The National tribune., 1910-05-05
INTERESTING NAvAn SKETCHES.
The Jaelics Have AN Inning. and Tell
of D0ings on the High Seas During
the Rebellion.

extending from operations on our owr
shores to Africa, Japan and the world
wide cruise of the rebel ship Shenan-
doah. Comparisons are also made be-
tween the old Navy and our Navy o!
to-day.
Capturing a Shaver.
+. G. Rundlett CFarragut's Fleet)
Lowell, Mass, writes~
I'm April. 1861, the u. s. sloop-of-
war Saratoga was near Kabinda, Afri-
ca. She was one of the African squad.
ron, comprising eight u. S. vessels. The
Saratoga was full-rigged sailing ship
of 9S2 tons, mounting Is guns, with a
Icrew of 144 officers and men, Com
mander Alfred Tayler. We had beer
watching the suspicious movements OF
the ship Nightingale, of Boston, Mass.
1 1,066 tons, Francis Bowen master. We
felt that she was waiting to take a
cargo of slaves and escape the vessels
iof our squadron. Several times our
own officers boarded her and made
!search, but could find nothing to war
rant her capture.
"On April 20, 1861, the Saratoga ran
into Port Kabinda. and found the
Nightingale there. A boats crew from
the Saratoga boarded her. and circum-
stances induced the belief that she was
preparing to ship cargo of slaves, but
WAS Sdlu ne put
to sea. Capt. Bowen, of the Nightin-
gale, Immediately commenced to stow
his cargo of slaves on board, little
dreaming of the trap the Yankee sail
ors had set for him. Capt. Bowen
thought the Saratoga had gone for a
cruise and that he could get the slaves
on board and escape to sea before the
vessel returned. Smart as Capt Bowen
was, what follows shows the men of
the Saratoga slept with their weather
eye open.
Under cover of darkness the Sara
tcga returned at 10 p. m. that night.
came to anchor and sent two boats,
under command of Lieut.. Guthrie, to
board the Nightingale by surprise,
which was successfully done. She al
ready had 961 slaves on board and eX-
pectng more. Lieut. Guthrie accord
ingly took possession of her as a prize
to the Saratoga. The Lieutenant was
then ordered to take the Nightingale
to Monrovia. Liberia, there to deliver
the slaves to the agent appointed by
the L. S. Government to receive and
provide for the Africans recaptured by
the cruisers. One hundred and sixty
died on the passage to Monrovia. Lieut..
Guthrie was then ordered to take the
| Nightingale to New York. Upon ar
| rival there he reported to the Com
mandant of the Navy Yard, and turned
the ship over to the u. S. Marshal.
Capt. Bowen and a Spanish gentle
man were captured by Lieut.. Guthrie
on board the Nightingale, but managed
to escape the second night, owing to
the ship being very short-handed. The
Nightingale left Monrovia, Liberia, May
13, and arrived at New York June Is
after a passage of 32 days. She was
short-handed, a good part of the Off
GERS and crew sick with the African
| ship fever; three of the crew died on
the passage and were buried at sea.
Some days only seven men could be
mustered for duty to work the big ship,
but the skill, pluck and hearts of oak
of the men of the U. S. Navy, 1861 to
1865, have never been outdone by any
navy of the world, and we kept mov-
| ing. This was the last SLAYER captured
| by our Navy"
Battle of Mobile Bay.
Henry Manwaring, Riga, Mich.
writes:
Il enlisted in Co. x, 18th Mich, Aug.
8, 1862, and served 81 months. Then
l made application, and got my trans
| fer to the Navy at Nashville, Tenn,
May, 1864, and at Cairo, ILL.,. went on
the receiving ship. 1 was assigned to
the monitor WiHnebago, a double-tur-
reted vessel.
The Winnebago arrived at New Or
leans about July 25, and was towed by
the u. S. S. Octorora to Mobile Bay to
| join Farragut's fleet, which twas wait
ing for the two monitors from New
York which arrived on Aug. 4. Farra-
CUTS fleet was comprised of IA wooden
ships and four monitors (two single
turreted, had two guns of 15-inch cali
ber and two double turrets of four
guns of 11-inch caliber).
II will name his IA wooden ships as
they went in by Fort Morgan. They
were lashed together, two by two, so
that if any one got disabled the other
could take it out of danger. The Octa-
rora was lashed to the Brooklyn, the
Metacomet to the Hartford, the Port
Royal to the Richmond, the Seminole
to the Lackawanna, the Kennebec to
the Monongahela, the Ptasca to the
Ossipee, the Galena to the Oneida. The
monitors went between the wooden
ships and the fort as they passed in.
The Tecumseh struck a torpedo and
sunk instantly, and it was said that
there were over 100 men on her.
THE rebel fleet comprised three gum
boats and one ironclad ram, Tennessee,
very formidable vessel The three
rebel boats were the Selma, Gaines and
| Morgan. We captured the Tennessee
and the Selma. While we were cap
turing these the Gaines slipped out of
our reach up the bay to Mobile. The
.
was set on fire. So ended the great
battle of Mobile Bay, Aug. 5, 1865.
| Some time after the battle of Mo-
bile Bay we shelled the shores along
the bay where there was some timber.
We were drifting along. not using much
steam. One of the engineers came into
the fireroom and said to me: Don't
| fire so hard; there is no use of it,
let the fires go down more than / in
tended to, and the steam got quite low.
All at once our commander rang three
bells for full speed, but we did not have
the steam for him. He called out:
| Whose watch was it in the fireroom p
and some one told him 1t was mine. We
soon had a good head of steam, so that
our commander could go on his way
full speed.
1.-The next morning John Cogger. our
| IMaster-at-Arms, called me, and said
he had orders to tie me up, which he
did. My feet and ankles were so swol-
len the next day that 1 could hardly
walk. They looked as If they had the
dropsy. There were two others tied up
at the same time for some trif1ing Of
fense. 1t seemed to be a hobby of his
to tie people up for every offense.
Il would like to explain what tying
up means: A frame ran around the
after part of the deck; posts were set
about four or five feet in from the out
side of the boat; this frame was high
enough to clear a mans head; the man
is handcuffed, a rope is tied into the
handouts and run over the frame, and
his hands are drawn up as high as they
can be. Our commander Crank was
Lieutenant-Co -Commander) was C. C.