The Sun.
London, England, 1864-10-15 00:00:00

The Cruise of the Tallahassee.

The _Richmond Despatch publishes the diary given of the
officers of the Coifiderate cruiser Tallahassee. It was Sun-
day, Aug. 7, when Capt. Wood started from Wilmington;
and the historian of the Tallahassee tells us that it was "a
calm, quiet Sabbath day, and Captain Wood read service on
the quarter deck to all hands." It seems to have been an
occasion, too, for special thanksgiving, for though half a
dozen steamers gave chase during the day he escaped. On
Wednesday the Tallahassee, by mistake, gave chase to a
United States frigate, only aiscovering that the anticipated
prize was a man of war when the pursuer and pursued were
alongside of each other. On the following morning the Tal-
lahassee was within 20 miles of Long Island. The same
day was signalised by the capture of the pilot boat, No. 22,
of New York, which was at once turned into a tender to the
Tallahassee, and served for two days in that capacity, fairly
dividing the honours with the larger craft of bringing vessels
to. The emigrant ship Adriatic was soon fallen in with :
" All being clear, we moved ahead a short distance, and
Lieut. Gardner was sent on board after the captain and his
papers. In a few moments he came over the side with a
very confident air, feeling sure that he, being an English-
man, would be allowed to go on with his ship. This was
the Adriatic, from London to New York, with 163 passen-
gers. There was great consternation among these people
when told that the ship was to be destroyed, and they were
ordered to gather up their private baggage to go on board a
barque the ' 22' was then bringing in. I shall never forget
the scene, and yet it was a trifle compared to what-1 saw
when the enemy took possession of the town of Fredericks-
burg. Women and children wept, screamed, and prayed,
while men cursed, laughed, and got drunk, Two or three
elderly females went into hysterics, while others were run-
ningeo clasped
de
they could comprehend
hands, asking us to spare
them.
here
ll anwdasthseorme,ewtiitmh clafebthat we did not intend burning them with the ship; but
when they did all went quietly at work packing their things.
They were allowed to take everything they desired, and
frequently a whole boat was taken up by two or three per-
sons with their luggage. It was a bustling scene when they
came to go over the ship's side. The women were lifted into
,he boats as carefully as possible, and the disagreeable
_ _

business conducted as well, and better than could be ex
petted. Three or four men were so drunk they had to be
slung over the side, Capt Moore among the number. It was
with great difficulty he was got out at all, as he preferred
going to sleep in his bunk to the exertion of changing ships.
It took nearly two hours to clear her, and then she was
burned with her valuable cargo on board. The baggage these
people carried was of the strangest description—broken pots
bird cages, cats,
dogs, and
aannsd, joatrhs,ercrpoecktse,ryb,rocuragchktedwiythoses,
them from the Old
World. These they all insisted upon taking, but in many
instances had to be refused. Women, after having become
reconciled to leaving, went cheer fully enough, but became
obstreperous when not permitted to take an old straw
bed or a basket of dishes worth less than 5 dole. It
was a sad sight to witness the trouble of these poor crea-
tures, who in many instances had their all on board. Per.
haps one half the number were able-bodied young men, who
will be found, in a month's time, in the army of Virginia,
The barque Suliote, which was bonded, took the passengers
the captain if he wanted
overboard for him to pick
We 0 gave them some
acman
osdkr
eos , uotrf otherwwo aet
aesr
k, psarnwi sdoo
uns
elednr stb
ewon
to
thrown
owton board.
up. To this he made no reply, so we presumed he had
enough to last him in."
Here is an incident, entered under the date, Aug. 13 :
" It was scarcely daylight before two sail were reported,
and in a few moments both were alongside. One was an
English vessel, which, of course, we could not touch—
the other, the barque Glenavou, of Thomaston, Maine,
from Glasgow to New York, with a cargo of pig iron.
This was a fine new barque, with splendid spars and
double topsail yard. The captainhad his wife on board,—a
brave good woman, and a female servant. There were
two passengers in the cabin, an old sea captain and his
wife, the latter a perfect termagant, and very offensive to
all on board. Her tongue was never idle, and her time
about equally divided between abusing her husband, who
bore it like a lamb, and distributing testaments and tracts
among our men. The art of making everybody disagreeable
was carried to perfection with this horrible woman, and the
acoldings she gave the poor captain, who was tied to her
apron strings, struck everyone dumb with astonishment.
The last act of revenge on the poor man was just as she was
leaving the side, when the old lady, in a fit of anger, tore off
her new bonnet and threw it into the sea. We got a quan-
tity of mess stores from the Glenavon, a few luxuries, some
hams, a coop of chickens, and two pigs. After removing all
things of immediate service Lieut. Wald had her scuttled,
and she sank rapidly. 13.1 fore we were out of sight she went
down by the head, and sank for ever beneath the ocean.
It seemed a pity to destroy such noble craft, and I 1 .oked
upon our work with sorrow. I spoke of Mrs Watts, the
captain's wife. She was, indeed, a brave, sweet woman,
and bore her loss without a murmur, and, at the same time,
the taunts of the other female. Only once did she give way
to her feelings and then when speaking of their loss in con-
nection with her children. " Poor fellow,' said she, looking
fondly towards her husband, '6 he has been going to sea for
30 years, and all his earnings were in this ship. We were
saving for our dear little children at home, five of them,"
and then her eyes filled with tears, and a single drop
trickled down her still fair cheeks. She said that since
the beginning of the war she had read with sorrow of
the sufferings of the nob e Virginia ladies, and only
wished her loss might do them some good. This and
similar sympathising expressions, tree Zantippe threat-
ened to report to the police the moment they arrived in
New York. A Russian barque passed, and we bar-
gained with him to take the passengers into port, The
barque had three or four hundred German emigrants on
board, the males, undoubtedly,
army."
destined for the Yankee

The following passage is also worth quoting :
" Schooner Sea Flower overhauled and let loose on con
dition our prisoners should be taken into some port, there
being at this time a large number on board. Among them
was a genuine Yankee girl, some seventeen or eighteen
years of age, who was cook upon her father's vessel. She
was a good-looking, black-eyed girl, who, after her first
fright was over, was not unwilling to give her smiles to
a few rather handsome pirates,' who seemed disposed
to converse with her. One of these gave up his room to
her while on board, and this she insisted on putting to
rights before leaving, saying she had allers been accus-
tomed to work at home.' The males were much fright-
ened when first taken, but when assured they would be
well treated and soon returned, began to develop° their
Yankee traits—speaking in a very loud tone of voice, and
with a nasal twang, cursing, using slang words, and very
peculiar idioms, they caused us no little amusement. They
spoke of their wives as the old woman,' and the man who
said he would rather lose his wife than his schooner' was
not the only one who showed singularity in his conjugal
relations. ' That boat was all I had in the world,' said one,
and I've put five years' hard work in it. Now its all gone.'
6 Yes,' I replied, and your people have destroyed not only
what we have gained in our lives, but our ancestors for over
100 years.' They acknowledged the truth, but could not see
why they should be made to suffer for what others had done.
Singular enough we have not yet found a single man who
would acknowledge himself a lankee. They invariably
blyeliinegv.edltthmisagdaemvmaroynl,
claim to be Southern sympathisers,' allers have been friendly
and hoped
to the South'—all were opposed to the Government of Lin-
differ-
ence and the war, and a majority claim to have been threat-
ened with feathers and tar for their secession proclivities. I
once, however, what politics they had or professed—one
was treated as well as another, and all as prisoners of war."
The captures went on, and the first week out closed with
a list of 15 sail of various classes taken and destroyed. By
presumet
o get betterth they
yt
eha°tumgehntt we
ey
and by the coal began plies.et low, and it was determined to
run to Halifax for supp Several captures were made by
the way. At Halifax, however, Sir James Hope would per-
mit no repairs to be made in the craft, nor allow a sufficient
quantity
by instructions from Lord Lyons (who is described as the
creature of Mr Seward), even sent several armed boats'
crew alongside to see that his orders were obeyed, The
Tallahassee therefore left that inhospitable port and made
for the South. The diary closes as follows
"Thursday, 25th—The noise of the screw working
rapidly roused me soon after daybreak, and, by the
velocity of our motion, saw there was a chase, Upon reach-
ing the deck, saw a long, low, side-wheel steamer chasing
us. It was a slow craft, with two mast:, swinging gaff, and
high paddle boxes. We ran away from him with ease, and
in an hour had passed nearly around him and got on our
original course. About 7 o'clock he let.off steam and stopped,
some accident, probably, occurring to his machinery. He
repaired quickly, and came on after us, but in a few mo-
ments stopped entirely, and seemed permanently disabled.
At this time another steamer discovered us and gave chase,
coming down across our bows and gaining rapidly upon us,
Our course was changed, and, bringing him astern,we soon
left him behind, and in two hours completely out of sight.
We are now on the coast, and in the cruising ground of the
Yankees, but no vessels are in sight. Late in the evening
two sail are reported, neither of them steamers. The air is
very smoky, and there is every prospect of a successful run
in. At sunset took soundings between 30 and 40 miles off
the coast. Go on under easy steam in order to make the
lights on shore about 9 o'clock. A little later than that hour
they were distinguished, and we went slowly along until
the mound vertical lights were made out. Took soundings
within sight of a Yankee blockader, but were unseen our-
selves until we ran down across his bows, then going at
full speed, and headed in. In half an hour we had him
abeam, and received the first shot. Another followed, and
then we replied with the half pivot gun. It was a good
, shot, and the Yankee was oorapletelY bewildered, For five