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harbor!
Dressing myself, and going on deck, sure enough, there was one of the enemy's large steamships, lying close within the mouth of the harbor, with one of the brightest and largest of ‘old flags’ flying from her peak.
She did not anchor, lest she should come under the twenty-four hours rule; but pretty soon lowered a boat, and communicated with the authorities on shore.
It soon transpired that she was the famous
San Jacinto, a name which has become inseparably connected in the
American memory, with one of the greatest humiliations ever put upon the Great Republic.
Wilkes, and
Seward, and the
San Jacinto have achieved fame.
They began by attempting to make a little war-capital out of
John Bull, and ended by singing, as we have seen, the ‘seven penitential psalms;’ or, at least, as many of these psalms as could be sung in
‘seven days,’ short metre being used. I could not help thinking, as I looked at the old ship, of
Mr. Seward's elaborate despatch to Lord Russell, set to the tune of ‘Old Hundred,’ and of the screams of
Miss Slidell, as she had been gallantly charged by the
American marines, commanded, for the occasion, by an officer bearing the proud old name of
Fairfax, and born in the
State of Virginia!
We paid no sort of attention to the arrival of this old wagon of a ship.
She was too heavy for me to think of engaging, as she threw more than two pounds of metal to my one—her battery consisting of fourteen eleven-inch guns—and her crew was more than twice as numerous as my own; but we had the speed of her, and could, of course, go to sea whenever we pleased.
I was glad, however, that I had gotten the Agrippina safely out of her way, as she might otherwise have been indefinitely blockaded.
We remained quietly at our anchors during the day; such of the officers visiting the shore as desired, and the stewards of the messes being all busy in laying in a supply of fruits and other refreshments.
We were, in the meantime, quite amused at the warlike preparations that were going on on board the San Jacinto. The captain of that ship, whose name, I believe, was Ronckendorff, made the most elaborate preparations for battle.
We could see his men aloft, busily engaged in slinging yards, stoppering topsail sheets, getting up preventer braces, and making such other
