page_title: William H. Face
section_title: Strelok incident
hierarchical_section_title: William H. Face / Career as a Virginia Pilot / Strelok incident
caption_attribution_description: see picture
context_page_description: William Haley Face served as Acting Master of CSS Teaser during the Battle of Hampton Roads. He was also at the center of an international incident in 1885 when, serving as a pilot with the Virginia Pilot Association, he was abducted by the Captain of a Russian warship.
context_section_description: In late April 1885, at the height of the diplomatic crisis between England and Russia known as the Panjdeh incident, Face was forced by Captain Nicholas Skrydloff of the Russian corvette Strelok to assist in that ship's stealthy exit from the Norfolk, Virginia harbor in order to evade the English man-of-war Garnet, which had been assigned to keep tabs on it. After a night on the town in Norfolk, including attending a concert with three of his officers, Skrydloff returned to his ship and summoned Face, indicating his intention to set sail in a few hours, at 2:00 the next morning. Face replied that he would be back in plenty of time, but the Russian officer insisted that the pilot come on board at once. The Richmond Dispatch reported that Skrydloff suggested in broken English, "You sleep late pelot " – adding with a shrug of the shoulders – "Come on board to-night." Having finally relented, Face was shown to his cabin, but no sooner had he taken a seat, than he sensed the ship was underway. Making his way to the pilot house, Face observed that Strelok's lights were out, and before long she was proceeding at full speed with all sails deployed and her engines "doing their best." Face informed Captain Skrydloff that he was breaking the law, to which the Russian responded with a laugh, "all right, pelot, it is so funny, you know." The newspaper reported that Skrydloff "laughed till his sides shook with enjoyment. The pilot couldn't see the fun, but he had nothing to do but to keep under way."
  Strelok would pass within a half mile from Garnet off Fort Monroe, but the British apparently never caught sight of her. The commander "kept laughing and declaring it was so funny," slapping Face on the back, the Dispatch reported. Fortunately, and with some difficulty, Face was able to be put off some six miles out to sea, but only because Strelok happened upon one of the Pilot Association boats.
  The Strelok incident was headline news in major newspapers, as journalists relished reporting Captain Skrydloff's clever evasion of Garnet.
  After leaving Norfolk, Strelok sailed to New York harbor, soon to be followed by Garnet. Within some weeks, diplomatic temperatures had cooled, allowing Strelok to return to Russia. 
  The following year, Strelok symbolically healed the rift between the two nations, when she joined in a salute to the fourth Duchess of Edinburgh during her visit to Marseilles, France – the Duchess being the daughter of Russian Czar Alexander III and the daughter-in-law of British Queen Victoria.
  Skrydloff went on to become the "bulldog admiral" of the Czarist navy, commander of the Baltic Fleet and Russian Navy Minister.
  Three years after the Strelok incident, William H. Face's son and fellow Virginia Pilot, George Washington Face, was also abducted by a foreign ship captain, John Owens in command of the British steamer North Erin, who evaded a U.S. marshal and absconded to Liverpool with $14,000 worth of cotton. George Washington Face was forced to cross the Atlantic twice before returning to Virginia a month later.
caption: Nicholas Skrydloff as an admiral in the 1904 French journal Soleil Du Dimanche
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