The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1875-12-17
Il HEROIC SAILOR.
A WHALING VOYAGE ABANDONED TO SAVE
THE VICTIMS OF A PRIyATEER

WASHINGTON, December 9-In the
/ Court of Commissioners of Alabama Claim.
/ to-day in the case of VIM. Phillips VS. the
/ United States, the opinion of the Court
was delivered by Judge Jewell as follows
This is claim made by the owners of the
! bark Richmond for compensation for the
use of the said vessel and damage for con-
sequent loss of the ''catch'' of the same.
1t appears that the bark Richmond was in
the month of June, 1861 in the Northern
Pacific Ocean, near Behring Straits, pur-
suing the whaling business. The Con
federate cruiser Shenandoah had captured
large number of whalers, and among
them the bark Generae Pike. The others
had been burned and the General Pike
spared, and the officers and crews of the
other vessels, to the number of 252, placed
on board of her for conveyance to the
nearest port which they might be able to
reach. The last of these captures was on
the twenty eighth day of June. On the
first day Of July the captain OF the Rich
mond felt himself compelled to take on
board Of bis own vessel a portion of the
officers and men from the General Pike
under circumstances fully detailed 10y him
in a statement annexed to the petition,
which is as follows. He also added the
statement of the master:
STATEMENT OF THE MASTER OF THE RICH
MOND.
We left Honolulu in the bark Richmond
bound on a whaling cruise to the Arctic
Ocean. While in the prosecution of such,
an, al = e
Straits, we came up with a whale ship on
fire not knowing the cause of it | began
saving such articles as | could from the
wreck, as she had drfted into the ice, and
her mast falling over the side. 1 found |
could save many articles valuable to the
use of my own bark, and as the wind was
against me | was not losing much time by
So doing. W hIle doing this a ship came to
me with all sail set, steering to the sou h
ward, hailing me as he passed by and tell
ing me there was a pirate close at hand, at
the same time advising me to flee as he was
doing, for probably all that remained would
be destroyed. But Oh due consideration |
determined not to leave, for | would as
quickly lose the ship as to go without oil.
| came to the conclusion [ would await a
southerly storm or foggy spell usual at such
times of the year and take advantage of
the opportunity and get through the Straits
in spite of the Shenandoah, as it proved to
be. My experience in those waters would
enable me to do this. W hile waiting for
favorable opportunity to do this we raised
a sail III the north coming towards us.
few hours after the wind died away, and
boat was lowered from her and came i'll
pursuit of us. Coming alongside | was
surprised to see so many faces of ship
masters. They had been taken by tue
Shenandoah and put on board the General
Pike. They stated they were crowded and
suffering from want of room, &c. They all
joined IN begging me for the sake of hu-
manity to relieve them. | went on board
of the Genaral Pike to see for myself, and
found they had not m;srepresented the
matter. | next retained to my own vessel,
consulted with my officers and came to the
conclusion we ought to relieve them. |
then told the ship masters and prisoners
that if they still insisted on my taking a
portion of them and would give me the
same i'll writing with their signatures,
which was agreed to and signed by all the
ship-masters, | dare not do otherwise.
Under such conditions | had to submit.
They put on board of me fifty-two men,
and with those | sailed for Honolulu, there
by losing my season.
(Signed) w. p. WEEKS, Master.
STATEMENT OF MASTERS.
AT SEA, Jnly /. 1S65.-We, the under
signed, do soemnly swear that r..ships were
burned by The pirate Shenandoah, and we
are placed, with our crews, on board of the
bark General Pike, 252 men, all told, and
being afraid of sickness on account of the
c-owded state OF the ship, we requested Cap
tain We ks of the bark Richmond, to take
some OF our men, which he kind Y consented
to do out of humauity's sake.
O. G. Robinson, Captain bark Gypsey.
Huson Wlnslow. Captain bark Isabella.
VIM. II. Phillips, bark Cathariue.
+. ). Reuteld, brig Susan A bagaii.
James NJ. Clark bark Nimrod.
+. II. Cooley, bark VIM. c. Nye.
VIM. Benjamin, ship General Williams.
Hebron NJ. Crowoll, bark General Pike.
The conduct of the master of the Rich
mona, shown in this statement, i'll re-
fuSing to flee from the Shenandoah, saying
he would Gas quick lose his ship as to go
without OIL, :" supporting his declaration 10y
his action i'll remaining, and in finally yield
ding 10 the considerations of humanity,
what he would not yield to fear, is worthy
of the highest praise. His desire of max
ing cargo of oil was greater than his fear
of capture by the Shenandoah. What fear
could not constran him to do, feelings of
did. After a careful examination
of the necessity he voluntarily abandoned
his own adventure to save the lives of the
officers and men pat in peril upon the
overcrowded General Pike. Nothing more
honor bic or praseworthy has been shown
in all our hearings. Can the Court make
compensation for the loss thereby incurred?
We are compelled to say that under no
view of the act of Congress creating this
Court can we find authority so 10 do. The
claims admissible before must be such
as directly result from damage caused by
the SO called insurgent cruisers. In two
cases heretofore considered by where
vessels we're captured by the Alabama, aud
the crews of other vessels put on board for
transportation to a port OF discharge, we
have awarded compensation for such COM
pulsory service, but both these vessels had
been actually captured. Here there was no