Tales of Whalers in the Civil War 381 



bound by way of the Azores and Cape de Verde 

 Islands to the Indian Ocean. She was only six- 

 teen days from port, with files of late newspapers; 

 and beside her own ample outfit for a large crew 

 and a long voyage, she had on board supplies for 

 the group known as the Navigators' Islands, in 

 the South Indian Ocean, where among icebergs 

 and storms the Yankees had a whaling and seal- 

 ing station. . . . We paroled the officers and 

 crew of the Alert and sent them ashore in their 

 own boats as we had done the others. 



"I now had three prizes on my hands, and as 

 I could make no better use of them, thanks to 

 the unfriendly conduct of neutrals, ... we had 

 three funeral pyres burning around us at the 

 same moment. The other whalers at a distance 

 must have thought that there were a good many 

 steamers passing Flores that day. There was 

 more work for us ere night set in. Another sail 

 was discovered standing in for the island. We 

 proceeded to meet the stranger, who was standing 

 in our direction. The ships approached each 

 other very rapidly, and we soon discovered the 

 new sail to be a large schooner of unmistakable 



