Monday, January 5th.—­It did not blow last night as I expected.  This morning the wind has gone round again.  I cannot wait longer for the norther,[10] so I must get under way.  At 11 A.M. got under way, and stood out from the anchorage under steam.  Let the steam go down, hoisted the propeller, and put the ship under sail.

[Footnote 10:  One of the officers of the Alabama enters in his journal that on this day, in anticipation of news being received of Lincoln’s proclamation, a tombstone, consisting of a board about four feet in length and two in breadth, was sent on shore and placed in the most prominent position the largest island afforded.  Inscribed on the tombstone, in black letters on a white ground, was the following:—­“In memory of Abraham Lincoln, President of the late United States, who died of nigger on the brain, 1st January, 1863.”—­“No. 290.”  Upon a piece of paper, protected from the weather, was written in Spanish—­“Will the finder kindly favour me by forwarding this tablet to the United States Consul, at the first point he touches at?” This affair originated with, and was executed by, the steerage officers.]

CHAPTER XXIII.

Another mission—­General Banks’ expedition—­To Galveston—­Sunday the 11th of January—­A small mistake—­Preparing for action —­The Hatteras—­A fight in the dark—­Sharp and decisive—­Surrender —­Rescue of the crew—­Sunk!—­Casualties—­Out of the hornet’s nest.

Contrary to her usual aspirations, the principal wish of the Alabama, as she started on this fresh cruise, was to reach her destination without having seen a single vessel.  She was now in fact on a service of a kind altogether different from that which had yet occupied her.  In his address to the crew, upon taking command off Terceira, Captain Semmes had promised that the first moment they were in a condition of training and discipline, to enable them to encounter the enemy, they should have an opportunity of doing so.  That time had come, and laying aside for a short period her more especial role of annihilating as rapidly as possible the enemy’s commerce, the Alabama set steadily out in search of a fight.

The grand expedition of General Banks, which had been the subject of so much speculation in the United States, and of which their newspapers had long before duly informed the Confederate cruiser, seemed to offer the most favourable opportunity possible for such an enterprise.  The expedition would, of course, be accompanied by one or more armed vessels, but the principal portion of it would be composed of troop-ships, crowded with the enemy’s soldiers; and should the Alabama but prove victorious in the fight, these transports would be a prize of more practical importance than all the grain and all the oil ever carried in a merchantman’s hold.