The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1897-05-29

| crew grew Urea VI luuolnS ABOUT the seas
and had put into Gibraltar to refft and
get little rest.
One morning the Kearsarge appeared
off Gibraltar and found the long looked
for Sumter at anchor in the port. OF
course she was in neutral harbor and
we could not touch her, but she did not
dare to go to sea while we were there,
and so her DAYS were ended. Finally Cap
tain Semmes grew weary of waiting for
us to get out of the harbor and allow him
to put to sea on his mission of destruc-
ton, and SO he sold what remained of the
old Sumter to the highest bidder and
taking his crew left her and started for
England. One morning, Captain Pick
eflng, who commanded the kearsarge
started for the dock in his barge, and
went III her to buy twenty-five bolts of
canvas for the ship. I had now been
transferred from bo'swain to the position
OF sail makers mate and spent about all
my time in refitting the Kearsarge's sails
and IN making windsails, awnings and
other things of the kind. When we got
along side the dock Captain Semmes
pulled up alongside of us from the Sum
ter. He greeted Captain Pickering and
said to him: "You've got us this time, but
when | meet the Kearsarge again 1 shall
| be ready to fight you. And when 1 do
| fight you, Semmes went on to say,
l shall lick you until you haven't plank
to stand on
Captain Pickering made some reply to
| Semmes which l do not recall, but before
he. left the dock Semmes saw me in the
boat and said: Old man you are fighting
on the wrong side. If I remember your
face you were once with me in the old
navy 9s
| 81 told him that was on the Iowa
when he was her lieutenant, and he said:
You were on the right side then, but you
are on the wrong side now.
"He was one of the incest men I ever
served under, and a better officer never
walked the deck of a ship. He was brave
one too and would fight until he hadn t
a shot in the locker.
| ''Well, Mr.. Carey went on, the old
| Sumter was no more but Semlnes was
still abroad and while he was about the
government felt uneasy and knew that
it would not be long before he got an
citizenship and once more begin to prey
on the American shipping. When Semmes
said that he would soon have another ship
every one believed him and it was not
| long before he fulfilled his promise. He
| went to England with plenty of money
he soon had built one of the fastest and
best ships that ever foated. She was
built at Liverpool and Semmes told Sthe
| Englishmen that he intended to use her
| for the merchant service. But though the
Englishmen were fooled the Americans
knew just what she was being built for
| and did their best to stop her getting out
| of the harbor. Her small hatchways
heavy decks and sides might have warned
the Britishers that she was intended for
purposes of war, not peace, but England
was not very friendly to theUnited States
| and her officials closed their eyes while
| Semmes went on with his preparations.
I have heard tell how Semmes got out of
| Liverpool and l think it was pretty smart
1t seems that an old salt visited the ship
| while she was in the dock fitting out and
| looked her over bit. He looked at the
| small hatchways, shot racks and maya
zines and surveying the hammock hooks
on the berth deck said: You'll carry a
big crew for merchant man. The peo-
pie on board said that they intended to
carry a large crew and tried to explain
why it was, but the old naval officer
would not listen to them. He went on
deck and saw some heavy oak planks ly-
ing there. What are those things fort?
he asked The officer who was following
him about the ship, said: we intend to
use [those as anchor stocks The old
naval man shook his head and replied:
They wouldn't make bad gun platforms,
sir And this was just what they were
intended for.
'sSemmes grew anxious and was in a
hurry to get away from Liverpool, with
his ship which was then called No 300.
He was closely watched SO he invited a
large party of ladies and gentlemen on
board and then told people he was going
to run his vessel down the river on trial
trip When he got near the mouth of the
river he put his passengers off on tow
boat and stood out to sea. This is the
way the Alabama began her cruise, for
No. 300 became the Alabama just as soon
as she got outside. AT Nassau she fitted
out with her guns and began to cruise
about for merchantmen. She swept the
American sails from the sea and for two
years was scourge of the ocean.
"Of course we heard all about this on
the old Kearsarge and every one was
anxious to get at Semmes and his new
ship. There were IA dozen Or more men
| ofwar cruising about looking for her,
and two or three times she was nearly
caught, but she always got away in safe
ty. Captain Pickering who then com
manded the Kearsarge was very hard
man to get along with, and the one hun
dred and sixty men on board this ship
were in trouble all the time. They hated
Pickering worse than they did the old
satan himself, and he seemed to hate his
men as badly as we hated PICKERING