OCR Text |
Show I BLOCKADE "RUNNING H An B.xcitinn nnd Daiifjerous Game for Hi()li H Stakes How It Is Played. BBl In th abtenee of new of eagage- HBJ sents wllh tho gpanlh (qutdron, pu- HBl lie attention hM been Ingaly oecupled HH with storle of the blockade established HB off Cuba. Tho dlspslche litre told of HBl (he capture of blockade runner, of th HBl excitement attending tho eliM nd tho HB method cmp'oied, of lb character ami HBl valu of th) prlte. of tho sleepless HBl vigilance observed on tho blockading HBl blpo. of tho all but Impossibility of m- HBl capo of Incoming or outgoing vessels HBl engaged In tho aervlco of tho enemy HBl The creation of a blockade If an In- HBl ltlel measure In naval wtffare. It woo HBl tho flrit undertaken lr tho admlnlslra- HBl tlnn In 11(1, and by President MeKln- HHj ley In tho preeent war. Tho condltloni HHg as thsy oilaled thin, and now, aro to- HH tallr different. There la an Impeccable HBl wall alone the Cuban watert main- HH talned by a tumtlent fore of eruleer HHl and various craft, fully equipped for HHl Vwy emergency Hut In 18l the fed- HHl oral government entered upon the task HH or capturing or blockading tho Houth HHl Atlantic tout, with four tmall vescel. HH carrying In ill twenty-flve gune. Thli HHl wai what It had at It Immediate ills- HHJ potcl In homo porta n barrier to HHg rommcria alonit 1 000 mile of coast HHl In tho (I nit of Mexico ware eight nioro HBl ahlpt, In tho Mediterranean thrM, HHl nun were on the rnaat of Africa, two HHj on that of llrull. three In tho Ht In- HHl diet, and eight In the Pa'lfle nattered HHJ far and wlile Them had to lw collect- HHJ ed to satisfy Kntland and Franc that HHJ a rxfrt btoriiado could bo established HHl according lo the rule affecting It In tho HHl declaration of Parle. They were of tho HH opinion that It wna ImiMMolblo, yet. In HH leaa than a rear, the gorerninento of HH the world acknowledged that It waa HH the grrat feat of the war. England re- HH gardrd thla rouatry or the North, at HH loaat with feellnga tomewhat different HH to thof thai move It now on account HBI of Ita luduatrlal Interest In the cotton HH rained exclusively In th Houth. Hut all HH Ita iklll and capital could uot keep thla HH blockade open though they did at BBJ Unite aitccecd In getting vessel Into HH eouthcrn porta to upply the confedcr- BBJ ata anulea with tho meana of carrying HH on the war Many English remit wcro BB capture J; the coast, of tho Houth were B) atrewn with tho -wreck of English HH clipper iteamcra which were chsseil on HH chore In calm and In atorm by officer HH who arldom alcpt, who (canned the HH horlion night and day for the algbt of BH an Incoming blockado runner. An ef- BH fectltro blockado with ouch an Inade- BH quale force ai that at the beginning of BH tho war waa unprecedented, crtn In the BH ope ration of tho foremen naral pow BH era of the world. It looked like an at HH tempt to retire the cabinet blockade BH of half a century before, when Kng BH land and Franco laid an embargo upon HH each other'a coaata and captured all BH veuele at tea whoto destination waa HH within tho prescribed llmlta; when HH Spain Interdicted commerce with the HH northern colouloa In South America HH and aa a matter of form, kept a brig H crultlng In the Caribbean tea. Although HH the Vnlted Btatea waa not a party to BB the declaration of Parlt, It waa pre- BB pared to tland by Ita provltlom; It un- HB derttood Ita rrapontlbllltlee, and pre- BB Pared to meet them. It did meet them; BB tho remit opened tho eye of furelgn BB gorernmtnta, nnd draw Ibrm with a BB keener, ateadler gate on American BB warfare; In recent operattona agalnit BB the Bpinlah It hat opened them nguln BB and the end la not yet HJ t'ntuverctrHt ItuiM, BB Aa liability for breach of blockado HH beglnt with the mere act ot tailing for BB the blockaded port the dlalanro of thla HJ port from tho polut of departure be- BJ cornea an Important ronalderatlun to HJ tho blockade runner The longer tho BHI dlitanco to bo trarcraed the greater tho BJ' rltk, tome method ot brooking the voy- HJ age mutt be dovlted, to that aa much HJ of It at pooalblo may be technically In- Hl nocent. The principal trade of the BB 8oulb, ilutlug tho war, waa with ling. BH land, and It became an object to evade H liability during the long trana-atlantlo B patiaga. Kor thli purpota nil the avail- HJ able neutral porta lu tho neighborhood BB ot Ihe roait were made entrepot for B covering tho Illegal Iridic BB, There were four principal polnta BB which aerved aa Interniedlarle for tho BB ' neutral trade with the South. Hermuda, BJj Nattau, Havana, and Matamoraa. Of HE thete, Nattau waa the moat prominent. BJj 1 Hltiiated on the Itland of New Trovl- Bjjp denco In tho Ilahamta, It waa only J s about 180 tnllea In a atralght Hon from Bjj the coait of Florida. Florida, however, fEl waa not the objective point of tho lead- DB! Ing blockade runner. The chief aeatt !ot commerce on tho eattern ooaat were 8arannah, Charleaton and Wllmlug-(on. Wllmlug-(on. The run to theeo polnta from Nat-eau Nat-eau wat from (00 to COO nittea, or three day, allowing for the utual delaya ot the paitage Kor auoh trlpa. email f qutntltle ot coal wero needed which BB (are creat room for the ttorage ot car- BH j When the advantage ot neutral dee- BB tlnailoa waa fully undertlood. It be- HJ came the practice for all the blockade- Hi ; runnert to clear fur one or the other ot HJ ' thete point, and upon their arrival to HJ wait for a favorable opportunity to run Hi over to their real dettlnatlon. No one HJ waa deceived by thli prcteDie ot an In- HJ ooceat voyage, and the court, looking m only at the Una! declination, con-denned con-denned tho veaoela when there wa evidence of aa ultimate Intention to break the blockado. Thla deelekm retted rett-ed upon aa old principle of the Kogllth prrae court, known 1 the doctrine of eoDtlnuout voytge. iceordlng to which the mere touching at an Intermediate port of a voaoel engaged In an Illegal voyage could not break the eoatlnulty of tho voyage, or remove the latnt of Illegality Hence, If a vetoel cleared from Liverpool with the Intention ot merely touching at Nawau, thence proceeding pro-ceeding to Caarleoton, and If thla Intention In-tention could be proven from the paper, pa-per, the character of the cargo, and the elimination of peraotu on board, tho to voyage were held to bo one, and Ihe condemnation followed Another courae punned by the blockade block-ade running merchant wa to tend their cargiire to Naeaau, and there tranathlp thm, Mmetlmeo dltrelly from veoel to veatel In Ihe harbor, ometlme after being landed on tho wharf, and thei transported In a new conveyance to the blockaded port He-turn He-turn cargoe were tranathlpped In the earno way Thla eourte tied a double advantage It madt continuity of t rant-action rant-action much more dlRlcult of proof and enabled thnee engwred In the trade to employ two different cIumm of veeeell for trvlcc for which cadi wae tpectal-ly tpectal-ly adapted. Hut Ihe eipedleat waa transparent, and any turli veaeela tint wcro caught wero coudemncd by tho court. Aa a latt retort, n bold and an orle-Inal orle-Inal plan waa adopted A cargoes from Liverpool lo Natau ran a rltk nt capture, the royige waa broken again, thla time not by n neutral dettlnatlon, but by one In tho country of tho very belligerent whom the trade waa to Injure, In-jure, (loodi were ablpptxl to New York by the regular ateanwlilp line lo be carried tbtneo to Naaeau and o to find their way to th blockaded territory terri-tory It wae auppoeed that the United Btatee would not Inlrrfero with commerce com-merce between Ita own orl and thixo of a neutral. Thl etpeelatlon, however, how-ever, wa not well founded A toon a It waa ittecovrred at New York that the trade wltb N'nwm and Hermuda waa aaiutnlng largo proportion Imtruo-tlont Imtruo-tlont wcro Itaued to collector of cut-torn cut-torn In the United State to refute clearance to veetelt which, whatever their oetentlble declination, wero believed be-lieved lo bo Intended for eouthern port, or whoo cargo were In Imminent Immi-nent danger ot falling Into the band ot the enemy, and If there wat merely ground for apprchenalon that eargoea wero deellued for tho enemy' lite, the oner wero to bo required to give ample tecurlty. Keerullr ot lb lllitrhade. A a military nieatur the blockado It of vital Importance It hia been commonly (aid with regard tu the civil conflict that without It hottllllle would have been protracted much longer, long-er, nnd would have been far more bitter bit-ter and bloody than they were Ita peculiar Importnneu lay In the Isolation Isola-tion of the eouthern alatee, oud In their dependence ul,on Ihe outtldo world for tho nereMarlM ot life. The only ntutral frontier wat along the Hlo Orande, nnd the country for many mile on both aide ot the boundary offered few tacllltlet for trad or trant-portatlou trant-portatlou All auppllea had to come from the aeaboard, and the peculiarly agricultural character ot th aouthern Inilotiry made euppllet from abroad a neceeetly. During the early part of tho war blockade running waa carried on from th cape of the Gbceapeake to tb mouth of the Hlo (Irande. VeeeMe of all tort and hv were engaged In It, but tho moat aoocoMtol were the ateam-en ateam-en that had belonged to tho aouthern coeetlng line which found tbemtilvo thrown out of employment when war broke out Familiarity with the eoo wa B. meet cMenllal to ttn-ceetful blockade running, moro eupeclally when dark. moonteM night wero uuy elccted for the tk A tharp lookout had to be kept for erouver on the otttild blockide, and the blockado runner, by keeping at a dlatance could generally pa then nnobeerved If by nceldnt or caretenneot he came very dote, he would pre on all eteam and take to hi heel, tnittlng to peel to get away He never hove to when ordered, for It waa uaually nt bird to hit him a to overtake him Tho run paat the Inahore equtdrtin wa alwaya n critical moment for the latter It wa no eacy mailer on a dark night to hit, much lee to atop, a email and obaeuro vceeel running at IB knot whote only object wet to pat by The aervlco called Into action all thn facaltle of the blockade runner It required a cool head, trong nerve, tuperb courago nnd ready re-ourc. re-ourc. It wa a combat of skill and pluck agalnit force and vigilance. The eieltement of fighting only wa wanting. want-ing. If a blockade runner thould fire n thot he would conatltuto himself pirate and be liable to death It cap. lured. Tho blockndcr la In every way at a disadvantage, lie hat no objective point rave the blockado runner, and he never know when ho I coming. He can chooe willing, but mutt tako th clrcumatanrea ni they happen to come, and they are pretty tare to be unfavorable unfavor-able He It compelled to wait In the wont of all situations Inccwtaat watrlifuin combined wllh prolonged Inaction Ho itpenda day and ulchta of aaitou waiting with eipvctuiloa THIS HKITISH 8TCAMER OltHTO IlUNNINt) TIIK 11UJCICADK AT MOI1ILK. atrelned lo tho tenirat point, for an emergency which laita, perhaps, only for aa many minute, and which come when least expected There I no telling tell-ing when or whore Ihe blow will need to bo struck, and a Military moawnt of napping may be fatal In spite of monthi of ceaseless rlgllanre llkruvrry nd t !.. When a blockade runner It lighted then It I all excitement on hoard the thlpa of the blockading aqttadron Tho one that see her first glvr th signal by hoisting a flag. It In the daytime, or acnillnn oft n rocket or ill inlaying a light It at night. The npiailron It alwaya al-waya ready tor action, and the Inatant tho anchors are clipped the ship are oft at full speed The chase 11 oil. And now come Into play the skill tnj courage cour-age ot tho captain of the Mo. kade runner. run-ner. It la a squadron of armed ablpa agalnit hit defenseless vessel He understands un-derstands the risk he takes -tie veatel may be tunk, If he la captured Ihe leaat he can hopo for le a parole whllo he lote hit el and cargo He It never moro seen to bo the master oa hit own deck than at a tlmo like thl. A the chotc that threaten deatructloa are flying fly-ing about him and every moment aeerna hi latt, he I directing engineer, watching the pursuing fleet aid etudy Ing a way nt eecape all at Ihe aroe time. In blocked running ti In many other thing, it It the uneiperted that utually happen T e ctptaln may make a tudden move for which the tquadron le not Inatantly prepared, run under Ita ery gum nnd escaeo to port Thla was frequently dune during tho elvtl war. It would be leu likely to uo-coed uo-coed at the preaent time During tb war ot the rebellion, the number ot prliet brought la wa t,Hl ot the) 219 were teaosri, Ilesldea, there were US vessels burned, tunk, driven on shore, or othensUe, destroyed, destroy-ed, ot vililcb S6 were stetaier making total ot 1,01 vessels 0, alt clasaeai while the value of the vestela and their cargoe. according to a low estimate, amounted to Ml WO.O00 Q tbe event of a capture, the vessel 1 Mcj a nriit, and the money It yield, accord-leg accord-leg to the rule during th civil war, U divided between the naval peaelon fnad and those who bad participated In tce ebeae. Whn th blockading taaadron engage and defeat an amored chip of tb entmy, tho gov-cfcment gov-cfcment grant the men a bounty according ac-cording to the alio ut the enemy' force |