who could not get boats to go off to her.  The central, the north, the south, and the coaling jetties, were all crowded.  At the central jetty it was almost impossible to force one’s way through to get a boat.  However, all in good time, we did get a boat, and went off in the midst of dingies, cargo-boats, gigs and wherries, all as full as they could hold.  Nearly all the city was upon the bay; the rowing clubs in uniform pulled off with favoured members of their respective clubs on board.  The crews feathered their oars in double-quick time, and their pulling, our “stroke” declared, was “a caution, and no mistake.”  Just before getting alongside, we passed Captain Wilson in the port-boat, who told us that the prize taken was the Sea Bride, and that there was no difficulty in hearing from Captain Semmes himself the whole story of the capture.  We passed the Federal barque Urania at her anchorage, and that ship, disregardful of the privateer, sported all her bunting with becoming pluck.  The Stars and Stripes floated defiantly from her-mizen peak, and her name from her main.  On getting alongside the Alabama, we found about a dozen boats before us, and we had not been on board five minutes before she was surrounded by nearly every boat in Table Bay, and as boat after boat arrived, three hearty cheers were given for Captain Semmes and his gallant privateer.  This, upon the part of a neutral people, is, perchance, wrong; but we are not arguing a case—­we are recording facts.  They did cheer, and cheer with a will, too.  It was not, perhaps, taking the view of either side, Federal or Confederate, but in admiration of the skill, pluck, and daring of the Alabama, her captain, and her crew, who now afford a general theme of admiration for the world all over.

Visitors were received by the officers of the ship most courteously, and without distinction, and the officers conversed freely and unreservedly of their exploits.  There was nothing like brag in their manner of answering questions put to them.  They are as fine and gentlemanly a set of fellows as ever we saw; most of them young men.  The ship has been so frequently described, that most people know what she is like, as we do who have seen her.  We should have known her to be the Alabama if we had boarded her in the midst of the ocean, with no one to introduce us to each other.  Her guns alone are worth going off to see, and everything about her speaks highly for the seamanship and discipline of the commander and his officers.  She has a very large crew, fine, lithe-looking fellows, the very picture of English men-of-war’s men.

The second officer told us that it was the Sea Bride they had captured, and pointed out her captain, who stood aft conversing with a number of people who had gathered round him.  “This, sir,” said the officer, “is our fifty-sixth capture; we have sent her off with about ten of our men as a crew, and we left a few of her own men on board of her.”  We asked him how he liked Saldanha Bay, and his answer