Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1886-04-09
A GREAT NAVAL DUEL.


NJ Kell, executive officer of the Alabama,
and Mr. p d. Uavvo,d. one of the Ala.
-, -, rhI. ,>,,-. =, a., ur, two
oA'na ~ -. h,, NJ
on one siue anu one ON tne o'nei' uu' W.
Haywood seems more like an observer oi
the American domestic quarrel than like an
advocate, His few pages, which are of un-
usual interest and anuarently of no little |
his,oric yaIna la, 4, a astrikinir light upou |
the M.bama's cruisa some poetical rub
b;sb ,iisapnears ami we see an English |
sbin pnttinv to sea from an English port
manned by an Fnplsh crew, and after
ward supnlied with English guns and am |
munitIon. the Confederate addition to her
being her flag, her officers and her iu-
structions for warfare upon American mer-
chantmeu, Her career closed when she en-
countered the Kearsage with American guns
and ON American crew, and was sent to the
bottom.
MIR Haywood, who was dragged out OF the |
water when the ship went down, by "a
brswny fellow in petticoats and top boots |
belonging to a French pilot boat that came |
to the rescue of the swimmers, says that |
what astonished him when he reached Cher |
bourg was to find Engiishmen there plying |
HIM with questions, designed TO depreciate |
the Kearsarve's victory
"One grim old tar who had been quarter |
master in the roysl navy, and was saved |
with me, said to the point I'VE was whipped |
because she was better ship better manned,
had better guns, better served that's about
the size of il and he walked away. 1 have
seen somewhere an account OF the taking of
the Hstteras. that made IL a daring achieve
ment. To sneak up to an enemy under n
false hail and pour in broadside of metal
much heavier than she could returp-surely,
no English sailor will see ANYTHING to the
national credit in this The poor show we
made with the Kearsarge however, disposed
Of the glory we achieyed in burning de-
| feuceless merchantmen
! When Haywood signed In Liverpool the
| articles that made him one of the crew of the
n2qO,r afterward the Alabama. the shipping
master warned him against Yankee spies
and assured him that Great Britain would
| soon declare war against the United States:
| Next day went aboard, and liked the
| look of the vessel. Everything, to a prsc-
ticed eve indicated the character of the shin
| No platforms were laid, but the places for the
| pivot guns were plainly marked her maga-
| Zines were finished and shot boxes were ly-
| ing about
At Terceira an English bark brought her
guns and war material, and more men and
| the captain came by another vessel Then,
leaving Angra on a Sunday morning, the
Britons for the first time saw the flag they
were TO fight under, and heard the first Of
Semmes' exhortations
| "He told us, among other things, that
Providence would bless our endeavors to free
| the South from the Yankees, &c. 4 boats
swain's mate behind me growled, .Yass,
| Providence likely to bless this yer crew y
| During the night some one ornamented a
bread bag with a terrific skull and crossbones,
| and managed to fasten ii to one of the mizzen
| braces. In the morning the master. at arms
| WAS hunting for the delinquent, but the men
| only laughed at him and suggested that
| sChucks, the marns,' had been at his tricks.
| / bad been looking over the crew and made
up my mind that, on the whole, had never
| been on a ship with such bad lot They
were all sailors from clew 10 earing-no hay
makers among them--but they were mostly
| of that class, found in seaport towns all over
the world, that ship for the run (from port
| to port), and not for the voyage, and are
always q rough, mutinous set. They did not
seem to care for the ships officers, and were
determined to stand no 'mau-o'-war dickey'
| from them"
| The wonder is that Capt Semmes accom-
| plished so much. Mr.. Haywood acknow-
| lodges his Judgment and resolution" as
| shown by twenty-five months of success, and
| in First Lieutenant Kell he had fine execu
tive officer. Hazng and fighting were not
| uncommon, and Mr.. Haywood owns to hav.
| ing nearly " battered the life out" of ship
mate who cut his hammock down as joke.
~ was duly reported, " he says, 'and lost my
| grog for ten days, but was not dumped any
more" Prisoners were always well treated
except that " the wanton destruction of the
: clothes and effects of captured sailors was
, simply disgraceful." The original songs oi
the crew were mostly squibs on the captain
and his officers :" but the last effort OF the
nautical muse expressed general yearning,
and in its statement that "we're homeward
bound, and soon shall land on English
ground ; but ere that English land we see,
| we first must lick the Kersargee."