The Portland daily press., 1867-04-19

The Confederate Cruiser, shen andoah
One of the officers of this pirate vessel-C Cor
nelius E. Hunt, who pretends to give the 1plain
unvarnished narrative of sailor" has written
a book, published by Carlton, detailing q his
tory of the career Of the Shenandoah, from the
time of her being fitted out in England to her
return to that country which sent her forth
upon her piratical mission.
We have not seen the book, but copy the fol-
lowing from notice in the New Bedford Mer-
cury That part of the narrative especially in
teresting in this meridian, says the Mercury, is
the account of the burning of the whaleships.
Mr.. Hunt is, in the main, complimentary to
our whalemen, some of whom, he says fare the
noblest, most high minded and generous men
belonging to the great brotherhood of seamen -
When on the 2sth of June 1865, the pirate-ves-
sci made herself known to the whaleships
gathered about the Brunswick, in Bhering g
Straits, "all," he says, was CONSERVATION: -
and then follows this amusing account of the
plucky conduct ofCaptain Young, of the Bark
Fayorite: i3 a+f "'t
81 said all was CONSERVATION, but that state
ment needs qualifying; for on board one ship,
oiAo AdFotitC, euCA0 was AOtIiluB Ol VIC SOTC.-
AS soon as it dawned upon her grim old Cap
tain that wolf in Sleeps clothing had strayed
into their fold, he mustered his men on deck.
armed them with muskets, got up his old bomb
gun, an instrument made use of by some YES
sells to discharge the harpoon into whales and
stood resolutely on the defensive, a cutlass in
one hand and an old fashioned navy revolver
in the other. 5I a.tt 1.t rtfe ri
"Boat ahoy!" he beloved, as soon az our
little craft was within hailing distance.
"Ahoy' responded the officer in charge
somewhat taken aback. H 7r
"Who are you and what do you want?" was
his next salutation. .-
"We come to inform You, that your vessel is
prize to the Confederate steamer shenando-
ah." -rsd.lra ras.fa i " .r1a m.
I'll be id if she is, at least Just vet; and
now keep of, or I'll fire into you"
The old Spartan began to squint along his
bomb gun, and the men to handle their mus
kets in such a decidedly business-like manner
that it was perfectly apparent that he intend
ed TO carry his threat into execution.
Seeing this, the officer in charge of the boat
hailed our ship, reported the state of things,
and wished to know if it was the Captains de-
sire that he should board her in spite of resist
ance. ......r. . - .a
Captain Waddell ordered the boat back to
the Shenandoah, which Immediately steamed
towards the contumacious Yankee and ranged
alongside. F-' rri ,1l c.7
The skipper still stood by his bomb gun with
bis forces drawn up on deck, as though he act
ually meditated fighting it out.
"Haul down your fagp shouted the officer
of the deck, as soon as we were near enough for
his voice to be heard ON board the stranger.
Haul It down yourself! Cd d-n you'll"
was the plucky response, "if you think it win
be good for your constitution.n Dou
eff you don't haul it down, We'll blow YOU
out of water in five minutes.,' goir
"Blow away, my buck; but may I be eter
nally blasted If baul down that flag for anv
cussed Confederate pirate that ever loated y
was the defiant rejoinder a
Capt. Waddell stood an amused spectator of
this scene, and SO much did he admire the old
fellows bravery, though much could not he
said for his discretion, that he would not per
NIT shot to be fired into his ship, but des-
patched an armed boats crew to bring him off
The closing chapters of the book show up the
meanness Of the pirate captain, who was guilty
of appropriating to his own use money whicn
belonged to his officers