Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of Rebellion, Series I, Volume 1 by United States Department of the Navy

Author:United States Department of the Navy
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Official Records, Civil War
Publisher: United States Department of the Navy
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

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Page 656

~656 OPERATIONS OF THE CRUISERSCONFEDERATE.

and that he was directed to request that I would rcply to it in the same manner. I stated to this gentleman that if the Madrid Government had freely given me leave to remain until I was ready for sea I could have appreciated its conduct and would have remained, but that I did not choose to avail myself of the scant courtesy of being permitted to remain only forty-eight hours, which might not be sufficient to enable me even to receive funds and coal ship, and that as I was now ready to depart I would proceed to some port where more consideration would probably be shown me. I directed him further to say to his chief that he need not take the trouble to communicate with me in writing, as I could have no other reply to make than that which I had already given. In an hour afterwards I was outside the port of Uadiz and had dis- charged my pilot.

The most mortifying part of my visit to Cadiz was that I had not even funds enough to pay my dock bill to the Government, amounting to about $200. When I went into dock I did not entertain a doubt that long before I should be ready to go to sea I should be put in funds by our commissioners in London, to whom I had telegraphed. Indeed, on the 16th, the day I came out of dock, I received a telegram from Mr. Yancey informing me that my request for funds would be complied with. It was in reference to this telegram that I requested permission to remain for funds. I explained this matter, however, to the commandant of the dockyard, who assured me that he compre- hended my position and that I must not give myself a thought on the subject, and that whenever it was convenient I might remit him the trifle in question. Whi]st I lay in the dock and in the harbor of (Jadiz nine of my crew (all foreigners) deserted and took refuge with the U. S. consul, that officer receiving them openly, providing a boarding house for them, and paying their board. I do not think these men intended originally to desert, but having gone on shore and got to drinking they were no doubt seduced away by the consul or his emissaries. As soon as the facts caine to my notice I demanded their surrender to me in a letter addressed to the civil governor, a copy of which is annexed, marked D. The reply to this demand is annexed, marked E.* The commandant-general of the plaza, to whom I had been referred, in his reply stated that he could not deliver the men to me for want of a treaty, etc.; that the matter had been telegraphed to Madrid and he had received no reply, etc., and here the matter ended. I left Cadiz on the evening of the 17th, and the

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