Wilmington journal., 1864-09-01
From the aifex, n. s., xorine Chronicle, 10Th nss.
Confederate Cruiser Tallahass.s.

Yesterday morning considerable futter was crea-
ted n the ccmnuuity BY the appearance OF a strange
armed Vessel, OF lakish appearance, ot the Market
Wharf Upon inspection the visitor proved to be the
Confe5f rata ceuzr Tallahassee, which has within the
short space Of weve Gays made extensive havoc
Fedey al merchant -eRses Of Sandy Hook, New York;
Port land, Maine and in the vicinity OF Gaze Sable
Thu tallahassee is iron Gamer OF about 500 tons
hrrthen, has pOperfn engine aud is furnished with
+po SCREWS a.d g the swftest steamship in the
Confederate service, being capable under heavy pes
sure OF steam, Of making from 8 TO 20 miles hour.
Her sides aud smoke stacks painted white and her
bottom red. She carries two formidable swivel guns,
one at the bow and another at the stern, ard piece of
brass ordnance OF smaller cabre forward her nremast.
The Tallahassee is commanded by Captain John Tay-
lor Wood said to be :. phew to Jeferson Davis,
President OF tha Conrdsae States, fnd has crew of
upN ards OF oDe hundred She .was built in Lon-
don E1g land about two pears and half ago, end was
for some time employed successfully in running the
blockade into and from Wilmington. She was fitted
out as The latter port from which she sniled
on the 9Th the present month"; and has since captur
ed burned or bonded less than thirty three Federal
| merchantmen and fishing craft.
| of Sandy Hook, in day, the cru!zer captured
and destroyed six vessels, of them being the large
ship Arctic with which in rounding to colided with
the steamer carrying away the mainmas of the latter
| but doing no other damage. Between Sandy Hook
and Cane Sable several email craft fell a prey to the
vigilance of he cruzr aud the latter place she
took and Destroyer seven vessels and landed their
! "a Yarmouth, II. s. On Wednesday night between
turnt three small American schoonere and put their
crews ashore at point on the coast This cruzar
appears to be Wei cfhcered and Judging from the ap
pearance of things good discipline is raintained
board. The engines we were informed by one of the
officers under the control of the best and most ex
perienced engineers whose services it possible
secure, and the fire department is most efficiently
aged. In the cabin large number of shipss chro
noneiers, ard variety of valuable articles including
many swords and small arms. There are too several
cases of clothing which, with other commodities,
taken from the craft captured during the cruze. The
officers say they do not fear all the Federal men.owar
tha may be sent in pursuit of them, their steamer is
much s9iiter than any formidable gunboat in the
i Northarn Navy, and respects lesser craft
they count upon being match for them
| in case OF contest. In coming out of Will
bockadng squadron and several shots were exchanged
but the contest n speed was very unequal one, the
Federal gunboat gave up the chase and the crui-
zer continued her On nearing Halifax Har-
Dor, Wednesl lay night, the Tallahassee sighted the
steamer Franc0na from this port for Prince Eward but
the commander of the former presumng that the lat
ter British mail and passenger vessel, did not mo-.
lest her. Had the czer not been short of Goals she
would doubtless have met with and destroyed many
more vessels in the vicinity of Cape Sable, but in
sequence of the small quantity of fuel on board the
tain was reluctantly compelled to make direct for this
port to procure supply, and was therefore not in
position to justify him in spendng much time in search
ing for shipping although he captured every Federal
vessel be met with in his course from Wilmington to
/ this city.
/ Yestesday afternoon the Tallahassee toged BY
/ lie Neptune over to Woodslde wharf, the Dart
mouth shore, and during the evening took board
large quantity of Goals from the Prussan brig Marie
Grefswold Soon after the cruiser arrived here the
author tiles communicated with her commander notify