Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1862-11-05
Exploits Of the Confederate Steamer
s29on--Fourteen Vessels DESTROYED
with $1,000, 900 in Goods.


with $1,000, 900 in Goods.
The New York Herald publishes th1
statement of three masters of ships tha
have been burnt by the Confederate steam
er Alabama, {a290,") and says that Cap
tain Semmes, of the $780," has captured
and destroyed IA vessels, with 81, 600, ,00(
of cargo, and paroled and sent to the Is
land of Flores 19l prisoners
It is very evident, from all we learn from
Capt. Hagar, that the Alabama will, if no.
fallen in with, captured and destroyed, be
come the terror of the ocean. Her speed
appears to be unequaled both under steau
and sail. Her sailing qualities, ssreported
are superior to the speed of nine teuths oi
our steamers in the navy, and under steam
aud canvas combined, it will take the Van
derbilt or vessels of similar class, to do
anything with her in chase Her battery
is very formidable, equal to many in ouI
screw sloops of.war Of the second class, aud
vastly superior to any Of our suallervessels
She is in all respects an ugly customer, and
one that will destroy millions of property
before she is caught, if she is caught at all:
|, lu all cases where Capt. Semmes cap.
lures a vessel, he sends an armed boat on
board, and orders the unfortunate captain
ON board the Alabama, with his papers. On
his arrival, he is ushered into the presence
of the pirate Semmes, who receives him in
the most pompous and overbearing manner.
He is questioned as to the name of the
ship, where from, where bound, and the
character of his cargo. Capt. Hagar, in
reply to the latter question, said that some
of his cargo vas on English account. On
his giving this reply, Semmes scowled at
him, and remarked, "Do you take me for
a d-d fool? Where are the proofs that
part Of your cargo is on English accountS'''
= The papers, unfortunately, not having
tha Consular seal attached, were not con:
sidered proof, and the Brilliant and her
Cargo we're in consequence seized by Sem.
mes as prize.
Captain Hagar says that, however much
Semmes may have had the appearance of a
gentleman when an officer of the United
States Navy, he has entirely changed now.
He sports huge moustache, the ends Of
which are waxed 10 mannerto throw that
of Victor Emanuel entirely in the shade,
and it is evident that it occupies much Of
his attention. His steward wakes it every
day carefully, and SO prominent is it, that
the sailors of the Alabama term him "Old
Beeswax His whole appearance is that
Of a corsair, and the Transformation appears
to be complete from Commander Raphael
Semmes, United States Navy,eto combi.
nation of LATTE, Kidd and Gibbs, the
three most notorious pirates the world has
ever known. .r.
The officers of the Alabama are reported
as very dainty gentlemen. In plunderlng
a ship, they take nothing. but articles that
suit them. If repleuishipg their stores,
they invariably reject brown sugar, taking
nothing but the best loaf With kid gloves
it is the same-they refuse colors, and will
have nothing but pure white. And so it is
with them all the way through. They ap-
propriate everything they 6ud worth having,
and destroy the rest, and are pirates in eve.
ry sense of the word, except that they do
not take life-or rather, they have not yet
done so.
When Capt. Hagar left the Alabama,
there were between forty and fifty of the
different crews of the vessels she had des-
troyed still on board. They were confined
below in irons, in the most miserable con.
dition. They we're where every drop Of
rain fell on them, and every sea that came
aboard the vessel washed over them, and
the poor fellows were in terrible plight,
having lost everything with the vesseltbey
belonged to, the pirates permitting no bag
gage except the very smallest quantity, to
be brought away frou the prizes before they
were destroyed. They had the satisfaction
of knowing, however, that it could not be
long before they would be released, for
Semmes could not afford to have his ship
filed up with prisoners. 7 49,.
The plan that ssmmes has adopted to
bring fish to his net is as follows: 1t will
be seen at glance that the position he was
last reported in was in the track of many
vessels bound to and from Europe. This
is the position he hae chosen to do the
greatest possible amount of destruction, and
he certainly has been most successful
Whenever he captures a ship, after taking
from her all that he and his officers want,
be lays by her until dark, and then sets her
on fire. The light Of the burning ship can
be seen many miles, and every other ship
within seeing distance stands towards the
light, thinking to rescue number Of poor
fellows from destruction The pirate keeps
in the immediate vicinity, awaiting the
prey that is sure to come, and the next NOR.
mig the poor fellows, who have to serve the
cause of humanity, gone many miles out
of their course, find themselves under the
guns of the Alabama, with the certainty
that before another twenty tour hours they
will share the same fate of the ship they
came to serve.
This plan will enable him to destroy an
immense amount of property without much
cruising. He can lay 10 one position and
gather the ships around him during the
night ready for operations on the coming
day, for weeks to come for it will be
long time before his depredatiops can be
made known, so that our uususpecting mer.
chantmen will be on the look out for him
Again, he will be enabled to cruise for
an indefinite length of time; for he uses
no coal, depending upon his canvas entire.