The prize had lost her mizzen mast, her
steering gear had been knocked to pieces both forward and aft, she had
been riddled in a dozen places, and shot-holes in the hull had been
hastily plugged during the action.
Her Armstrong gun amidships had been disabled by Blumenhoff at his first
fire. Christy had not found the opportunity to examine this piece, as he
desired; but Mr. Graines had done so for him; and it was found that the
gun carriage had been knocked into a shapeless mass so that it could not
be put in condition for use. The machinists from the engine room of both
vessels, for those of the Tallahatchie had no feeling on the subject,
were restoring the steering apparatus, and were likely to have the work
completed the next day.
Captain Breaker was in great doubt as to what he ought to do with
Colonel Passford. He was certainly a non-combatant; and it could not be
shown that he had any mission to Nassau or elsewhere in the service of
the Confederacy, though it would have been otherwise if the steamer and
the West Wind had not been captures, for he was to sell the cotton in
England, and purchase a steamer with the proceeds; but his mission ended
with the loss of the vessels. He finally decided to send him to Fort
Morgan under a flag of truce.
Before he left he called upon his nephew. He was still in a state
of despondency over his own losses, and his failures to benefit the
Confederacy, whose loss he counted as greater than his own.
Pages:
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193