Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-01-05


n lantic for miles around as the
III leaping flames roared and cracked
through the old whaler, making
a furnace of the decks soaked
with whale oil and the tarred rigging that
burned like finder. Not far away the glare
revealed q trim, low-lying craft, with the
black muzzles of cannon peering from her
Portfolios and her rail lined with the faces
of men.
Most of the men were jubilant, and were en-
joying the bonfire like pack Of schoolboyS but
a small group in the lee scuppers their hands
manacled, guarded by sailors with pistols and
cutlasseS, wore black looks Of hate, and whis-
pered curses on the raiders who were sending
Btheir good ship up in smoke and flame.
One of the prisoners, Quaker boy, who,
for all that. tugged at his manacles and wished
he could kill the captain of the raider, is living
today and shows his grandchildren the very
handouts that, luckily for his neck restrained
his mad desperation on that lurid night
The burning ship was the whaler Altamaha,
out of Marion, Mass, commanded by Capt.
Rufus Gray, and the raider was the Con-
1ederate cruiser Alabama, commanded by Capt.
Raphael Semmes, or, as his own men called
him behind his back, "Old Beeswax." The
Spectacular marine bonfire just OF the
Azores, had two objects in view-one was to
destroy the ship because it was o Yankee craft,
and the other was to attract other ships TO the
Scene as further prey. Both aims were success
fuI, and it was not long before another crew Of
Yankee whalers joined the men Of the Alta
Hnaha in the lee scuppers and saw their ship
disappear in the same fashion.
THE Quaker boy was Matthew Hitler, q fine,
l. outstanding fellow Of "a then, now an i'm
bressive veteran of 80. who remembers that red
might as If it were yesterday. He lives by the
Bea in the little fishing village of Mattapoisett.
Mass. on q street of sailors, q street racy OF
Tu0 iced cad nm tn
square paneled door, and behind that door
lives the old captain smoking his faithful pipe
and dreaming OF the rough days when q sailors
life was q man-size job His bristling browS
shade stern but faded blue eyes that struck
terrOr to many q rebelliouS sailor in days gone
by-A fine figure OF man who has lived a full
Rnd vigorous life.
His story covers the history and color of the
great days of the old whalerS, through the
struggle of the Civil War, on down to our own
time. During this one lifetime he has seen
Balls give way to steam, and steam tending to
give way to motor driven ships. The carly pic
turesque and romantic pioneer days of America
are gone, but theirs is the tale of the making of
o nation
Few left now who ever trod the deck of
the famous Alabama, and few indeed, who felt
her handouts their wrists. Not one other
man, it is safe to say, can show you the actual
manacles he wore on her decks. For some two
years the Confederate raider ranged the seas
and in that time she burned 81 vessels of all
sorts before she sunk by the Kearsarge
Three of the ST Capt. Hitler saw go to their
doom.
One cold Winter evening when the sea wind
was curling around the corner of the little
street, as if whispering softly to itself tales of
secret ocean mysteries, went in to see il
Capt. Hitler would tell me the story of his
capture by the Alabama when he was boat
6teerer on the Yankee hermaphrodite whaling
brig Atamaha, so called because one mast was
Square-rigged and the other schooner-rigged
vessel of about 100 tons and perhaps IS or rs
- feet in length.
Capt. Hitler said "Well. I guess I can tell
you about that voyage" and he sat up
straghter and his blue eyes had sparkle and
flame kindled by his recollection of how as
mere lad he fooled the fiery Capt. Semmes
and brought home the handouts Semmes was
so anxious to keep and use on other Yankee
wrists
I'm November. 1862, shipped from Marion
Mass, as boat-steerer in the whaling brig Alta
maha. commanded by Capt. Rufus Gray. It
was share voyage, in which the captain and
mates QUILTED the ship. The crew mostly
from Marion There was Judah Hathaway, as
mate; Jim Blankinship, second mate; Bert