The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, March 27, 1898, Page 21

THE SA ¢ FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, MARCH 2%, 1898. LOOTED FOURSCORE YANKEE VESSELS Life on Board the Alabama Dur- ing the Time She Was Trying to Drive Yankee Commerce From the Seas. ly @ Man Who Was Captured on One of the Prizes and Served Till He Made His Escape. Dt i O A A R S o e o e e e D of harm could be done in that way without a parallel in this century. work of the Alab: PP T T PO still lithe with nothing in to in- ated in the most excit- 1 War. He e of England,” he began thrilling experiences, n born in Dorsetshire, but ife was p i on e I naturally Ler, and in Ocu ber, ard on J haw, bound f w with a cargo of k in August ready taken But started. upposing than a pa thougt » th bility of capture. “We had been o four and o the Guif St m, when e sighted a steamer. She and cept nted to speak n about t when she got he would fire a gun time run up her own d the Alabama twenty-five there, who owed to re- > was no for being kept in iroms, to ; attempt on their part to sel, the prisoners were well % a steward, I was not and it s my duty to look af- visions of the Crenshaw’s We were well fed, being given T ions as the Alabama's and suppl of all kinds were In fact, they always were, d the pick of the supplies of We the crew of the Alabama all Englishmen. er did not go any nearer New York than the point where the v was captured. They found cl some late newspapers, of the supposed where- he Alabama and said that £ E men, w “The Indies. captured which turned out to be toward the West y or two we ‘half Englis as it was called, that is, an American bottom and an English cargo. could not touch it, but put it a bond and then trans- ferred all his prisoners to it to be taken to shore. “They had noticed that I was perienced in my work as steward, before sending the prisoners to the other ship I was ked to remain and steward for the Alabama. They me $30 a month, and as I feared if I left and shipped again it ly to be captured a sec- ond time t the Alabama or some other cruiser, I decided to stay. “We went on south, passing through ex- and that would be o commerce of America by means of privatee in practically clearing the seas of American shipping. done was altogether disproportionate to the means employed. two vessels equipped at small cost destroyed millions of property, and for two or three years caused a reign of terror on the ocean which was imitate the example of the Confederacy and with a few mored vessels strike a terrific blow at American interests on the high is apparent to all who recollect or ha ma, the Shenandoah and the + URING the present war talk a great deal of figuring has been + done to show the damage Spain might be able to inflict upon the + s. That a great deal + may be gauged by the injury + v the Confederate cruisers during the rebellion, which resulted + The damage + One or + + % That Spain, weak as she is, could + swift unar- + + ad about the destruc + Florida. + o4 B O R e O e e R e the windward passage and going to harbor at Port Royal, where we \ored. There was a coal ship in the harbor, which Captain Semmes at once boarded. After a short stay he returned. As soon as he came aboard the co ship raised anch: left. We stayed there two and on the third ay, early in t morning, the United San Jacinto in in search of .th came 3 ognized her at s did not know it subsequently she was a French n Jacinto kept on across the the harbor, and at 9 o'clock custom, ran up once stopped and sent a boat h called at an Amercan ves t lay in the har- bor and evident ade arrangements with her to keep the San Jacinto noti- fied of movements. In order to th th ons of neutrals yess pt three miles patrolled back and forth ss the mouth of the harbor. watch- ing for us to come out. “As soon as night fell we got steam up, covered light, took a French pilot aboard, d our anchor and started out. At our first move a rocket shot up from the American merchant- man, which was v a signal to the San Jacinto that we were trying to escape. ur guns were all shotted, the men were all at quarters and we were all ready for a fight and expected one, but we never got a glimpse of the Yankee, nor she of us. “We then went to Blanquilla, where we found the coal ship that we had seen at Port Royal, and which had brought a cargo of coal from Cardiff for in accordance with an arrange- ment made previously. We cruised there for a week or more and took sev- eral prizes, burning them and putting thelr crews on hoard a “half-prize” to be landed. ‘At that time Captain Semmes was lying in wait for the regular Aspinwail steamer, bound for New York, which he had learned in some way had an immense sum in gold dust, something like $1,000,000, from California on board. and which he was determined to cap- ture. The regular route of these vessels was by the east end of Cuba, but as we afterward learned word of the do- CAUGHT LIKE RATS DROWNING IN A TRAP. 5 e A e Wi ings of the Alabama had been sent to Aspinwall, and as it was suspected that we would try to capture a treasure ship she was sent by the route around the other end of the island. “However, we made a good capture within a day or two. We were lying close in shore with fires banked when the steamer Ariel of the New York and Aspinwall line was sighted coming from the north on her way to the isthmus. We at once got under sail and went out to meet her. “As soon as we could get up steam we dropped our propeller and rapidly overhauled the Arifel. She did not sus- pect our identity. When we got close enough we fired & gun and raised our flag. ““At once the Ariel turned and fled toward the north as fast as she could. She had 750 passengers on board, in- cluding 150 soldiers. We gave chase and soon commenced to overhaul her. As we came up we could see that ev- ery one was on deck, and the side of the vessel was black with heads. In we cculd not see a thing ail her rail but rows and rows of ‘As the Ariel paid no attention to our blank shot, Semmes ordered solid shot to be fired, but without hitting her. Two of the guns were fired to- gether. One shot passed entirely over her, but the other struck the mainmast about six feet above the deck. “It was funny to see how the heads disappeared when those shot went over her. Like a flash every one dis- appeared, and the rail was left as clear as if there were not a soul on board. “The Ariel at once stopped and we sent a boat aboard. The passengers were terribly frightened, but were as- sured no harm would be done them. “She had some money, which was brought back, and then Semmes and his officers debated what to do with her. Semmes wanted to burn her, as he belonged to Vanderbilt, who had n a vessel (the Vanderbilt) to the Government for the purpose of chasing and capturing the Alabama, and in re- AR === /) //,/;,’t‘m SRR / /= /) =] venge he wanted to burn the Ariel. But she had over 750 people on board and we could not take them on the Alabama. “Finally the engineer of the Ala- bama was sent on board the Ariel, her piston head was taken out and brought aboard, her captain and officers were made prisoners, and with a prize crew on board we started in company for Jamaica. But the engines of the Ala- bama broke down, and at the same time we spoke a ssel which told us there was ow fever in Jamaic: Semmes told the captain of the Ariel that he would not be so cruel as to land the passengers and crew under the circumstances, though it had been his intention to do so and then burn the Yankee steamer. { o he bonded the 1 for $50,000, sent back the piston head, put her officers back on board and let her go. “It took a week to repair the engine of the Alabama, during which time we would have been at the mercy of any Yankee cruiser that ran across us, but none came. After the engines had been put in order again we ran over to Los Arcos Keys, off the coast of Cam- peche, where we met a ship from Car- diff with another cargo of coal which had been arranged for before hand. We stayed there over Christmas and New Years, and on January 10 left for Gal- veston, where we had learned from pa- pers obtained on captured vessels there was a Yankee fleet getting ready to bombard the city. “We reached the place on Sunday afternoon and went in close enough to see several ships lying at anchor. They looked like warships, and as soon as they saw us they commenced making signals. One of them got up steam, raised her anchor and came out after us. The Alabama then turned and ran away from land, with the other, which we afterward learned was the Hat- teras, in close pursuit. About dark she came up close, and by the time it was entirely dark she was so close along- side that we could hear the orders given aboard her. “The Hatteras hailed us and asked what ship we were. “Kell, the executive officer, replied: ‘Her Brittanic Majesty's ship Petrel. ‘What vessel is that?" “Back came the answer, ‘The United States gunboat Hatteras.’ “The plan of action of the Alabama had already been agreed upon. The men were all at quarters, the guns loaded and everything ready. A full broadside was to be fired whenever Kell should use the word ‘Alabama.’ “At once, after the reply came from the Hatteras, Kell shouted “This is the Confederate steamer Alabama,” and the words were hardly out of his mouth than every gun on that side was fired square into the Hatteras. She must have suspected something for she was all ready, and fired at the flash of our guns. I verily believe the shots passed each other on the way. “We were not fifty yards apart, and every shot we fired hit her. 1 had been posted with another man at the hatchway between the engine room and the main cabin, just where the big pivot gun was stationed, and it was my duty with another man to hoist shells from the magazine for that gun. “This gun had no porthole cut for it, but when in action the whole bulwark was slid away, leaving a large open space and we were all exposed to the view of the Hatteras without a particle of protection. “At first I felt a trifle nervous as the shot whistled around us, but pretty soon I got over it and had all I wanted to do getting up the heavy shells and passing them along to the gun. The Alabama was so low in the water that most of the Hatteras' shots passed over us, while every ball from our vessel found a place in her hull. “Finally we sent a shell into her boiler, which exploded, and at once a lantern was run up to her peak and she called out that she was sinking and for us to send boats. “We stopped firing at once, got out boats and took off all her crew and offi- cers—150 men all told, or more by sev- eral than we had. “In ten minutes after we ceased fir- ing the Hatteras went down. “We had only one man injured. and he was struck by a piece of shell on the jaw. The Alabama was hit four- teen times. “After the ‘battle we examined our ship and found three unexploded shells from the Hatteras. One had gone clear through the vessel and stuck in the op- posite side. Two were found in the coal bunkers. We wondered why they had not exploded, and Captain Semmes had them examined. We found that instead of being filled with powder there was nothing but black sand in- side of them. If they had been pow- der filled and had exploded that would probably have been the end of the Ala- bama. “The officers and crew of the Hat- teras were treated well, Captain Semmes and his officers gave up their quarters to them, and all were paroled and turned over to the United States Consul at Port Royal, where we went at once and landed them. “After this we went cruising in the Caribbean Sea and made several cap- tures, burning all American vessels and sending the cre ashore in half-prizes. We made one capture that caused a lot of fun. “The United States frigate Sabine had been on a trip to Aspinwall and got caught in a squall, in which she Jost all her tophamper and rigging, Jeaving nothing but the hull. She got to Aspiny with jury masts and sent to Washington for a new outfit to shipped her. In response the schoone: Union was loaded with the needed rig- ging and sails, and in addition a full outfit of supr for a long cruise. She had food, <~ and all ki bama captured her, and she pr what we wanted. We took goods out of her. I tell you the cre of the Alabama lived high for a We had alil the itinned me “DOWN SHE WENT preserves and luxuries we wanted, be- sides new clothes and needed rigging for our own vessel. That's the time we had the laugh on the crew of the Sabine; they were patiently waiting at Aspinwall for these same supplies that never came. “We did not burn the Union, but for a joke Semmes let her go a’ter taking all he wanted and sent a written mes- sage back to the United States au- thorities thanking them for sending such a choice lot of supplies, of which he stood in great need. “By this time the West Indies was getting pretty hot for the Alabama, and there were a lot of vessels hotly hunting for her. So we went down the trade winds, on the route of vessels homeward bound from the South At- lantic and the Ilorn, and caught sev- eral of them, which we burned. “We stopped in at the Fernando de Noronha, an island belonging to Brazil, near which we found an American ves- sel loaded with coal, which we capture: and from which we took coal. Y “While lying there we sighted a couple of whalers in the offing, and went out and captured and burned them. They hailed from New Bedford, and had been out three years. They had full cargoes and belonged mostly to the men on board of them. I felt bad for the poor fellows, and they were very blue over the capture and loss of their ships and catch. We took the coal ship out beyond the three mile limit and set all three shins on fire together. “Then we sailed into Bahia and land- ed our prisoners, over a hundred in number, and remained there for two weeks. After that we went out again and captured and burned several more vessels, including the Louisa Hatch. ‘“While we were at Bahia the Con- federate cruiser Georgia came in, with Captain Maury in command. ‘and .the officers and crews of both vessels had a good time visiting back. and forth. It was only a little while afterward that the Florida put into Bahia and was captured in the harbor by the Fed- eral man-of-war Wachusett and taken north. “After we left Bahia we captured several ships, among them the Talis- man, which was bound for China. When her cargo was examined we found a complete outfit for a gunboat that was going to the Chinese Govern- ment. There were some fine brass 12- pounders, and Semmes took them out of her. Afterward we captured a ves- sel named the Conrad. She was such a good sailer that Semmes decided to make another cruiser out of her. So he put the captured brass guns on her and changed her name to the Tusca- loosa. Then he put a crew on board and sent her out to work on her own account. “A few days after this we captured a ship named the Schmidt. bound to San Francisco with a cargo of clothing, etc. We took a lot of her cargo, and the crew got good outfits of new clothing from her. “The same evening, after we had set the Schmidt on fire a big ship passed us in the dark and Semmes gave chase. He fired a gur for her to heave to. and she fired one in return. We could not make out her colors. so we gave chase. It was not till midnight that we came up with her, and we thought she was going to be another good prize. “But when Semmes hailed her, and asked what her name was, back came the answer, ‘Her Britannic Majesty’s ship Diomede. "gemmes was angry when he discov- ered how he had been fooled, but he had to make the best of it. “By this time it was getting pretty warm for us in that part of the sea. We were eaking five or six vessels a day, and we learned that the Yankees had a fleet of ships out scouring the water for us. So Semmes decided to make a run for South Africa, and he headed straight for the coast. “We struck it in just 31 d in at Saldana Bay, some eighty miles above Cape Town, and a locality sel- dom visited by vessels, as the harbor was very difficult to enter. Here we staved two or three weeks, refitting . putting HOW TO SUCCEED AS AN ACTRESS My Experience on the Stage and the Advice | Would Give Young Women Who Are Ambitious to Find Stage Careers. BY HELEN MODJESKA. BOVE the sound of laughterand the clink of es 1 at once recognized the violin-like timbre of Helena Modjeska's voice as, in response to my knock at her irawing-room door one morn- ing last week, the lovely Polish-Ameri- can bade me enter. Coming toward me with both hands outstretched and a smile of frankest welcome upon her charming face, I fell an immediate victim to the allure- ments of a personality ‘foreshadowed in the melodious, sympathetic speech. Mme. Modjeska had just arisen from her breakfast table. Indeed, my en- trance was the signal for the dispers- ing of a merry party. The actress was gowned in a robe of diaphanous black material, made in the prevalling fash- ion, extremely simple and elegant, fit- ting her form closely and relieved here and there with a garniture of steel and rhinestones. If 2 woman be as old as she looks, Mme. Modjeska in her sumptuous apartments at the New Netherland Hotel the other morning was certainly not a day over five and thirty. Tall and lithe, with the figure of a girl of eighteen, slender but not thin, made up of delicious curves, Mme. Modjeska's figure gives no suggestion of the word so harsh to the ear of an actress—‘matronly.” It is girlish, poetic in its reed-like un- dulations, but without a shadow of the heaviness that inexorable time usually insists upon bestowing upon the wo- man past her fortieth year. Like a Hebe in her early bloom, Modjeska's figure defies criticism. Daintily set upon this girlish formthe small, shapely head of the actress looked almost flower-like as it was sharply silhouetted against the pale draperies of her apartment. Her face is so intensely spiritual as to be almost startling. Nothing further from the material world of sense, of flesh and blood, can be imagined than this won- derful face—pale, eager, delicate, with its dark, glowing eyes, that seem per- manently imbued with a sad and wist- ful sweetness; the mobile mouth, deli- cate nose, low brow, crowned by an aureole of dark brown hair, simply gathered in a knot at the back and es- women want to know how to avold failure. They are full of life and en- thusiasm and hepe. They turn aside from the spectacle of disappointment which is everywhere, and, with the glo- rious courage of youth. they fix their eves and their ambitions on the women who, star-like, have attained glorious heights. They all honor and love you, most of them can never get nearer to you than the other side of the great di- vide which separates the actress from her audience. They are eager to know how you reached Olympia’s pinnacle.” “You want to know how I became a successful artist?” said Modjeska, once again turning that lovely smile upon me. “And you expect me to say it was by study—hard study and Spartan per- severance. This is what you expect me I am sure of it.” Yes,” I replied with enthusiasm. “That is it. Tell us just how you work. All about the terrible feats you must have to accomplish in memorizing. I have read how you study constantly, and carry your lines about with you, day and night, wherever you go. “Now I shall disappoint you,” and Mme. Modjeska's voice was as sweet as the notes of the stringed instrument it resembles. “I have never studied hard at all. Acx cording to the common acceptance % am no student. I do not deserve pralse for application or for hard work; I do not merit it at all. “The longest role T have ever mem- orized was in Polish—a five-act play in which I was upon the stage nearly all of the time. I was dead-letter perfect in it at the end of two days. ““Of course, in English it takes me & little longer, but I have never spent a week in study of any one role during my entire career. “When it comes to studying the char- acter I am to play—ah, there, indeed, perhaps I deserve to be called a faithful worker. “I do not know by just what pro- cesses I learn, or strive to learn, to be the woman I am to play, but just as soon as I decide to act a new charac- ter I try to become that woman. “I learn the lines first, but they are comparatively nothing. My task is to learn to feel the woman who would speak these lines. The words are the work of another; my part must be to sink Helena Modjeska's personality into that of the woman who would spontaneously and naturally, under the circumstances indicated in'the play, speak these lines which already I have BY THE STERN AND ALL THE MEN JUMPED FOR THEIR LIVES.” and scraping the vessel and putting her in good shape. We then left for Cape Town, and while going in met the American ship Seabright, which Semmes captured, although she claim- ed to be within the three-mile limit, and I think she was. “The capture was plainly seen from shore. Semmes put a prize crew on her and afterward made a cruiser out of her. We stayed in Cape Town two weeks, and by this time I made up my mind that I had had about all of the Alabama I wanted. I concluded that she was bound to get captured or sunk some time before long, and as I could not swim I did not care to be on board when that happened. I was retting no pav for my work, and could not until the end of the war, so I de- cided to desert at the first opportunity. “After we left Cape Town we went up the coast to Simons Bay, where Eng- lish vessels are accustomed to refit, and stayed for a while. It was my duty to go on shore every morning for vegetables and supplies, and I made an agreement with another man who wanted to desert that we would go to- gether at the first chance. So one morn- ing when there happened to be a heavy fog we went on shore as usual, and after going up town we slipped into the hills and made our way to Cape Town across country. “When we got there I reported to the American Consul, told who I was, and what T had done, and he got me a ship. “I was cantured on the Crenshaw in October, 1862, and stayed on the Ala- bama until August, 1863. “After I left her she got only three more captures. In fact, nearly all her work of destroying Northern mer- chantmen was done while I was on her. The Alabama took about fifty ships while I was with her. When she went out from Cherbourg harbor to fight the Kearsarge Captain Semmes left seventy-four chronometers on shore; that will give an ldea of the number of vessels he capt g caping in tiny tendrils about the face. Involuntarily one recalls Bernhardt with the story of fierce defiance written in every line of her-countenance; Duse, the incarnation of tragedy; and Mod- jeska appears by comparison the per- sonification of wistfulness and romantic pathos. Are these the lines Fame stamps up- on the children of the gods? one is tempted to inquire. When I looked at Helena Modjeska, the consummate artist, and noted the pathetic tenderness of her smile, and the never-lifting sorrow in her eyes, I wondered if indeed: the race for glory were not a weary strife, and the suc- cess of the great actress seemed to me for the first time to show itself in its true character — a Wwill-o’-the-wisp, scarce worth so noble a sacrifice. But this is what Helen Modjeska Says of that fickle goddess who has been her friend and who is known as Success. “Success, success, who can define it? 1 cannot even admit that I know it, for although I have for many years wor- shiped at the shrine of art until I have satisfied myself. I shall never know success, and as yet I have never been content with my own performance. I am always disappointed in myself, I am always short of my ideals.” “You represent success in a very lofty form to the public,” I said, “and every woman is anxious to know how you have made of yourself the eminent art- ist the whole world acknowledges you to Dbe. Has it been by talent, which God alone can bestow, or study, which is said to be the synonym of genius, or is there a secret art that leads alone to glory, and that you, and perhaps one or two other women of the century have been gifted with, or have learned or divined? “The world is overflowing with wo- men who have made failures, who rep- resent defeat in its most tragic, de- spairing and, alas, sometimes almost grotesque form. The coming race of acquired. If I cannot feel that undep these conditions this woman’s words would _spontaneously come to me, I know I am far away from what my impersonation must grow to be. “For this reason it is impossible for me to play a part with which I cannot learn to sympathize. I was years and years In learning to be able to play Lady Macbeth. I could not feel her. I could not possibly have any sympa- thy for her. She repelled me. I want- ed to run away from her, and I refused, while I was in that state concerning her, to attempt to impersonate the character. “On’ the other hand, take Portia for example, I loved her from the first. I felt that she was a woman of extraor- ordinary sweetness, of brilliant wit, splendid generosity, feminine piquan- cy and great intellectual power. She belonged to a century noted for |its brilliant women—a veritable- golden age of feminine mentality. “Portia was undoubtedly a woman of distinguished social position, with the charming. easy manners of high-breed- ing and perfect knowledge of the world. She was undoubtedly a linguist. All the women of wealth and position of that day were superbly educated, and it was quite common for them to speak five or six languages fluently. “When I was preparing to become Portia, I read everything I could find in French, Italian, Polish and English concerning- the period in which she lived. I threw my whole personality, so far as I could. back into that time, I absorbed all the history. romance and poetry of the period. I became familiar, geographically, with the Italian towns in which she dwelt. T studied-the man- ners, I wore the dress, T familiarized myself with the ethics of the time and people until I was saturated with the atmosphere of my beautiful heroine. Finally, I began to realize to myself the component parts of this young and lovely woman of marvelous speech and extraordinary sagacity.