Daily Yellowstone journal., 1889-12-19
A BLOCKADE RUNNER.

stationed of Baton Rouge. Early in
January, 1858, ] was officially in
formed of my promotion to tile grade
of acting lieutenant. \ week later. by
order OF Admiral Farragut, | assumed
command of the w. q. Anderson,
then lying off the Pensacola navy
yard.
The Anderson was n beautiful clip
per bark, built in Boston for the Cape
of Good Hope trade, and had been
purchased by the United States gov
eminent in 1862. She had then been
fitted out as a cruiser. her decks
strengthened 10 carry an armament of
six thirty-two Founders, two twenty
four FOUNDER howit1ers. and a thirty
FOUNDER Parrot ritled gun on the fore.
castle, with a complement of ten Off
GERS and los men.
My orders were to proceed TO Texas,
10 join the feet engaged in the block
AIDE OF Arkansas and Matagorda bay.
This. was welcome news, us there was
a great deal of blockade running in
that quarter, which offered To us q fine
prospect for excitement and prize
money, Our Preparations were quick
ly made, and then we weighed an.
choE. saluted the flag officers pen
nant and were off for our station.
The first lew days passed quietly,
with nothing TO interrupt the usual
routine of sea life on board a man-of-
war. AS we were now in the direct
line Of the blockade runners bound
from the coast of Texas to Havana,
their favoritt port, | issued an order
that a lookout should be kept at each
masthead from daylight until dark.
The cry sail hoI' was constantly
heard from our vigillnt lookouts, but
the sails thus discovered proved, after
much chasing, TO be all legitimate
traders, or, at least, their papers repre-.
scented them 10 be such. aud we had
our labor for our pains.
As looked at u track. laid out on
the chart by the navigating officer, at
the end Of The fourth day. il rescmbled
Chimes puzzle much more than the
course of a vessel bound to a certain
point with a leading wind. We had
no further time To lose, and so | laid
our course direct for Galveston, where
! was to report 10 Commodore Bell
before going down to my station.
The following morning at daylight
was aroused us a boy, who reported
that the officer Of the deck had made
out "A schooner on the lee beam stand
lngJo Che -f"ytri, buU5I.Iou my
clothes. aus Ilrry.n ou deck, found
mi SHIP m4E,uyall Gshl sli iu cgusn.
The vessel DJs 50 .-r - ,cgWgrd Oi
u that h.r lull WIS scarcely visible
above lag horizon, but t4g Brgclr WIS
fresh and our canvas was drawing
well, Ual o ws55pgnupplTnat that We
were gIiAlugou her Us lar lime we
piped 90 hraE slast We Iai raised her
hull, aujl lclt confident OF overhaul
ing hcriu lcw uouls.
But It now became gyillul that the
schooner wa, by no means anxious
that we saD1ll come Ia CiOssrQulrlors.
and PROPOSED 90 prevent ii II possible.
Suddenly putting her helm up. she
k~cpt0way before The wind, aud crowd,
ed on canvas until she looked like "a
great white gull.
This move convinced US that we had
al last fallen into luck, aud that the
schooner was what We had been 50 dill.
igently secEing-a blockade runner.
To make assurance dOubly sure. | gave
the Parrot rifle It's extreme elevation,
and sent a she'll screaming down to-
ward her, NJ the sane tine hosting
ourcolOrs as q polite invitation for her
20 heuye to and allow us TO overhaul
her.
But our courtesy passed unDoticed,
and she displayed no co!ors ia return.
We followed her example in making
sail rs we squared away, aud every
yard Of duck that could be doomed out
from any part of the ship was brought
into play.
We wcro evidently gaining on our
chase, and all seemed To be going
well, when there was am ominous
sound Of Stating canvas, and, looking
aloft, | saw that the breeze was falling
Us. This was unfortunate, for "a stern
chase is p~royerbially "a lon" chase
The forenoon was we'll aloug and we
were still miles ustern OF tie schooner.
/ ordered thatull our sail, be hoisted
taut and sheetcd close horlc, bat the
wind continued 10 get lighter until
there WIS scarcely enough Ur0'le TO
give MS Storage way. Occasionally
we could feel "a slight puff Of air, and,
remembering the experience Of the
Constitution when chased by two Eng
lish frigate6 in 1918, L ordered that
whips be rugged aloft, aud the sails
thoroughly drcnched with salt water.
Still, with all our efforts, il was evil
dent that we were not materially les
SEEMING the distance between the two
vessels.
After consulting with my executive
officer, ! decided that my only hope Of
securing our prize before dark-as Of
course she could easily evado US by
night-was % send a party in n Of
the boats in chase. Accordingly Mr..
Bayley had his boat. the FIRST cutter,
called away, the crew carefully armed,
and a small Calling gun mounted in
the bow ~ the boat
The chafe was now, we estimated,
nearly six miles distant, and, as she
was all the time forging ahead several
knots an hour, there was a prospect Of
a good long pull fofit; but the bait