bows and some canister 

 over the stern, but the frigate sailed on as if 

 trying to get away, when the Petrel gave 

 chase, and when in fair range of the frigate the 

 latter opened her ports and gave the Petrel 

 a compliment of three guns, two of grape 

 and one of round shot. The latter was a 32- 

 pounder, and struck the Petrel amidships, be- 

 low the water line, and she sunk in a few min- 

 utes. Four of the crew were drowned, and the 

 rest, thirty-six in number, were rescued. Some 

 of the men, when fished out of the water, were 

 at a loss to know what had happened to them. 

 The suddenness of the St. Lawrence's reply, 

 the deafening roar of the guns, and the splinters 

 and submerged vessel, were all incidents that 

 happened apparently in a moment. 



The Calhoun, a side-wheel steamer, of 

 1,058 tons, was built in New York in 1851. 

 She is 175 feet long, 27 feet wide, 11 feet hold. 

 She was commanded by Geo. N. Hollins, for- 

 merly of the United States navy. She carried 

 one 24-pounder, and two 18-pounder Dahlgren 

 guns. By the 27th of May, she had captured and 

 sent into New Orleans two schooners, the John 

 Adams and the Mermaid, of Provincetown, and 

 the brig Panama. Their united crews numbered 

 63 men, and they had on board 215 bbls. whale 

 and sperm oil. She captured also the ship 

 Milan, from Liverpool, with 1,500 sacks of salt, 



worth $20,000 ; the bark Ocean Eagle, from 

 Rockland, Maine, with lime, worth $20,000; 

 and the schooner Ida, from Tampico, with fruit, 

 worth $5,000. The Calhonn was Commander 

 Hollins's flag-ship when the attack on the Union 

 fleet was made on the Mississippi, Oct. 11. 



The schooner William C. Atwater, Capt. Al- 

 len, belonged to New Haven, and was in the ser- 

 vice of the Government. The crew numbered 

 eight men. Off Cedar Keys, Florida, on the 10th 

 of May, she was captured by the steamer Spray, 

 which had on board thirty-one men, armed 

 with bowie-knives, revolvers, muskets with 

 bayonets, &c. The captors took her to Appa- 

 lachicola, where she arrived on the 13th of May. 



The Ivey, a small steamer of 200 tons, was 

 armed with two 8-inch rifled 32-pounder guns. 

 She captured the ship Marathon, from Mar- 

 seilles, in ballast, worth $35,000 ; and the ship 

 Albino, from Boston, with a cargo of ice, worth 

 $20,000. The armed steamer Murie captured 

 the Marshall Sprague, of Providence, from 

 Havre, in ballast, worth $50,000 ; and the ship 

 John H. Jarvis, from Liverpool, worth $10,000. 



The steamer Wm. H. Webb was formerly a 

 towboat in New York, where she was built in 

 1856 ; she is 650 tons, draws 7 feet water, is 

 197 feet long, 31 feet beam, 12 feet hold, and 

 was one of the strongest and largest boats of 

 that class. A few years ago she was purchased 

 by some of the New Orleans merchants for the 

 purpose of towing the heavily laden ships to 

 and from that city. She was converted into a 

 gunboat. She seized three vessels laden with 

 oil, on the 24th of last May ; since which time 

 she has remained quiet. 



The Dixie, a schooner of about 150 tons bur- 

 then, was fitted out as a privateer in Charles- 

 ton, from which place she ran the blockade on 

 the 19th of July, and on the 23d encountered 

 the bark Glen, of Portland, Maine, which she 

 at once made a prize. On the 25th she cap- 

 tured the schooner Mary Alice, of New York, 

 with a cargo of sugar, from the West Indies, 

 bound to New York, and placed a prize crew 

 on board ; she was, however, retaken by the 

 blockading fleet almost immediately after. On 

 the evening of the 31st the Dixie came up with 

 the Rowena, a bark laden with coffee, bound 

 to Philadelphia ; she was taken possession of, 

 and the captain of the Dixie himself took the 

 place of prize-master, and successfully reached 

 Charleston on the 27th of August, after several 

 narrow escapes from the vessels of the blockad- 

 ing fleet. She has since remained in Charleston 

 harbor. The following were the officers of the 

 Dixie : captain, Thomas J. Moore ; first lieuten- 

 ant, George D. Walker ; second lieutenant, John 

 W. Marshall ; third lieutenant, L. D. Benton ; 

 gunner, Charles Ware ; boatswain, Geo. O. 

 Gladden ; steward, C. Butcher. She had also 

 twenty -two seamen and a cook, and her arma- 

 ment consisted of four guns. 



The Jeff". Davis, early in June, appeared on 

 the eastern coast, running in as near as the 

 Nantucket Shoals, and making on her way prizes 



