Tales of Whalers in the Civil War 379 



inclement weather, I compelled my prisoners to 

 depart for the shore in leaky and unsound boats, 

 at a hazard of their lives, designing and desiring 

 to drown them ! And this is all the thanks I 

 received for setting some of these fellows up as 

 nabobs among the islanders. Why, the master 

 of the Ocean Rover, with his six boats and their 

 cargoes, was richer than the governor when he 

 landed in Flores, where the simple islanders are 

 content with a few head of cattle, a cast net, and a 

 canoe. 



"The Alabama had now two prizes in com- 

 pany [the schooner Starlight, a cargo carrier 

 bound from Boston to the Azores, had been taken 

 before the Ocean Rover appeared], with which she 

 lay off and on the island during the night, and 

 she was destined to secure another before morn- 

 ing. I had turned in and was sleeping soundly 

 when about midnight an officer came below to 

 inform me that there was another large ship 

 close on board of us. I was dressed and on deck 

 in a few minutes. The stranger was plainly visi- 

 ble, being not more than a mile distant. She 

 was heading for the island. I wore ship as 



