Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 27.djvu/229

 " In January, 1865, I was serving on board the Confederate frigate Raf>f>ahannock, lying in the harbor of Calias, France, detained by the French Government under some technicality. In the early part of January I was detached from this command and ordered to pro- ceed to London, where I joined the blockade-runner City of Rich- mond, under command of Captain Hunter Davidson. We sailed for the coast of France and anchored in a nook of Quiberon Bay. I knew nothing of what the general purpose of our movement was or the purposes of the Confederate Naval Department in other quarters. We lay in Quiberon Bay until the evening of the next day, the 24th of January, when a steamer came in sight and hailed us. We found it was the Confederate States steamer Stonewall, built in France for Denmark, rejected by Denmark, and sold in Copenhagen by her builders to the Confederate States Government. Captain Thomas Jefferson Page and Lieutenant R. R. Carter, of Shirley, Va., boarded this vessel at Copenhagen and met the City of Richmond in Quiberon Bay on the day named the 24th of January, 1865.

A HEAVY GALE.

"We kept in touch with the Stonewall during this day, transfer- ring stores, supplies, and a portion of our crew, until the next day at noon. We then got under way, and in the Bay of Biscay encoun- tered a heavy gale, when the Stonewall became short of coal, and orders were given to the blockade-runner, City of Richmond, to proceed to the island of Bermuda, and there await the arrival of the Stonewall.

"The Stonewall then proceeded to the harbor of Ferrol, in Spain, for the purpose of taking on coal. Whilst there, the Federal frigate, Niagara, under command of Captain T. T. Craven, and the Sacra- mento, a vessel of war of the United States navy, commanded by Captain Walke, appeared off this port and anchored at Corunna, nine miles distant, from whence they could watch the Stonewall. The Niagara was one of the fastest ships in the navy of the United States, and carried a battery of ten I5o-pound Parrott rifles, while the Sacramento mounted two eleven-inch guns, two nine-inch guns, and one 60- pound rifle. The Stonewall carried a 3OO-pound Arm- strong rifle in her forward turret, and two yo-pound Armstrongs in her stern turret, that being her entire armament.

"On March 24th, the Stonewall steamed out of the harbor in plain sight of the enemy, but, to the surprise of Captain Page, who