Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 23.djvu/284

 278 Southern Historical Society Papers.

Byzantium, loaded with coal, and the bark Goodspeed, in ballast. On the 22d, the fishing-schooners Marengo, Florence, Elizabeth Ann, Rufus Choate, and Ripple were captured, and all burned ex- cept the Florence, which, being an old vessel, was bonded and sent in as a cartel with seventy-five prisoners.

ANOTHER WAIL.

On the same day (June 22d) news of the capture of the Isaac Webb reached New York, and another wail went up along the line for protection. Senator Morgan, of New York, on the 23d of June, at the instance of the New York Harbor and Frontier- Defence Com- mission, wrote to the Secretary of the Navy, requesting that "iron- clads might be spared for defending the harbor of New York." "Our people," he said, "are uneasy at the boldness of the pirates, and they will not rest much longer without efforts for more adequate protection for this harbor. On the 22d instant I wrote you in rela- tion to the frigate Roanoke, and hope to hear that she can now be spared for the defence of the port of New York." The president of the Chamber of Commerce of New York, in writing to the Secretary of the Navy on the same subject, said: " It may not be amiss to state that the war premium alone on American vessels carrying valuable cargoes exceeds the whole freight in neutral bottoms." Governor Andrew, of Massachusetts, wrote: " I am receiving repre- sentations daily, both oral and written, from towns and cities along the Massachusetts coast, setting forth their defenceless condition." The wealthy and patriotic citizens of Boston offered to send out pri- vate vessels at their own expense in search of the ' ' pirate, ' ' if they could obtain guns from the navy-yard. Mayor Cranston, of New- port, R. I., telegraphed on June 25th: "A rebel pirate, supposed to be the Tacony, destroyed several fishing vessels outside our harbor yesterday. Will you not give us an armed steamer ? Our harbor is one of the most important of the coast." To all these and other pressing calls for help the Navy Department responded with a will- ing hand; offering to the merchants arms and officers for any vessel which they might wish to send out, and ordering the commandants of the yards to ' ' charter more steamers and send them after the Tacony," unt;il by the 26th of June there were forty -seven armed vessels scouring the seas in every direction for this bold little rover. Even the practice-ships from the Naval Academy, with the midship- men aboard, were sent out. Many of these vessels crossed and re-