The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1891-06-07
A NAUTICAL EXPLOIT.

| Ou CDe UlOFIluS Oh march 10, IcOS, UT
Liverpool ship Emily ST. Pierre civilian
Wilson, captain) arrived within abou
twelve miles of Charleston and signalet
/ fer pilot. She had made long and tie
dious voyage of four months from Cal
! cutta, bound for St. John, n. B., calling a
I Charleston for orders, if Charleston wa
open. If the southern port was blockade(
/ Captain Wilson's orders were to proceed
direct to the British port of st. John, n
B. The ship had formerly belonged tx
! Charleston, but since the outbreak of tn,
civil war she had sailed under the English
| flag. Her nominal owners were Messrs
Fraser, Trenholm & Co., of 10 Rumfort
| place, Liverpool, firm doing an extensiv,
! business, who had very close relations with
| the Confederate or southern states, fol
| whom they acted as bankers and agents il
this country
The ship was hailed by vessel which
| proved to be the northern cruiser Jane:
Adger, and in response Captain Wilson
hauled up his courses, backed his main
yard and lay to. An American nava
lieutenant and q score of men came or
board and demanded his papers The
manifest showed an innocent cargo, 2,0O(
bales of gunny bags, and the registration
of the ship as English was in due order
The captain demanded permission to pro
coed, Charleeton being blockaded, to his
destination, the British port of St. John
The lieutenant refused, and referred the
matter to his superior in command; and
the two vessels proceeded into Charleston
rOadstead, where they arrived at 2:30 in
the afternoon.
Captain Wilson was ordered on board
the flagship of the blockading squadron, the
Florida, where he was kept for two hours
in solitude and suspense. At last a flag
officer, Captain Goldboro, came to him and
said they had decided to seize the Emily
ST. Pierre on several grounds. He asserted
that she carried contrabrand goods of war
namely. saltpeter; that her English regis
tration was not bona fide; that many arti-
cles on board had been found bearing the
name of Charleston, that the same word
had been scraped out on her stern and sub
stituted by the name Liverpool; that Cap
tain Wilson had not disclosed all his pa
pers, but had been observed from the
James Adger to throw overheard and sink
a small parcel, probably of discriminating
documents.
Captain Wilson protested, and appealed
to the maritime law of nations. But in
vain. He was informed that the law
courts of Philadelphia would adjudicate
the matter, and finally Captain Wilson
was invited to take passage in his vessel to
Philadelphia, and to place at the disposal
of the navigator his charts and instru-
ments. The invitation in form was in
fact a command. He returned to his yes
sci to find that his crew had all been re-
moved with the exception of two, who
were not sailors, the steward and an Irish
man named Matthew Montgomery, and
the cook, German named Louis Schelvin,
hailing from Frankfort-on-the- These
were merely passengers, and with them
was an American engineer who had OBJ
tanned permission to take passage to Phila-
delphia.
The prize crew who took charge of the
vessel consisted of Lieutenant Stone, of
the United States navy, in command, a
masters mate and twelve men-fourteen
In all; with the American passenger fif-
teen The moment that Captain Wilson
stepped again on board his own vessel he
formed a resolution to recapture her and
take her home. He was bold enough to
think that it might be possible to recapt-
ure the snip even against such odds. An
unarmed man, aided by the questionable
support of an Irish steward and Ger
man cook, was practically powerless
against the fifteen of the crew. On the
other hand, Captain Wilson was a
brawny, big framed Scotchman "a native
of Dumfriesshire), thorough seaman, de-
termined in resolve. cool and prompt in
action.
He called the steward and the cook to him
in his stateroom and disclosed the wild
project he had formed. Both manfully
promised to stand by their chief This was
at 4:30 on the morning of March 81, the
third day out from Charleston. Captain
Wilson had already formed his plan of OPP
erations, and had prepared to a certain ex-
tent for carrying it out With the promise
of the cook and the steward secured, he
lost no time, gave them no chance for their
courage TO evaporate, but proceeded ct
once in the darkness and silence of the
night to carry out his desperate undertak-
ing. He was prepared to lose his life or to
have his ship; that was the simple alterna-
tive
IL was Lieutenant Stones watch on deck.
and the prize masters mate was asleep in
his berth. The English captain went into
the berth. handed out the mates sword
and revolveSS, clapped a gag made of a
piece of wood and some MARINE between
his teeth, seized his hands, which Mont
gomery, the steward. quickly ironed, and
so left him secure. The lieutenant still
paced the deck, undisturbed by a sound.
Then across to another stateroom, where
the American engineer lay asleep. He was
also gagged and ironed silently and with
out disturbance His revolvers and those
already secured were given 70 the steward
and the cook, who remained below in the
cabin. Captain Wilson went on deck.
Lieutenant Stone was pacing the deck,
and the watch consisted of one man at the
helm, one at the lookout on the forecastle
and three others who were about the ship.
For ten minutes Captain Wilson walked
up and down, remarking on the fair wind
and making b ieve that he had but just
turned out e ship was off Cape Hat
teras, midway OF their journey between
Charleston and Philadelphia, the most
easterly projection OF the land on that
coast. 1t is difficult navigation there
abouts, with cross currents and a tendency
TO fogs, affording thetwo captains subject
Let her so free bit, Captain Stone;
you are too close 70 the cape, tell you,
and know"
ave have plenty OF oaing," replied the
lieutenant And then TO the helmsman:
"How's her heady"
Northeast and By east. sir" came the
reply ,.,