Too trying, at last, to be borne any longer without an effort at action; so a bold attempt was made at coaling while under way upon the open sea!  Steam was got up, and the prize taken in tow, and then two boats were lowered, and set to work.  But the scheme, bold and ingenious as it was, was soon found to be impracticable.  The boats managed to get loaded from the captured collier, but they had then to be warped up alongside the Alabama, and the lowest speed that could be given her was too great for them to be hauled up against it.  So each time, as they were filled, it was necessary to stop the engine, and thus occasion another difficulty.

We now—­says Captain Semmes—­began to part our tow lines by these stoppages and startings, and it took a long time to get the line fast again; so after a sleepless night, during which, as I lay in my cot trying to sleep, it seemed as if a dozen stentors on deck were rivaling each other in making the night hideous, I sent word to get the boats run up again, and to continue our course to Fernando de Noronha without interruption.

At daylight we made the peak of the island a long way off, some thirty-eight or forty miles, and in the afternoon at 2.30 came to, with the peak bearing S.W. 1/2 S. and the N.E. end of the Rat Island N.E. by E. 1/2 E., depth of water thirteen and a half fathoms.  Anchored the prize near us.  But for our steam we should have been still drifting to the S.W., as the day has been nearly calm throughout.  Fernando de Noronha, in the wayside of the commerce of all the world, is sighted by more ships, and visited by fewer, than any other spot of earth.  It is a broken, picturesque, volcanic rock, in mid ocean, covered with a pleasing coat of verdure, including trees of some size, and the top of the main island is cultivated in small farms, &c.  Awfully hot when the sun shines, and indeed, when he does not shine.  Just after dark hauled the prize alongside, and commenced coaling.

CHAPTER XXVII.

An official “in trouble”—­On shore again—­A breakfast party—­On horseback—­Blowing hard—­Taken in the net—­Easy captures—­The Kate Cory—­The Lafayette—­A polite Governor—­The Louisa Hatch burned, and Kate Cory burned—­Landing prisoners—­Tired of waiting—­A scramble—­Out of harbour again.

April 11th.—­Light and variable airs; misty from the southward and eastward, and oppressive; ther. 83 deg..  Last night the two vessels lay alongside of each other so roughly, and we received so much damage (our forechannels being crushed in, and our topsail mainyard being carried away) that we were compelled to haul the prize off, and continue coaling by means of our boats.