Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 21.djvu/182

 174 Southern Historical Society Papers.

course to pursue. The opinion of each was asked and given. Some were in favor of sailing to Melbourne; others for Valparaiso, or New Zealand. Captain Waddell, although in the minority, decided in favor of Liverpool. We had no flag and no country, but we had sailed from England, and to England we would now return. We were not aware that from one of the bonded ships which we had sent to San Francisco with the crews of herself and others had gone the word by telegraph to Washington of our depredations, and that President Johnson had issued a proclamation of outlawry against us.

ALTERED CONDITION.

The crew of the Shenandoah were now all called aft, and Captain Waddell, in a brief address, told them of our altered condition, and of his decision to sail to Liverpool. The men gave three cheers to their commander, and pressed forward to their duties with a will, while the ship's prow was pointed to Cape Horn. On our way we sighted many ships; some nearing us would send up signals, but would receive no answer. We had lost our voice and manners with our occupation, and all we thought of now was to get to the other side of this terrestrial globe as soon as possible. We had but seven days' coal supply, and must husband this for an emergency. It came in rounding Cape Horn, when we were obliged by stress of weather to fall upon its use. We now laid our course for our destination, and every day was closing in the miles that separated us from our fate. How far the world had gone in the last few months we did not know. We had been beyond its pale. And now, wanderers without a home, we had not even that which usually follows successful privateering money, for we had sailed against the flag of the United States, not to plunder its citizens, but to destroy its commerce. We were imbued with no grasping thoughts of wealth. The success of our cause was what we had sailed for, and now that we had no cause, we were poor indeed. What we had done was all under the open mandate of honorable warfare, recognized as such by the oldest and most power- ful of the maritime and naval nations, when she declared we were belligerents, thus recognizing that the flag we bore was a national flag. But, on the other hand, we knew the United States had never recognized the Southern States to be in secession, and, inasmuch as we were unsuccessful, we could hardly know what to expect. But the vastness of the movement, greater in extent and completion of