Monday, August 31st,—­At 7 A.M. got under way, and stood out of the harbour.

* * * * *

The Alabama was now visited by a succession of the heavy gales prevalent during winter time in the neighbourhood of the Cape.  On the 7th Sept.—­Captain Semmes writes—­we had a rough, ugly night of it, with a continuance, and even increase of the gale, and a short and abrupt sea, in which the ship occasionally rolled and pitched with violence, frequently thumping my cot against the beams overhead and awaking me.  Shipped large quantities of water through the propeller well; cabin-deck leaking.

Tuesday, September 8th.—­Weather cloudy, the sun shining faintly through the grey mass.  Gale continues; the wind (E.S.E.) not having varied a hair for the last sixteen hours.  Barometer gradually falling; ship rolling and pitching in the sea, and all things dreary-looking and uncomfortable.  I am supremely disgusted with the sea and all its belongings; the fact is, I am past the age when men ought to be subjected to the hardships and discomforts of the sea.  Seagoing is one of those constant strifes which none but the vigorous, the hardy, and the hopeful—­in short, the youthful, or at most, the middle-aged—­should be engaged in.  The very roar of the wind through the rigging, with its accompaniments of rolling and tumbling, hard, overcast skies, gives me the blues.  This is a double anniversary with me.  It was on the 8th of September that I received my first order for sea-service (1826); and it was on the 8th of September that Norton’s Division fought the battle of Moline del Ray (1847).  What a history of the United States has to be written since the last event!  How much of human weakness and wickedness and folly has been developed in these years!  But the North will receive their reward, under the inevitable and rigorous laws of a just government of the world.

Another week passed with a solitary excitement in the shape of an obstinate English skipper, who stoutly refused to heave to.  The following account of this affair is extracted from the journal of one of the Alabama’s officers:—­

Towards evening of the 10th of September the wind fell considerably.  At 8.30 P.M. a sail in sight on weather bow.  Immediately we turned to windward, and stood in chase.  At 9.45 fired a gun to heave chase to.  Chase, however, still kept on her course.  At 10.35 we ran up alongside, and the officer of the deck hailed her—­“Ship ahoy!” “Halloa! heave to, and I will send a boat on board.”  “What do you want me to heave to for?” “That’s my business.”  “Are you a vessel of war?” Captain Semmes then waxing wroth, replied, “I’ll give you five minutes to heave to in.”  “You have no right to heave me to unless you tell me who you are.”  “I’ll let you know who I am.”  To officer of the deck—­“Load that gun with shot, sir, and rain on that fellow—­he’s stupid enough to be a foreigner.”  “Tell me who you are,” yelled out the master of the ship.  “If you are not hove to in five minutes I’ll fire into you.”  Addressing the officer of the watch, Captain Semmes asked, “Is that gun ready for firing, sir?” “All ready, sir.”  “Then stand by to fire.”