general. A most sharp, spirited firing was kept,
up on both sides, our fellows peppering away as
though the action depended upon each
individual. And so it did. Pistols and rifles were
continually pouring from our quarter-deck
messengers most deadly, the distance, during the
hottest of the fight, not being more than forty
yards! It was a grand, though fearful sight to
see the guns belching forth in the darkness of
the night sheets of living flame, the deadly
missiles striking the enemy with a force that we
could feel. Then, when the shells struck her
side, and especially the percussion ones, her
whole side was lit up, showing rents of five or
six feet in length. One shot had just struck
our smoke-stack, and wounded one man in the
cheek, when the enemy ceased his firing, and
fired a lee gun; then a second, and a third.
The order was then given to ' Cease firing.'
This was at 6.52. A tremendous cheering
commenced, and it was not until everybody had
cleared his throat to his own satisfaction that
silence could be obtained. We then hailed her,
and in reply he stated that he had surrendered,
was on fire, and also that he was in a sinking
condition. He then sent a boat on board, and
surrendered the United States gunboat Hatteras,
nine guns, Lieut.-Commander Blake, one
hundred and forty men. Boats were immediately
lowered, and sent to her assistance, when an
alarm was given that another steamer was bearing
down for us. The boats were recalled and
hoisted up, when it was found to be a false
alarm. The order was then given, and the boatswain
and his mates piped 'All hands out boats
to save life,' and soon the prisoners were
transferred to our ship— the officers under guard on
the quarter-deck and the men in single irons.
The boats were then hoisted up, the battery run
in and secured, and the main-brace spliced. All
hands piped down, the enemy's vessel sunk, and
we steamed quietly away by 8.30, all having
been done in less than two hours."

On the twenty- first of January the Alabama
paroled and landed at Jamaica her prisoners
from the Hatteras, coaled, suffered some
inconvenience from dissatisfaction in the crew.
Seven deserted, and, says the diarist,
"circumstances of a painful nature compelled our
commander, though reluctantly, to dismiss
the paymaster from the ship and service. After
depriving him of his sword, &c., he was sent
from the vessel on shore. The alternative of
remaining on board, confined to his room, until
the ship reached a Confederate port, was left
him." This is the paymaster, Clarence
Randolph Yonge, who says in his depositions,
"My connexion with the ship terminated in
Port Royal, and I subsequently came to
England," when he made to the Federal authorities
those depositions against the Alabama from
which we have already quoted.

Coaled and provisioned, the Alabama ran out,
again eluding Federal look-outs. A prize was
taken on the third of February, another and
another were taken on the twenty-first, one on
the twenty-seventh, one on the first of March,
another on the second, another on the eighth,
another on the twenty-third, and two on the
twenty-fifth, many vessels being, of course,
chased and boarded found other than American,
and left to go their way, vessels with neutral
cargoes being ransomed, and having the
Alabama's paroled prisoners transferred to them,
other vessels being destroyed, and the Alabama
generally, when not engaged in making capture,
describing herself as the United States steamer
Dacotah. On the tenth of April she arrived at
Fernando de Moronha (a Brazilian penal settlement,
where there is plenty of live stock and
good water) with a prize in tow, both vessels
flying the Confederate flag. Having coaled
there, she again proceeded on her way, captured
and destroyed a brigantine and a barque,
American whalers, on the fifteenth, and sent
the prisoners on shore to the number of one
hundred and forty, with twenty-one days'
provisions. On the twenty-fourth capture was
made of another whaler; on the twenty-sixth a
ship from New York was taken and burnt; the
captain, who had his wife with him, being as
usual accommodated in the ward-room. On the
third of May two more vessels were taken and
destroyed; of one of them the captain had with
him his wife, servant, and two children, and as
passengers a United States consul for
Che-Foo, who was taking out his wife.

On the eleventh of May the Alabama anchored
in Bahia harbour, her appearance there causing
the most intense excitement. The U.S. consul
demanded her detention; she obtained reluctant
leave to land prisoners and get supplies;
received visitors innumerable, and sent out, by
the English mail-boat, a challenge to the U.S.
steamer Mohican to stop her and fight her. The
Confederate steamer Georgia, five guns,
Commander Maury, entered the harbour while the
Alabama was yet there. But the departure of
the Alabama being ordered by the shore
authorities when she had finished coaling, she got
under weigh on the twenty-first of May, and
four days later captured an American ship laden
with coal.

Another capture was made on the twenty-ninth,
another on the second of June, another
on the fifth, of the Talisman, which contained
two brass rifled twelve-pounders. There was no
other capture made till that of barque Conrad,
on the twentieth. Next day the two brass guns
of the Talisman were put on board the Conrad
with a quantity of small-arms, coal, provisions,
and a Confederate crew, upon which she hoisted
the Confederate flag, fired a gun, and was
declared commissioned as the Confederate
States barque Tuscaloosa, Lieutenant-commanding
Low, late junior lieutenant of the
Alabama. And so the parent cruiser and her
offspring parted company. After having taken
only one prize in July, and anchored at Saldanha
Bay early in August, the Alabama chased a sail,
and found it to be her new-born Tuscaloosa.
They compared notes, parted again, and having
made a capture almost immediately afterwards,
the Alabama came to anchor and banked fires