Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1862-11-12
The Alabama, or $50.

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this pirate is equal to that which followed
the heappearance and performance Of the Mer-
rimae on the James river last spring. The
list Of his victims is daily increasing, and
he is fast becoming the terror Of the seas
to merchantmen and carrying steamers.
The public naturally feel an interest in
the proceedings of any such rowing des-
psrado, and all the information that can
be obtained Of him is read eagerly. The
Vanderbilt and Dacotah have lately left
New York on Especial service" which is
understood to mean, chase after the Ala
bama. The former has recently been fitted
up as regular man-of war, and bein~ of
great speed, will be likely to trouble the
pirate if she gets sight at him. But
here is tbe point. To hunt for the Alaba-
ma on the Atlantic Ocean is like hunting
for highwayman on an immense prairie.
The Atlantic Ocean contains, say 50,O00,-
900 square miles. Over all this the pirate
has free range. and a part Of his tactics
consists in never staying two days in
place. From the masthead of vessel,
with glass, he could be seen at distance
Of, say, thirty miles. A circular area of
sixty miles in diameter, or say 1000 square
miles, could, therefore, be commanded by
one pursuing vessel. Tha area Of the
ocean, divided by this range Of vision, will
show the number Of ships necessary to
have the whole ocean under surveillance,
which will be five thousand. But
the extreme northern and southern por-
tions of the Atlantic may be taken out of
this calculation, as they present but few
vessels to be captured. But even when
this is done, and the further fact taken in
TO consideration that there arc certain
tracks or highways upon the sea which
vessels follow, there will be still an i'm
mense advantage for the one object to be
found in all this vast waste. To this ad-
vantage there is another equally great
that the Alabama is said to have greater
speed than nine-tenths Of the war vessels
aaOat. But suppose this was not so, and
that the pursuing vessel would gain two
miles an hour upon the pirate. If he was
discovered thirty miles distant, it would
take fifteen hours sailing to overtake him,
and before that could be accomplished, his
chances would be good Of escaping in the
darkness. To partially offset this, it may
besaid that he would approach anypursuing
vessel near enough to ascertain its char
acter before turning to escape. But, all
things considered, the chances are de-
cIdedly in favor Of the pirate, and scores
of victims will doubtless he added to those
which have already fallen into his clutches,
before he is captured.
Beside the Vanderbilt and Dacotah it is
believed that five or six fast and we'll arm
ed gunbosts have been, or are to be, detach-
ed from the South Atlantic and West
India squadrons, to look after the bold
privateer." The Boston Traveller thinks
that she might easily be captured by the
use of several three, masted schooners
properly manned and armed The fact is
notorious that every vessel he has captur-
ed has been deceived by his appearance,
and that some of them, had they suspected
him could have eluded him; for thus far he
has has used only his sails. The Traveller
says that these schooners could both out
sail snd sail around the pirate. In addi-
ton to this advantage the schooner is
much lower in the water, and therefore an
uncertain mark to fire att while her OppO-
nent is high, and cannot well be missed;
and in the second place, the schooner by
her great breadth Of beam has more stabil-
ity.
Commodore Porter, of the Navy, has ez-
pressed his wish to go in chase of the
pirate in the ship Dreadnaught, with
which he would be confident Of efecting
his destruction, should he meet him.
C.B. Hardenburgh, first officer of the
bark Virginia, which was destroyed by the
Alabama on September 18th, writes to the
Boston Journal a description of the craft,
in which he discredits the reports Of its
great speed. We quote from his oOmmuni-
cation the following paragraphs. It will !
be seen that he speaks of the Alabama in
the usual feminine terms. Wehs7e used the
masculine as more consOuHnt with the ra-
pacity and blood-thirstinsss of the pirate
who commands her
81 have two reasons for thinkin 2 that her
rate Of speed under steam is not much
more than half what is currently reported.
The first Is her engine is only 400 nomi-
nal horse power, as I aseertained from good
Now take into consideration
the size Of the vessel, q, 400 tons, and the
engine viii be found too light to drive her
through the water at anything like the
rate sseribed to her. In the second place,
her propeller, which I had good oppor-
tunity to observe, has only flgo blades of
about eight feet stroke, not more; and am
Of the opinion that eight knots will be the
most that can be got out Of her under ordi-
nary circumstances, with steam alone.
Under sail, she Is certainly fast, but not
faster than very many Of our clipper ships.
Twelve knots was the fastest she went
while We were on board; but think, on an
emergency, two or three knots more might
have been obtained. Now, to the best of
my judgment, her rate Of speed should be
put, considering the most favorable cir
cumstanees, fifteen knots under sail, and
eight or nine under steam. This smart
ness, it must be borne in mind, will only
apply to her going ahead, for in stays she
is very slow, barely making out to tack in
smooth water; and as for wearing, sail
ing vessel like the Portsmouth or Constell-
alton would sail around her nearly twice