Accordingly, soon after dark—­the enemy in the meantime having approached us so near as not to endanger our losing sight of him—­I clewed up, and furled the topsails, beat to quarters, and doubled suddenly upon the stranger.  He came in quite boldly, and when within hailing distance of us, hailed us, and inquired—­

“What ship is that?”

“Her Majesty’s ship Petrel.  What ship’s that?”

To this inquiry there was no reply, and although we repeated it several times there was no rejoinder.

During the colloquy, I endeavoured to place myself in a raking position astern of him, which he as carefully avoided by keeping his broadside to me.  From this manoeuvre I knew him pretty certainly to be an enemy, and having approached to within about two hundred yards, I directed my First Lieutenant to repeat the question.  “What ship’s that?” was accordingly again shouted, and this time there was a reply.

We distinctly heard that he was an United States something or other, but the name we could not make out.  I then directed the First Lieutenant to tell him that this was the Confederate States steamer Alabama, and to open fire on him immediately, which we did from our starboard battery.  He returned our fire in a minute or two, and the action was thus commenced.

We continued to run side by side at a distance ranging from two to five hundred yards, both of us keeping up a rapid fire of both artillery and rifles, when, after the lapse of thirteen minutes, the enemy fired two guns from his off, or starboard side, and showed a light above his deck in token of his being whipped.

At once we ceased firing, and approaching him still nearer, asked him if he surrendered and needed assistance.  To both of these questions he replied in the affirmative, and we immediately despatched our quarter boats to him; these, with his own four boats, were busily employed in transporting the crew on board, which had only been accomplished when the ship went down.[11]

[Footnote 11:  United States Consulate, Kingston,

Jamaica, Jan., 21, 1868.

SIR,—­It is my painful duty to inform the Department of the destruction of the United States steamer Hatteras, recently under my command, by the rebel steamer Alabama, on the night of the 11th instant, off the coast of Texas.  The circumstances of the disaster are as follows:—­

Upon the afternoon of the 11th inst., at 2.30 P.M., while at anchor in company with the fleet under Commodore Bell, off Galveston, Texas, I was ordered by signal from the United States flag-ship Brooklyn to chase a sail to the southward and eastward.  I got under weigh immediately, and steamed with all speed in the direction indicated.  After some time, the strange sail could be seen from the Hatteras, and was ascertained to be a steamer, which fact I communicated to the flag-ship by signal.  I continued the chase, and rapidly gained upon the suspicious vessel.  Knowing the slow rate of speed of the Hatteras, I at once suspected that deception was being practised, and hence ordered the ship to be cleared for action, with everything in readiness for a determined attack and a vigorous defence.