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On the morning of 24 January 1865, the inhabitants of the French island of Houat saw a small ironclad vessel laboring heavily as she came in from the stormy Atlantic to anchor in such shelter as the Breton island provided. The weather for the past few days had been exceedingly bad, and such a small ship must have had urgent business indeed to risk such heavy seas. She flew the Danish flag, which was not often seen in those waters. Clearly visible on her stern was the coat of arms marking her as a warship of the Danish Royal Navy. To compound the mystery, a lighter soon went out and took off her captain and crew.
The vessel was not being abandoned; a keen eye might have detected a man strolling about the ironclad’s deck with a proprietary air. The solitary figure was Captain T. J. Page of the Confederate States Navy; the ironclad did in fact belong to him, and shortly he would put her in commission as the CSS Stonewall. It was a bizarre place in which to commission a Confederate vessel of war; but then, the Stonewall was a most uncommon ship, for whom the gods of the sea had decreed a special fate. From the day her keel was laid, she was the object of international intrigues and the subject of acrimonious diplomatic notes. During her 27-year career, she flew the flags of six nations on half the seas of the world, and wherever she went, she left in her wake a swirl of international crises and courtroom battles.
The ironclad that would become the Stonewall was conceived in the fertile mind of Monsieur Jean-Lucien Arman. Monsieur Arman was a Bordeaux shipbuilder of outstanding ability; one of the pioneers in ironclads, he had been awarded a gold medal in 1855 for his system of mixed iron and wood construction, and he had been decorated by Emperor Napoleon III. Arman was also an influential figure in French politics; he knew the Emperor personally and sat in the national legislature. When the American Civil War broke out, Monsieur Arman gave his sympathies to the Confederate cause and publicly voiced his feelings on several occasions (a fact that was duly noted by the U. S. Minister in Paris). It is not surprising, then, that early in 1863 Arman obtained a
The Danish ironclads Sphinx, below, Staerkodder, and Olinde; the Japanese ironclad Adzuma; and the Confederate/Union/Spanish ironclad Stonewall were all the same ship; and, for the first five years of her 27-year career, she precipitated nothing but international crises and courtroom battles.
aid
poleon III and his ministers as willing to
discreet interview with Captain James D. Bulloch, purchasing agent for the Confederate Navy in Europe. Arman offered to build ships for the Confederacy, a project that had the double advantage of aiding “the cause” and his own business. To Captain Bulloch, Monsieur Arman must have seemed a godsend. Just at the moment when it was becoming impossible to obtain warships in England, the most eminent shipbuilder in France came forward to offer his services.
In April 1863, Bulloch signed a contract with Arman for four corvettes. The complacent French Ministry of Marine accepted Arman’s explanation that they were being built for trade between San Francisco and the Far East, and that their heavy armament was to be a protection against “Chinese pirates.” Bulloch was overjoyed with the agreement and he was convinced that Napoleon Ill’s government, in its benevolence, would close its eyes to the whole affair. A few days after Gettysburg, still ignorant of the battle, Bulloch signed a second contract with the Bordeaux shipbuilder. Arman undertook to build two ironclad rams to be delivered in June 1864, at a price of 2,000,000 francs each, one-fifth down and the remainder payable in installments.
The specifications for the rams were very exacting. The Confederate government wanted them small and maneuverable enough to operate in the Mississippi; they were not to draw more than 14 feet of water in best fighting trim. At the same time they were to be heavily armored so as to withstand the 11- inch and 15-inch shells that the Union Navy would be certain to hurl at them; their own armament was to be sufficiently heavy for them to reply in kind. Fastly, and certainly not least important, they had to be capable of making the 3,000-mile voyage across the Atlantic unaided. Arman met the challenge with a design that was a marvel of compactness and power. The vessel that took shape on his drawing board was of 900 tons, 171 feet long, exclusive of the deadly iron-sheathed ram that projected from her prow. Her armor was up to 4f inches in thickness, backed at critical points by two feet of solid oak. Her principal armament was a 300-pound Armstrong cannon of the latest design, housed in a bow casemate. Two 70-pounders were placed in an after casemate. Her engines could gen" erate 300 horsepower to propel her at a maximum speed of 12 knots. Twin screws, capable of counter-rotation, could turn her in her own length. Her mean draft was 14 feet, 4 inches. She was brig-rigged, and could carry an ample spread of sail. The vessel was diminutive but deadly. A contemporary accurately described her as “an ugly antagonist indeed.”
Bulloch’s chief fear now was that his proj' ects might come to the attention of the Federal authorities, whose vigilance he knew only too well. He was therefore extremely careful in his meetings with Arman, and once construction had begun, he studiously avoided the region of Bordeaux. The precautions were wise but of no avail. By September 1863, the secret was out. William L. Dayton, the American Minister to France, not only knew that Arman was building ships for the Confederacy, he could prove it. A clerk in the office of one of Arman’s associates had brought him a sheaf of letters that left no doubt about the Frenchman’s traffickings with Bulloch- This evidence, which Dayton lost no time m laying before the French government, 'vaS too damning to be denied. Nor were Na' the South as they had been a few months before. The Confederacy was slowly but ir' revocably headed for oblivion; the Unite States would have to be contended with f°r some time to come.
The outcome was inevitable. The Empcr°r had a stern talk with his supporter fr°rrl Bordeaux, and Dayton received assurances that the vessels would not sail under the Star® and Bars. Heartsick, Bulloch accepted thc loss of so much time and effort. Monsie1,r Arman was desolate, too, but he was still a businessman. He had no intention of letthh the six ships rot in his yards when there Wer other wars and other customers. In FebruaOj 1864, he obtained Bulloch’s permission to sC ^ the ships to a third party, and offered to shar® whatever profits he could make—a pr0SP, that must have afforded Bulloch but Id solace. Two of the corvettes were sold Prussia, and two to Peru. On the matter the two ironclad rams, now called the l'!^ and the Cheops, Arman indulged in a const erable amount of haggling. He first offerC
them to the fledgling Italian Navy, but the two parties could not get together. He approached Emperor Maximilian of Mexico, hut once again the negotiations came to naught. In the meantime, war had broken °ut in Europe itself. Denmark had committed the imprudence of getting itself involved in a 'var against Austria and Prussia, and all the belligerents were anxious to strengthen their beets. Being a fair man, Monsieur Arman s°ld one ram to Denmark and the other to Prussia.
The Cheops sailed off under the Prussian bag, and a Danish naval delegation arrived t° supervise the completion of the Sphinx ar*d to rename her the Staerkodder. A forlorn little band of Confederates in Paris were witnesses to these proceedings. In addition to uilloch, there was Commodore Samuel Bar- r°n> who bore the imposing but largely euipty tide 0f “Flag Officer Commanding Confederate States Naval Forces in Europe.” t here were also the captains and crews for the n*Ps that were now sailing away under other Colors. Christmas of 1864 would be bleak. Mthin the shrinking Confederacy, Sherman 'Vas driving toward Savannah, and Lee’s jigged host was in the lines before Peters- nfg- On the sea things had been no better, he Alabama had gone down fighting in b U|'e, and in October the Florida had been Seized by the USS Wachusetts before the ^artled eyes of the local officials in the Lilian port of Bahia. The event had pro- Uced a diplomatic furor, but the Florida 'Vas lost nonetheless.
Monsieur Arman was still as sympathetic as ever. Early in the fall he even hinted that e Danes might not want the Sphinx, alias e Staerkodder, and that she still might be jh liable. But Bulloch could not get his °Pes up. On 15 October the Staerkodder ^abed for Copenhagen under the French ^ag- When Bulloch learned of it he probably ahe her a sad and silent farewell.
^ A' the time the Staerkodder reached Copen- agen, the Danish War was over. The Danish vernment no longer had any need for the ^SSeI> and decided not to go through with e Purchase, which had been a conditional ^ e- Monsieur Arman seems at this time to aVe been playing a particularly devious
Sam,
e' He protested the cancellation of the
purchase, but not very vigorously. He was willing to let the Confederates have the ship, but at the same time he considered an offer from Berlin. Finally, on 16 December 1864, Arman and the elated Bulloch signed a formal agreement. The Staerkodder would leave Copenhagen, ostensibly bound for Bordeaux. Monsieur Arnous de la Riviere, Arman’s agent in Copenhagen, now in charge of the ship, was appointed to act as the agent for both parties. He was to turn the vessel over to the Confederates at sea.
The next few days were a period of frantic activity for the Confederates in Paris. First of all, who was to command the new ship? A wise choice was made in the person of Captain T. J. Page, who at this point becomes one of the principal figures in the story. Thomas Jefferson Page could only have come from Virginia. A grandson of two governors of that state, he represented in his person an amalgam of the bluest blood in the Old Dominion. He had been a career naval officer and had early come to the attention of his superiors. While still a midshipman, he had taken command of the old Dolphin and brought her back from the Pacific when all her officers had been felled by yellow fever. He had spent considerable time in the Rio de la Plata, and had published an account of his expedition there. As a gauge of his feelings, he had resigned his commission after Fort Sumter and offered his services to the Virginia Navy, whose existence was largely confined to paper. He had been sent to Europe by the Confederate government in hopes a ship could be found for him, and he had spent most of the war there. He was now in his fifties, but still youthful and vigorous. Had he been afforded a better opportunity for his undeniable talents and “dash,” he might have become the Jeb Stuart of the Confederate Navy.
Page received his orders on 17 December and left immediately for Copenhagen. A crew was available from the Rappahannock, interned at Calais, France. Most of the men selected were survivors from the Florida, experienced seamen and smarting for revenge. The most delicate problem was arranging a rendezvous at sea. The only available vessel was the City of Richmond, then lying at anchor in the Thames. She was heavily laden with
r
railway equipment and ready to sail. Her commander was planning to run the blockade into Wilmington, North Carolina, on the January moon. Bulloch got the steamer to delay her sailing, and moved to England himself in order to co-ordinate more easily the movements of the two ships.
Bulloch established a cover address and communicated with Copenhagen by means of a prearranged code. A spate of telegrams began to pass between a Mr. Puggard in Copenhagen and a Mr. Mabbs in London, concerning the coffee and teak markets. On 7 January 1865, Mr. Puggard cabled “Ready for offer,” which signified “the ship is off.” The ironclad ram which steamed out of Copenhagen that day was officially listed as the Olinde. She carried a Danish captain and crew, and as passengers Arnous de la Riviere and Page, who had signed the passenger manifest as “Mr. Brown.” (The legal owner
of the vessel at this stage of her career is impossible to determine, as a French court was I to learn some years later.)
On the evening of 10 January, the officers and crew destined for the ironclad left Calais on the Channel steamer (trying to look as inconspicuous as possible) and still ignorant of their ultimate destination. The next day they were safely aboard the City of Richmond when she weighed anchor and dropped down into the Channel. If all went well, the blockade runner and the ironclad would soon rendezvous off the coast of Brittany.
All did not go well. In the English Channel the City of Richmond ran into one of the worst gales in many years. The sidewheeler was now severely overloaded with crew and stores for the Olinde. Unable to withstand the heavy seas, she ran into Cherbourg and cfi^ not emerge again until 18 January. When she reached the rendezvous point two days latefi !
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the Olinde was nowhere in sight. On his own initiative, the captain of the City of Richmond decided to wait nearby at Houat until the 27th.
The Olinde was having her troubles, too. A snowstorm had driven her into the Danish Port of Elsinore the day after she left Copenhagen. As the ram struggled through the stormy waters of the Kattegat, her prospective Captain began to see that she was definitely a smooth water vessel. Most ships lifted to the Seas'> the Olinde went through them and sometimes under them, “diving and coming UP after the fashion of a porpoise.” If Page ^as fascinated by this performance, the uanish captain and crew were frankly farmed. The captain insisted on taking shelter in Kristiansand, Norway. The Vir- Smian was consumed with impatience; he S°t the ship out again as soon as the gale s'ackened. When she reached blue water the
Olinde began to plunge again as distressingly as ever. The Danes began to look longingly back toward the Norwegian coast, while their captain and Page had a lively discussion. In the end the Virginian had his way, and the Olinde continued on course. On 20 January, she coaled at the Dutch port of Nieuwediep and steamed on down the Channel. When at last, on 24 January, the Olinde approached the island of Houat, Page was overjoyed to see the City of Richmond riding at anchor. The Danish captain and crew were soon taken off. With them went Arnous de la Riviere, still shaken from the voyage but happy at the prospect of receiving a commission of 375,000 francs for services “truly and faithfully rendered.”
As soon as the Confederate officers and men were on board, Page put the vessel into commission as the CSS Stonewall. For the next three days the Stonewall took on stores from the City of Richmond, the work being hampered by rough seas. Finally, on the morning of 28 January, both ships steamed out into the Atlantic and turned south.
The seas were heavy and the Stonewall was soon back to what her captain called her “fantastic tricks,” but now he was accustomed to them. The new crew found they could only venture out on deck booted to the knees. The captain of the City of Richmond watched with some alarm as the Stonewall shipped immense seas, “seeming at times to cover her from knightheads to taffrail.” Frequently, as she dropped into a trough in the seas, she disappeared entirely. On the 30th the two ships parted company. The Stonewall had only partially filled her bunkers at Houat and was running very short of coal. Page resolved to run her into Ferrol, Spain. The City of Richmond had already missed the January moon and would have to hurry to make the February one. Her captain signalled “adieu” and turned west, still confessing
The Union warships Niagara and Sacramento stood by silently as the Stonewall left Lisbon Harbor on 28 March 1865.
ient
a3
insisted that since the vessel’s chief armam was her ram, any repairs to her hull were improvement on her armament. Isabell3
himself “painfully uneasy about the old
Stonewall
The blockade runner was scarcely hull down when a seaman reported to Page that there was water in the Captain’s cabin. It was flowing in at an alarming rate from aft; and while men were set to bailing, Page sought the source of the leak. In the crowded after storage room he discovered that the caps on the rudder-heads were sprung. These two iron plates, about ten inches in diameter and well below the waterline, were gradually being raised by the pounding seas. Each time the Stonewall''s stern dropped, the retaining bolts seemed to be lifted further, and twin geysers cascaded into the compartment. The crewmen mauled the plates back into place as best they could, but the ship continued to take water. The weather had been so foul that Page had been unable to take his position for two days; he could only guess the location and hope the Spanish coast was nearby. With the coal bunkers nearly empty, Page set some sail. To scud so small a vessel before the wind was dangerous, but there was no choice. The ironclad ran east, her bow diving deeper than ever.
On 3 February the Stonewall limped into La Coruna. Once they recovered from their surprise, the Spanish officials were cordial and apologetic. They explained that the facilities at La Coruna were not adequate for the extensive repairs which the Stonewall needed. But they assured Page that if he took his ship across to the neighboring port of Ferrol, the Spanish Navy’s yard there could do the necessary work. The next day the Stonewall moved to Ferrol and the work began immediately. Then, suddenly, on 6 February, the Spanish workers left the ship. Behind the embarrassed explanations of the port officials Page sensed the fine hand of the U. S. government, and he was not wrong.
Among the spectators who had watched the Stonewall enter La Coruna harbor was a Senor Fuentes, the U. S. Consular Agent. After one look at the Saint Andrew’s cross flying from her masthead, Senor Fuentes rushed to the telegraph office to wire the American Legation in Madrid. By the next morning the word of the Stonewall's arrival was on its way to all American diplomatic and
naval authorities in western Europe.
To John Bigelow, the Charge d’Affaires in Paris, the news must have been like a bad dream come true. In the preceding months, he and Minister Dayton had seen to it that neither Monsieur Arman nor the French government had any rest over the matter of the rams. They had published portions of Arman’s purloined correspondence in the French press; they had sent American naval officers in civilian dress to prowl the Bordeaux shipyards; they had presented every conceivable argument to the French Minister of Foreign Affairs and had received every assurance. Now all that Bigelow could do was to alert Captain Thomas Craven, whose USS Niagara lay off Dover. For the rest, BigeloW would have to rely on his colleague 1° Madrid.
The American Charge d’Affaires in Madrid was Horatio Perry. He had already per' formed 15 years of loyal service as Secretary of the Legation, guiding and counseling the seemingly endless succession of political appointees which his government had sent to grace the court of Queen Isabella II. Perry was thoroughly familiar with all the nuances of Spanish politics. The recent resignation and departure of the American Minister had left him in charge of U. S. interests in Spain* and he resolved to defend them to the utmost- During the seven weeks in which the Stott1' wall was in Spanish waters, Perry had 19 i°' terviews with the Spanish authorities, and sent them a dozen voluminous notes. By the very force of his protests he secured a halt repairs of the vessel. He pushed his demands further, insisting that she be seized as 3 “pirate,” only to be told by the embarrassed Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs that tl'e naval guns at Ferrol were not equal to the Stonewall's, and that the vessel could “knock the Arsenal of Ferrol about the ears of its de" fenders and burn the town and go out to se3
whenever she pleased.”
The Spanish government hastily consult^ its legal specialists. According to internation3 law, the Stonewall had a right to coal anc make essential repairs in a neutral port, not to increase her armament or crew. Perrl
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ministers were not impressed by the ingenuity of his argument. More than anything else they wanted the troublesome ship out of Spanish jurisdiction as soon as possible. The Spanish Minister of Marine, an old mariner mmself, refused to order her out until she was seaworthy. Authorization was sent to Ferrol or the resumption of repairs.
Perry still had some cards to play. He now ent his efforts to gathering enough Federal 'yarships to dispatch the Confederate ram he moment she ventured out of territorial Waters. Unfortunately, there were only two yyarships sufficiently near at hand. The lagara, which had already been alerted, beamed into Ferrol on 14 February. The mher vessel, the Sacramento, had left Cadiz on February but had broken down off Lisbon atld put in there for repairs. The delay was agonizing for Perry. On 14 February, he "heed the U. S. Consul in Lisbon in energetic
if undiplomaticlanguage: “For God’s sake, get the Sacramento off immediately!” To Perry’s immense relief the ship reached Ferrol on 21 February. The presence of the three antagonists in one harbor gave the Spanish port officials some uneasy moments; they were vastly relieved when the two Federal vessels moved to La Coruna on 15 March. Captain Craven of the Niagara had not made the move in deference to Spanish feelings. Had he remained in Ferrol, international law would have prohibited him from sailing until 24 hours after the Stonewall's departure. From La Coruna, only nine miles away, he could still keep the ram under observation and sail immediately to intercept her.
Thomas Jefferson Page was largely unconcerned about all of these proceedings. Since the Confederacy had no representative in Madrid, he was a stranger to the diplomatic maneuverings. When the Stonewall was sea-
d
27
was obliged to coal again at Lisbon on
had
down the Tagus estuary. He and Craven
wind and currents drove him southw3; toward the Bahamas. A few days out, lookout on the Stonewall sighted a bark m
worthy he would simply take her out. Once the work was well underway he made a brief trip to Paris to confer with Commodore Barron on how a single ship could best resuscitate the dying Confederacy. They agreed tentatively on a strike at the Federal forces at Port Royal, South Carolina, and then possibly a foray into the Mississippi. Only once did Page lose his composure. An official of the U. S. Legation slipped on board the Stonewall with a crowd of curious Spaniards and made a leisurely inspection of her. As he left the ship he could not resist handing up his card. Page was beside himself over this unpardonable “act of vulgarity.”
The Confederates were anxious to be off; they could hear the periodic salvoes from the Niagara and the Sacramento as they celebrated Sherman’s victories. On 20 March, the Stonewall was finally ready for sea again. Brushing aside the suggestion of the Spanish port officials that he sail under cover of night, Page made preparations to leave the following morning. He had the ship stripped to her standing rigging, the spars stored on deck, and the lifeboats removed. In event of an engagement he did not want his propellers fouled. He ordered coal removed from the forward bunkers so that the bow would ride high and give the 300-pounder better play. The officers wrote final letters and mailed their watches to their families. On the afternoon of 21 March, the Stonewall sailed out of Ferrol. The Sacramento and the Niagara immediately stood out from La Coruna to meet her. Page decided that the sea was too rough to risk an engagement and returned to port. On the morning of 23 March, he ventured out again and returned for the same reason. The Spanish authorities took a very dim view of this, and informed him that when he went out the 24th he could not return.
Captain Craven of the Niagara was also in something of a predicament. His ship and the Sacramento were powerful vessels, having between them 14 heavy guns; but the Niagara’s armament was obsolete and the Sacramento’s engines were not reliable. In smooth water the Stonewall might well have a decisive advantage with her superior speed and maneuverability. In truth, the Stonewall was an unknown quantity. Rumors had lengthened her ram to 40 feet, twice its actual length; her armor had grown to eight inches- Wanting neither to destroy his own ships nor allow the Stonewall to escape, Craven even considered running her down as she lay in Ferrol and letting the diplomats handle the consequences. He wrote Perry: “I feel sorely tempted to try it.” Perry replied hastily1 “My impression is that you had better not.
On the morning of 24 March, the StorU' wall steamed out into a calm sea, escorted by a Spanish frigate. Thousands of Spaniards lined the shore to watch the impending battle. When the Stonewall reached the three- mile limit, the frigate fired a signal gun ant* returned to port. The Federal ships, with steam up, remained at anchor: Craven ha3 declined the challenge. All day long, wit'1 maddening persistence, the Stonewall stearne' back and forth before Coruna; at nightfa she turned south and disappeared.
Having emptied his forward bunkers, P3§®
March. The Portuguese officials were plain!) anxious for him to depart again, particular!) when the Niagara and the Sacramento arrive later the same day. Page left almost immed1 ately, passing close to the Niagara on his wa)
known each other since their midship11’3'1 days, but now they stared silently at e3 other over the narrow expanse of water.
A few hours after the Stonewall left, Crav decided to change the Niagara’s anchorage The Portuguese commander in the Bde tower believed that the Federal ship vV pursuing the ram in violation of the 24-h ^ rule; he fired a dozen shots at the with his antiquated cannon and struck several times, though without damage. A some lengthy explanations, the PortugJ’ government offered an official apology- impetuous officer in the Belem tower was ^ missed; the Portuguese raised the Stars Stripes over the fort and fired a salute to 1'
The Stonewall coaled at Tenerife i” ^ Canary Islands on 1 April and started aCl^e the Atlantic. Since she could not make ^ crossing by steam alone, Page crowded 011t and ran with the trades toward Bermud3’ ,
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19
colors and headed for the merchantman. When he was sufficiently close he hoisted the Confederate flag and sent a 9-inch shell across the bark’s bows. She obediently came up into the wind. When the astounded captain was brought on board, he explained that he was bound from Baltimore to Rio de Janeiro with a cargo of flour. He added that on this voyage he had brought his wife and small daughter along. Page could not refuse this obvious appeal to his humanity. He let the bark proceed, after exacting a bond from her grateful captain.
When the Stonewall arrived in Nassau on 6 May, she received a cool reception from the British authorities. Catastrophic but as yet unconfirmed rumors were circulating about the demise of the Confederacy. The ram was obliged to remain outside the harbor, and was given only enough coal to take her to Havana. Undaunted, Page started out for Cuba. When he arrived there, he learned that the Stonewall was a ship without a country.
The Union Navy had been warned long in advance of the Stonewall's coming and had made vast preparations to receive her. Gideon Welles, the Secretary of the Navy, alerted the commanders of all the blockading squadrons and Navy yards. Many ships slated for drydock were kept on station and repairs to others were hastened. Powerful ironclads from the Mississippi to New England were marshalled to meet the Confederate ram.
As soon as the Stonewall entered Havana harbor, the U. S. Consul sent a fast packet to the Key West Naval Station. On 14 May, several U. S. warships arrived off Havana, and one, the Powhatan, entered its port. By a curious oversight she was assigned a mooring next to the Stonewall. An officer on the Powhatan described the strange scene: “ I here we lay in Havana, side by side, so near that one could have tossed a biscuit from one deck to the other. ... In the morning, at sunrise, the brand new Confederate flag of the ram was thrown to the breeze at the same moment as our own, and the dip of the setting sun was the signal for a similar roll call and salute, as the two flags were simultaneously lowered.” The atmosphere was tense. Confederate and Union officers encountered each other silently in Havana cafes. Both ships kept steam
A graduate of the University \ of North Carolina in 1952, Doctor Kennett received his M.A. degree from the University of Mississippi in 1956 and his Ph.D. from the University of Virginia in 1958- He served in the USS Jack T- Wilke (EDE-800) from 1952 ,
to 1954. He taught at the University of Southern U1' nois prior to assuming his present position as Associate Professor of History, Guilford College, Greensboro, North Carolina.
up and guns shotted. Shortly, the PowhaU>n left the harbor to avoid the 24-hour rule and began to patrol just outside the three-®ne limit. Her captain was determined to engage the Stonewall whatever the risk. To increase
his heaviest guns, run the Stonewall down, and drop it on her deck.
The Powhatan never could try her bizarre tactics. Captain Page refused to surrender, but no longer had the right to fight. On May he formally transferred the vessel the Captain-General of Cuba for SI6,00 > which he used to pay off his crew. The career of the Confederate States Ram Stonewall over. The shell she had sent over the bow 0 the intercepted bark was the only shot s1 had fired in anger.
The story of the Stonewall and those 'v ° had become involved with her was far ir ended. Thomas Jefferson Page spent remainder of his life in voluntary exile n his beloved Virginia. He went to Argent'11^ where he made a fortune in cattle and beca a naval advisor to the Argentine governing He spent his later years in Europe. His K men in Virginia always called him “0° modore,” the naval equivalent of the Son ^ ern “Colonel.” He died in Rome in 189 the age of 91. ice
Captain Craven of the Niagara was 1 tried before a court martial for “failing his utmost to overtake and destroy a v - which it was his duty to encounter.” ^ convicted both times. In both cases Secretary of the Navy set aside the verdiU^. the grounds that the punishment—tw°(fea;d suspension on leave pay—constituted a F ^ vacation” and was not sufficiently se
Released from arrest, Craven continued his career.
Monsieur Arman was brought to court. *ue U. S. Government brought suit against him in a French court in 1866. The trial became a cause celebre. The United States chose as Us attorney Antoine Berryer, a fiery lawyer 'vho had for years been the gadfly of Napoleon Us government. Monsieur Arman engaged Uaitre Lacan, who delivered a speech to the j-°urt so long and eloquent that it appeared in °ok form. Confused by these oratorical fireworks and unable to distinguish truth from metoric, the court threw the case out. But ; Mnsieur Arman had fallen on evil days. He Vvas forced into bankruptcy, which he blamed ^Pecifically on the Americans. He died in
'3, a broken man.
The strangest fate of all was reserved for the tonewall. The United States acquired her 0111 Spain by reimbursing the Captain- ^e»eral his $16,000. The U. S. Navy soon Jaille to regret this latest addition to its forces.
_ Vvas almost as if the USS Stonewall had some erse will of her own. The first inspection
When the Stonewall arrived at Yokohama, the Shogun’s government was no longer in control and Japan was convulsed with civil war. Commander Brown was obliged to lie in Yokohama harbor for many months until his government could recognize the new regime of the Mikado and receive the balance due on the ship. Early in 1869, the Stonewall, now the Kotetsu, became the flagship of the Japanese Imperial Navy. The fighting was not yet over, for a rebellious nobleman named Enomoto refused to submit to the new government. In March 1869, his ships attempted to take the Kotetsu but were beaten off. Two months later the Kotetsu led the attack on Enomoto’s stronghold at Hakodate. She routed his fleet, reduced his fortress to rubble, and broke the back of the rebellion.
Pery,
^arty which rowed around the ship grounded T ^cr ram and had to struggle frantically to ee their boat. While the new crew was
a sailor vanished
Ptep(
and
UlOr;
'aring the ship for sea, was found floating in the harbor the next On
§ ning. On the voyage to the United m?tes the Assistant Paymaster suddenly died. *e the was steaming up
the
esaPcake at night she rammed and sank a
Schooner.
Qf^aPpily, it now appeared that the Shogun cIad ^an ^°r some thne desired an irons, to add to his diminutive fleet; the United ^tates gladly
/ sold him .000 and detached ‘Pander
the Stonewall for Lieutenant Com- George H. Brown to deliver her.
At Hakodate she did for the Meiji Emperor what she had not been able to do for Jefferson Davis: she saved his regime. As the Adzuma, she remained in commission 30 years, and then retired to harbor duty as a hulk.
A visiting American last saw the old ironclad Adzuma (ex-Stonewall, ex- O Unde, ex- Staerkodder, ex-Sphinx, ex-Kotetsu) in 1908, peacefully rusting away.
- *
Don’t Write, Please Print
The captain of a minesweeper sent a signal to his base which read: “Request handwriting test for cook on return to harbor.” The base staff remained puzzled by this unusual request until the following correction was received: “For handwriting, read breadmaking. It is my First Lieutenant who needs a handwriting test.”
---------------------------- Contributed by Commander I. B. Anonymous, Royal Navy
(The Naval Institute will pay $10.00 for each anecdote published in the Proceedings.)