Chapter XXI

Mr. R. M. brings up the question of the second voyage--We dissolve partnership--The schooner sold by auction--He buys her in--She sails on another voyage--Fate of the _Rob Roy_--Havana crowded with blockade-running steamers.

Advices of our arrival at Vera Cruz had been brought from that port to Havana by the Spanish mail steamer, and very soon after we anchored I received a note from Mr. R. M., requesting me to consign to a new firm recently started, and of which (as I afterwards learned)--though his name did not appear--he was chief partner.

His message, however, came too late. I had already reported the vessel to the boarding officers as consigned to Messrs. A. and Co., my former consignees, and I did not wish to change.

My partner's representative, Mr. P., whom I had not seen since I had been in Texas on the second voyage, now came on board.

Mr. P. took no active part in the business, either afloat or on shore, but he had extensive acquaintance in Texas, and among those engaged in blockade running, and knew most of what was going on. He advised me strongly not to consign to the new firm, and wished to put me on my guard, as he suspected that Mr. R. M. had been playing a double game, and was going to bring up the question of the second voyage.

He told me that I might expect a severe turn up with Mr. R. M. He said the object of the latter in persuading me to make this last trip had been to get the vessel back into Texas, where Messrs. M., through their influence at the Provost Marshal's Department, would find some means of laying an embargo upon her, and have her, under some pretext, detained until I acceded to their terms, and when he had learned that I had loaded so hurriedly with uncompressed cotton, and sailed before they had time to carry out their designs, he was very much disappointed and irritated.

He also said that Mr. R. M. had had several vessels captured lately, and had lost heavily, and he was in very bad humour.

I could scarcely believe this story, but on going to my consignees and getting my letters, I found one from the consignees in Tampico, stating that Mr. R. M. had written to them disputing my right to the half of the cargo of cotton, and requesting them to hold it until further advice.

They had, however, replied that by the bills of lading, and by the letter of R. and D. G. M. themselves, there could not be the slightest doubt about my right to the half of the cargo, and, according to the manifesto, I might have retained possession of the whole of it without question had I so wished.

Other advices regarding the cotton were not satisfactory. These were to the effect that it had been sent off several times in lighters to the mail steamers, but owing to bad weather it could not be taken on board, and it had been brought back with the packages much damaged, entailing a large expense to have it repacked. On reading this latter part I was somewhat disheartened, as there seemed to have been some truth in what was stated to me by Captain E. at Vera Cruz. But on finding out how Mr. R. M. had been acting, I was much irritated, and spoke on the subject to my consignees, Messrs. A. and Co.

Messrs. A. and Co., whom I found to be upright and honourable men, spoke and wrote English perfectly; they knew the whole arrangement between myself and Mr. R. M., and had seen the memorandum of agreement.

They advised me to be calm, and not say much on the subject until I had seen Mr. R. M., as there might be some misrepresentation. They could scarcely believe that he could act so on the face of the arrangement between him and me, although they said there were many such questionable actions done by men who had recently come to Havana to act as agents for blockade runners, the latter being generally thoughtless men who knew little about sharp practice in what was sometimes called business, and they were very helpless in such a place as Havana, where they neither knew the language nor the customs of the place, and to them public offices and authorities were quite inaccessible except through agents. They told me to see Mr. R. M. at once, and hear what he had to say, and then come and see them, and they would advise me what to do, and assist me so far as my deficiency in a knowledge of the language and customs of the port required.

When I called upon Mr. R. M., he received me in a somewhat reserved manner, but congratulated me on my successful accomplishment of the trip.

I laid before him a written statement of the events on the trip, with an extract from the log-book. I also handed him a receipt and acknowledgments from the consignees at Vera Cruz for seventy-three bales of cotton delivered to them, as per bills of lading.

The first document he scarcely looked at, and turning over the second, he said--"So you have come out with half a cargo."

"No," said I; "I came out with a full cargo."

"Then where is it?" said he.

"One half of it belonged to you, and these papers will testify that I delivered it according to instructions, and in terms of the bills of lading."

"Was seventy-three bales the half of the cargo?"

"The whole cargo amounted to 146 bales, which was all the vessel could stow of uncompressed bales."

"That is fifty-two bales less than last trip," said he.

"Yes; but last trip the bales were compressed, and the vessel could take that much more, but compressed bales were not to be had this trip."

"The _Dahlia_ and the _Catherine_ got compressed bales, and why could not you?"

"The _Dahlia_ and the _Catherine_ were both loaded before the steamers got in, and before the cotton press broke down. By the by," I added, "where are those vessels now?"

This seemed to irritate him; he scowled, and pretended to read closely the paper before him, and then gruffly replied, without looking up--

"Well, they were captured, that is all; and I suppose you know that: but that is not the question. I think you ought to have waited and got compressed bales, and come out with a full cargo."

"I might have had to wait a little longer than I wanted," said I, "and I think I am better where I am, even with a smaller cargo, than lying under arrest in Galveston, or gone like the _Dahlia_ and the _Catherine_. And if you please, we will now settle up accounts," and I laid before him the account for disbursements.

I saw he was getting nervous, but slow to come to the point. He examined carefully the account, and then said--

"I see you have not credited the vessel with the freight of your cotton from Tampico on last trip, and from Vera Cruz on this trip."

"I am quite ready to do so," said I, "but I should have to put against that the cost of ballasting the vessel on both trips, and if we take that into account, and the delay which would have been incurred, I expect the balance would be in my favour."

"But you endangered the vessel by having the cotton on board, because if you had been overhauled by a cruiser you would have been more apt to be seized having cotton on board."

"The vessel," said I, "is on the Yankee list as a habit and repute blockade runner, and they will seize her whenever they catch her, with or without cotton; but the cotton was a legitimate cargo, regularly cleared out of a neutral port, and not subject to seizure, and I endangered it by taking it on the vessel, which I would not have done if I could have got ballast cheap and handy; nevertheless, the whole thing is a small matter, and I will settle the other way if you wish."

He made no reply, but taking up some papers after a somewhat nervous effort, said--

"So the inward cargo last trip was not sufficient to purchase a cargo of cotton after all."

"You well know," said I, "that that is a thing which I have nothing to do with; according to your agreement with me it was your business to furnish a cargo sufficient for that, and you also know that such a statement is absurd, and that I laid that trumped-up story before you at the end of last voyage, and refused to have any further transactions with the house in Texas, and wished to dissolve the partnership, when you said that you adhered to your agreement, and that I should pay no heed to any statement made by the house in Texas."

"What do you mean by a trumped-up story?" said he, in a tone of anger and feigned astonishment. "Do you mean to insinuate that the house of R. and D. G. M. would trump up a statement that was not correct?"

He said this with an air of great importance, as if he wished to impress me with the awful consequence of daring to hint at such a thing.

I was a little amused at his trying to overawe me, and I replied that I did not insinuate at all, but said so straight-forward.

This declaration quite disconcerted him.

"So you say," said he, "that the house of R. and D. G. M. are swindlers."

"I have no faith in their honour," said I, "and there's no use for any further altercation; all transactions between us must now cease. I hold your agreement with me in writing, and you can send me in writing any proposals you wish to make in regard to buying up the schooner or selling out of her."

"Written agreement with you?" said he. "What agreement was there? I have no copy of any agreement."

"You forget," said I; "here it is," and I produced it, and said--"Do you acknowledge that as your handwriting?"

He seemed astonished and taken aback, and said he would give me a premium of fifty dollars to say what I would give or take for half of the schooner.

I said I would give him double that amount to say the same, but it was no use quibbling in that way; the vessel must be brought to public sale, and I took my leave.

I may here say that the way by which Messrs. M. in Texas arrived at the so-called balance against the vessel, as stated in their letter to me of August, 1864, was a very fair sample of what was often attempted to be practised at that time on strangers in dealings within the Confederate States, which was to avail themselves of the relative value of Confederate paper-money, as compared with coin and the treason of daring to under-rate or depreciate the value of the former.

Confederate paper money was the legal tender, and no one dare refuse it in payment, or attempt to depreciate its value, but 20 dollars of it could at that time be easily obtained privately for one dollar in coin. Business books and accounts were kept in Confederate money, and all commodities were high in proportion. Cotton, for example, was quoted at 6 cents per lb. in specie or cotton warrants, but in Confederate money the price was about 75 cents per lb.

Messrs. M. therefore took the inward cargo at its specie value, as per invoice, and credited the vessel for that amount in their books in Confederate money. They then summed up the cargo of cotton at its price in Confederate money, and debited the vessel with that amount, and then declared the balance in specie.

Mr. R. M. made no further attempt to justify the action of the house of R. and D. G. M., and the vessel was advertised for sale.

When the day of the sale came, I bid as high as 3,500 dollars for the vessel, and she was knocked down to an unknown bidder for 3,600 dollars. The purchaser was a mere lad, a clerk in an office, but a British subject, and of course he was only a godfather; and when the money came to be paid, I found that Mr. R. M. was the real purchaser. There was no hitch, however; the money was paid, and I made a final settlement with Mr. R. M., and the _Rob Roy_ was transferred to new owners, retaining the British flag by means of a godfather.

As I must now bid adieu to the _Rob Roy_, I may here finish up with her career, which was but short under her new ownership.

Mr. R. M. had lately been rather unfortunate in his adventures to Galveston; several of his vessels had been captured, and others ran ashore, and he had resolved to try a venture in another place, which was supposed to be not generally known, and not very closely blockaded. This was the Suwanee river on the coast of Florida, where there was said to be abundance of cotton; and for a run to that place the _Rob Roy_ was admirably adapted.

A new captain was appointed to her, and a pilot who was supposed to know the coast and the entrance to the river perfectly. Only one of the old crew shipped upon her, which was one of the men I had shipped at Tampico on the recommendation of Captain Currie on our first entrance to that port, and whom we called George No. 2, owing to a similarity he had to our old friend of that name; for, though a much younger man, and exceedingly sober and faithful, and an excellent seaman, he was, like his namesake, full of old sea proverbs, and believed in many of them. This man reshipped on the _Rob Roy_ out of a veneration he had for the vessel, regarding her as a lucky vessel; and when some two months afterwards he related to me the story of her end, he seemed to be very much grieved.

She sailed from Havana about ten days after she was sold with a cargo for Suwanee River, in Florida. She made the Florida coast in three days, but when they got there they could not discover the river they wished to enter; and while sailing along the coast in search of an entrance, the United States gunboat _Fox_ bore down upon them, and they ran the vessel on the beach and set fire to her, the crew taking to the boat. They landed safely on the beach, when George stood in sorrow and saw his good old craft, as he called her, burned to the water edge.

About this time blockade running had completely run riot at Havana.

The harbour was crowded with steamers which had been bought on account of their speed, or had been specially built for this traffic. Many of these, however, owing to some business dispute or other unexplained cause, lay at their anchors pending some business arrangements. Many more were expected, and the hotels and cafés were thronged with captains and officers (old hands) who had been specially engaged, and were waiting to take the command of some crack new steamer which was on the way out to Havana to engage in blockade running, and which was to outdo everything which had yet appeared on the scene, and the merits and performances of the various vessels was the general topic on blockade-running "'Change."

Some good fast boats were making successful trips, among which were the _Lark_, the _Owl_, the _Lizzie_, and several others. What the original names of these vessels may have been I do not know, but most of them had changed their names, and some of them were under the Confederate States flag.

These were, however, soon to be put in the shade by another class of steamers, which now began to arrive. These were a larger class of steamers, with three funnels of great power, and expected to be of great speed.

I never learnt much of the performances of those steamers, as the sudden collapse of the Confederacy put an end to blockade-running before many of them had been tried, but the general opinion of them was that, although they might attain a high rate of speed, they were not suitable in other respects. They were all machinery together, and had very little carrying space. They would consume a large amount of fuel; and when they took in a sufficient quantity of coal at Havana to take them to Galveston and back, they would be loaded down so deep that their speed would be much impeded, and they would have very little carrying capacity left for cargo. They would send up immense clouds of smoke, and be observed at a long distance off. They would also be conspicuous when going through the blockading fleet during night, and their working expenses would be very high.

I may safely say that one of the most successful, and certainly one of the most profitable, steamers that sailed out of Havana to the Confederate States was a somewhat old, and by no means a fast, steamer, named the _Denbigh_. This vessel ran for a considerable time between Havana and Mobile; but when the latter port was captured by the Federals she ran to Galveston, to and from which port she made such regular trips that she was called the packet. She was small in size, and not high above water, and painted in such a way as not to be readily seen at a distance. She was light on coal, made but little smoke, and depended more upon strategy than speed. She carried large cargoes of cotton, and it was generally allowed that the little _Denbigh_ was a more profitable boat than any of the larger and swifter cracks.