that was attractive to the adventurous that we need not be surprised to learn that some British naval officers engaged in the work, forgetful of the neutral position to which their country's policy bound them. The re monstrances which were made to the British government upon that subject, however, and the Gazette order which they elicited, prob ably prevented those who had an official status from taking their capture so phlegma tic-ally as the youth who took his passage out in a blockade-runner with the intention of enjoying a tour through the Southern States, and who, when the vessel was captured, wrote home, saying that he would now ex plore the Northern States, "which would do quite as well. Blockade-running soon became almost as much an art as a trade, the most ingenious expedients being resorted to on both sides. A system of signalling by means of blue lights and rockets was in many cases estab lished between the forts and the friends of the confederates outside the harbor. One steamer actually ran into Wilmington while Fort Fisher was being bombarded, and pre vented pursuit by boldly sailing close past the powder ship, which shortly afterwards blew up. Occasionally a furious cannonade was begun from some adjacent fort, so as to draw off the blockading squadron and leave the en trance free, if only for a few moments. The blockaders had their tricks, too. Sometimes •heavy smoke was seen rising as from a ship on fire; but when the blockade-runner went to render assistance, she found out too late that the supposed burning vessel was a Fed eral cruiser, which had resorted to this device in order to bring the swifter craft within range of her guns. One dark, rainy night the Petrel ran out of Charleston, and shortly afterwards fell in with what appeared to be a large merchant vessel. Hoping to crown a successful run with the capture of a valuable prize, she gave chase and fired a shot to bring the stranger to. The reply was a single
broadside, so well directed that there was not any need for another. The supposed mer chantman was the frigate St. Lawrence. A favorite ruse of the privateer Jeff Davis was to hoist the French flag of distress, and when a ship bore down in response to this appeal, she would under pretense of handing in a letter, send aboard a well-armed boat's crew. But of all the remarkable incidents of this remarkable blockade, there was none more noteworthy than the voyage of the British ship Emily St. Pierre. The story rivals the inventions of a sea-romancer. The vessel left Calcutta with orders to make the coast of South Carolina and see if the blockade of Charleston was still in force. Now, although this was a proceeding not in any way illegal, she was nevertheless captured by a Federal war-ship; a prize crew of two officers and thirteen men were put aboard; and her own crew, with the exception of the master and cook and the steward, were taken off her. Thus manned, she was being steered for a southern port, when her deposed captain persuaded his cook and steward to assist him in making one effort to regain possession of the ship. They caught the mate asleep in his berth, and gagged him; the prize master they found on deck, and treated him similarly; three seamen who had the watch on deck were asked to go down into the scuttle, a store-room near the helm, for a coil of rig ging. The captain gave them his order as if he had accepted the inevitable, and was aiding the captors to navigate the ship. As soon as the three leaped down, the hatch was closed, and they were prisoners. The re mainder of the crew, who were in the fore castle, were shut down and liberated one by one; but those who would give no promise to their new master were confined besides the unfortunates in the scuttle. Three, in deed, consented, but only one was a sailor; and with this crew of five, a vessel of 884 tons was taken to Liverpool through thirty days of bad weather.
