Benson J. Lossing, Pictorial Field Book of the Civil War. Volume 1.

[558] in England, where it was assumed that Davis was at the head of an actual government, to whom the British authorities had officially awarded belligerent rights. With that assumption, and that opinion of the character of the Confederates, it was argued in the British Parliament that the captives were not pirates, but privateers, and ought to be treated as prisoners of war. The United States Government, on the, contrary, denied that Jefferson Davis represented any government, and hence his commissions were null, and the so-called privateers were pirates, according to the accepted law of nations; but, governed by the dictates of expediency and a wisely directed humanity, it was concluded to treat them as prisoners of war, and they were afterward exchanged.

The Petrel was more suddenly checked in her piratical career than the Savannah. She was the United States revenue-cutter Aiken, which had been surrendered to the insurgents at Charleston, in December, 1860, by her disloyal commander.¹ She was now manned by a crew of thirty-six men, who were mostly Irishmen, picked up in Charleston while seeking employment. She evaded the blockading squadron off Charleston harbor, and went to sea on the 28th of July, when she was discovered by the National frigate St. Lawrence, that was lying behind one of the islands on that coast. The St. Lawrence was immediately made to assume the appearance of a large merchant vessel. Her heavy spars were hauled down, her ports were closed, and her people sent below. The Petrel regarded her as a rich prize, and bore down upon her, while the St. Lawrence appeared to be crowding sail so as to escape. As the Petrel approached, she sent a warning shot across the St. Lawrence, but the latter kept on her course, chased by the pirate. When the Petrel came within fair range, the St. Lawrence opened her ports, and gave her the contents of three heavy guns. One of them — a Paixhan — was loaded with an 8-inch shell, known as the “Thunderbolt,” ² which exploded in the hold of the Petrel, while a 32-pound solid shot struck her amidships, below water-mark. These made her a total wreck in an instant, and she went to the bottom of the ocean, leaving the foaming waters over her grave thickly strewn with splinters and her struggling crew. Four of her men were drowned, and the remainder, when brought out of the water, were so amazed and

Thunderbolt shell.

confused that they scarcely knew what had happened. A flash of fire, a thunder-peal, the crash of timbers, and engulfment in the sea, had been the incidents of a moment of their experience. The rescued crew were sent to Philadelphia and placed in Moyamensing Prison, to answer the charge of piracy. They, like the crew of the Savannah, were finally admitted to the privileges of prisoners of war, and were exchanged.

While the piratical vessels of the Confederates were making war upon