Mr. Adams to Mr. Seward.

No. 556.]

Sir: I have the honor to transmit a copy of my note to Lord Russell of the 5th instant, transmitting a number of depositions from Mr. Underwood, the consul at Glasgow, in the case of the Pampero, and likewise one of his lordship, in acknowledgment. Copies of the depositions are also appended.

I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant,

CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS.

Hon. William H. Seward Secretary of State, &c., &c.

[Page 35]

[Enclosures.]

1. Mr Adams to Earl Russell, December 5, 1863.

2. Deposition of John McGibbon, November 21, 1863.

3. Deposition of James Ross, November 23, 1863.

4. Deposition of John M. Barr, November 23, 1863.

5. Depositions of Wm. McCambridge and Wm. Carrick, November 23, 1863.

6. Earl Russell to Mr. Adams, December 5, 1863.

Mr. Adams to Earl Russell.

My Lord: I have the honor to transmit copies of several depositions fur nished to me by Mr. Underwood, the consul of the United States at Glasgow, all relating to the outfit of the vessel called the Canton or the Pampero at that port.

I pray your lordship to accept the assurances of the highest consideration with which I have the honor to be, my lord, your most obedient servant,

CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS.

Right Hon. Earl Russell, &c., &c., &c.

Deposition of John McGibbon.

I, John McGibbon, a riveter, residing at 63 King’s street, Tradeston, Glasgow, in the county of Lanark, make oath and say: I have been eight months in the employment of Messrs. James and George Thompson, but was not all that time employed on the Pampero. I left the employment three days before she was launched. She was named the Canton, which name was in gilt letters on each side of her bow. It was the general opinion that name would be changed, and that chiefly for the reason that a ship’s name is almost always carved or cut in, while the name Canton was only put on by temporary gilt letters. I saw that there were eight port-holes in the ship, besides two larger ones, (one on each side,) both when they were open and when they were closed. I saw also that ringbolts or gun-fasts were put on, (similar to those of the Black Prince, on which I wrought when she was being constructed,) and I knew that they were afterwards removed. Nothing is now visible of the port-holes except the hinges of the shutters which have been put on. The use of the eyebolts or gun-fasts is to fasten guns and move them backwards and forwards. The height of the ship’s bulwarks was about seven feet. The number of stopcock’s and valves (there were six or seven on each side, with grating on the outside) is greater than is usually the case in other vessels. Some of these amidships are close to one another. I cannot say for what purpose there are so many, but there are more than would be necessary for engine and other purposes. They could be made useful in drawing the magazine if that were wished. Underneath the boiler seat and engine seat the vessel is plated, and there is a tier of plating above the engine, making her much stronger than any other vessel having a wooden bottom. I know of a magazine having been fitted up in the after-part of the ship with a hatch-hole capable of admitting a man. I observed there were at least one hundred and fifty lockers fitted up in said ship along the side in the forecastle, between decks. There are four or five water-tanks [Page 36] between decks, between where the bunkers should be placed. I was not employed working on board the ship for some time before I left, but I was on board every day, at the meal hours, seeing what was doing. It was believed by myself and by all my fellow-workmen that the ship was fitted up as a vessel-of-war, intended for the government of the Confederate States of America; at least, it was so reported. The ship has no accommodation for such stowage as would be required by a vessel in the merchant service. The hatches were similarly constructed to those of other vessels, but smaller, and with regard to her rudder it was composed of brass plates and brass rivets, which is seldom the case with an ordinary vessel; and the propeller is of solid brass, which is also, very unusual. These are generally made of cast iron. All this is truth, as I shall answer to God.

J.McGIBBON.

Deposition of James Ross.

I, James Ross, clerk to Mr. Henry Miller, 13 Virginia street, Glasgow, and residing at 136 West Graham street, Glasgow, in the county of Lanark, make oath and say: That on this 23d day of November, 1863, I visited the yard of Danach & Espie, boat-builders and carpenters, Ardgowor street, Glasgow, and there saw two new life-boats and two new long or jolly boats, which are just completed; that these boats are presently being painted which is the last thing to be done to them; that I was informed by James Urquehart, the foreman boat-builder, and also by Duncan McDiarmid, a wright who was employed on them, that they were ordered by Messrs. James & George Thompson, and are intended for the ship Pampero, recently built by them; that each of said boats has six cross-beams, and provision is made for eight oars; that they are about twenty feet in length, and about eight feet in breadth of beam; that the said Duncan McDiarmid informed me that said boats are very strongly constructed, and that there is extra work at the stem of each of them, which is unusual in the other long or jolly boats; that between the stem itself and the aft cross-beams there is a tranverse piece of wood (black birch) eleven inches deep and four and a half inches thick, and there are besides four diagonal pieces to strengthen the former and keep it in its place, thus:

The said tranverse beam and diagonals are made movable so they can be taken out and replaced at pleasure. That in the centre of said beam is a hole which he stated was for a swivel, for the purpose of a gun being there placed and wrought. That McDiarmid stated that lately they were hurried to get said boats in readiness, but that now they are not so pushed for them. All which is truth, as I shall answer to God.

JAMES ROSS

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Deposition of John McQueen Barr.

I, John McQueen Barr, clerk to Henry Miller, of No. 13 Virginia street, Glasgow, and residing at No. 80 New City Road there, make oath and say: That I know by sight a person calling himself Captain Sinclair, and another called Captain Tennant, and have been informed that both are from the Confederate States of America and connected with the government of those States; that I am aware that both, as well as a Captain North, resided for some time at the Bridge of Allan and also in Glasgow; that I know their lodgings in Glasgow to be in India street; that on the second day of this present month of No vember I saw Tennant and Sinclair in company together at Bridge of Allan; that I have been shown a photograph containing a group of four males and three females; that one of the four represents Sinclair, and another is Tennant. It was from this that I first identified Sinclair in person, and he was afterwards pointed out to me as one of a number of American strangers who had been located there during the autumn months, and I was then informed he was named Sinclair. I had seen him at Bridge of Allan previously, though I did not know anything of him then; that on the 31st day of October last I ex amined in Sterling the file of the Bridge of Allan Reporter, and selected the following from the list of visitors:

April 5, 1863.—Captain and Mrs. North, Miss North, Captain Sinclair, Confederate States of America, at Mrs. Lanark’s, Belmair House.

May 8, 1863.—Captain, Mrs., and Miss North, Charleston, Virginia; Captain Sinclair, at Belmair House.

July 5, 1863.—Captain, Mrs., and Miss North, Confederate States, at Belmair House.

March 28, 1863.—Mr. and Mrs. Tennant, at J. Miller’s, Wellwood House. And I obtained the following information as to the several lodgings they had occupied: 1st. Mrs. Pattison’s, Fountain Road; 2d. Mrs. Smart’s, Belmair House; 3d. Miss McDonald’s, Prospect Villa; 4th. Mrs. Smart’s again; 5th. J. Miller’s, Wellwood House; 6th. Mrs. Young’s, Anpeld Road—all Bridge of Allan.

That since the 9th day of the present month I have seen Sinclair several times in Glasgow.

All of which is truth, as I shall answer to God.

JOHN M. BARR.

Depositions of William McCambridge and William Carrick.

I, William McCambridge, shipwright, of the town of Govan and county of Lanark, make oath and say: That on the day the vessel, called and known as the Pampero, arrived at the public crane on the Broomielan, in Glasgow, about four weeks ago, for the purpose of receiving her machinery, having some curiosity to see her fittings, &c., from the reports I had heard concerning her, I went on board of her, and went over nearly the whole of her, making such examination of her as I was able. Prom this examination, and from my experience as a shipwright, I state that many of her fittings were and are quite different from and unlike what are usual and customary on merchant vessels whether screw or paddle-wheeled. The vessel Pampero is a screw steamer, having been built in the shipyard of J. & G. Thomson, near Glasgow; but having been employed for two years as a shipwright in vessels-of-war of her Majesty’s dockyard at Portsmouth, I saw at once that many of her fittings [Page 38] were evidently those of a vessel-of-war. The engines and boilers of the Pampero, eight feet three inches in height, have been placed and are under the water-line, as is usual, for obvious reasons, in vessels-of-war, but very unusual in merchant vessels. At each end of the engine-room there is on the Pampero a donkey engine fitted that I have never observed on merchant vessels, but common on vessels-of-war. The deck beams of the Pampero are placed much closer together than on any merchant steamer I have ever seen, there being one riveted to every frame, and only eighteen inches from centre to centre. The decks, of red pine, are also unusually thick, being four and a half inches, and evidently calculated and intended to carry heavy weight on deck. The Pampero is provided with a double steering wheel, placed about six or eight feet under the upper deck, and on the upper deck there is another similar steering wheel. There were two yolks or tillers connected with these wheels under deck, with the necessary blocks and leads for tiller ropes, as in war vessels. At the interval of about four days after this first examination, I again went on board the Pampero, and. found that the lower steering wheel had been removed, but that the tiles and fittings remained. The cabins on the upper or gun deck of the Pampero are all hinged for removal as a vessel-of-war, to enable the deck to be cleared for action, fore and aft. Her deck ports, or port-holes, of which there are eight on a side, are raised sixteen or eighteen inches above the main deck, showing they are not intended to carry off water or the sweepings of the ship. The hinges of the cabins and the raised position of the ports are appropriate to war vessels, but unusual and inappropriate to merchant vessels; and I give it as my opinion, judgment, and belief, as a shipwright, having worked at the trade for thirteen years, in merchant and war vessels, that the Pampero is built and intended as a vessel-of-war, and to be used for war purposes, and not as a merchant vessel. She has been so held and reputed to be in the yard of Messrs. Thomson, where she was built, and where I worked on her previous to the 15th of February last, by all hands, and to be intended for the Confederate States of America, being called and known in the yard as the second “Alabama,” second “290,” and such like names; and I have frequently seen two persons pointed out to me as Captains North and Sinclair giving directions and apparently superintending the work and operations in the Pampero as though they were interested therein; and I recognize and identify the two persons in the photograph shown to me of a family group, under which is written the names of North, Sinclair, and others, and here referred to. I further state that the Pampero has telescope funnels, which is very unusual in merchant vessels, but very common in vessels-of-war. I have worked in J. & G. Thomson’s yard about five years previous to about the 15th of February last; since then in A. & J. Angle’s, and have been intimate with Thomson’s yard and hands up to this time.

WILLIAM McCAMBRIDGE.

Sworn before the collector at Glasgow, November 28, 1863.

I, William Carrick, shipwright, residing at No. 4 Ferrol street, Relimbaugh, near Glasgow, and county of Lanark, make oath and say: That I have heard the statement and affidavit of William McCambridge fully and distinctly read; that I was present with and accompanied the said William McCambridge, on both occasions and visits, to the Pampero, which he in his said affidavit and statement refers to and describes; and I fully and understandingly concur and agree with each and all of said descriptions and specifications of and concerning the vessel Pampero, and that the said Pampero is different from a merchant vessel and like to a war vessel in the parts and points he has designated and specified. I also unite and concur with him in the opinion that said vessel [Page 39] Pampero was and Is built and designed for war purposes, or a vessel-of-war, and not for a merchant vessel. I further state that I concur with him as to the general reputation of the Pampero as a war vessel, intended and built for the Confederate States of America, as also in regard to Captains North and Sinclair, the Confederate agents, superintending the building of said vessel. I therefore adopt said affidavit as my own, for the purpose of avoiding repetition, except so far as it relates to himself as a shipwright. I have never worked in any of her Majesty’s shipyards, but have worked at the trade of shipwright for fifteen years last past. I worked in Thomson’s yard three years, and am well acquainted with his hands.

WILLIAM CARRICK.

Earl Russell to Mr. Adams.

Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of this day’s date, enclosing copies of several depositions furnished to you by Mr. Underwood, the consul of the United States at Glasgow, relative to the outfit of the vessel called the Canton or the Pampero at that port, and I have the honor to state to you that these papers shall be considered by her Majesty’s government.

I have the honor to be, with the highest consideration, sir, your most obedient, humble servant,

RUSSELL.

C. F. Adams, Esq., &c., &c., &c.