Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State.
[Untitled]
Brent Johnston, of Barnstable, England, mariner, being sworn,
says:
I shipped on the Alabama in Birkenhead, in July, 1862. I shipped
on the 28th, and we sailed on the 29th. I shipped as a seaman. I
did not then know what she was, and thought she was going to
Nassau. I reshipped at Terceira as boatswain’s mate. I was
afterwards disrated by court-martial. At Singapore I was made
quartermaster, and remained so until I was paid off at
Southampton, after the Alabama was sunk. We arrived at Cherbourg
on a Monday, the Monday before the fight. I remember the yacht
Deerhound arriving at Cherbourg; she arrived either on Wednesday
or Thursday evening, between seven and eight. There were other
yachts at Cherbourg, but she was the only steamyacht. The others
were the Hornet, the Pearl, and another cutter, the name of
which I did not know. People from all the yachts visited the
Alabama. Mr. Lancaster, with his wife and family, from the
Deerhound, was on board on the Friday. I was quartermaster on
watch when he came. He came in his own boat. I did not know his
name at that time, but I was told by the boat’s crew that he was
the owner of the Deerhound. The men in the boat which brought
him had Deerhound in gilt letters on their hats. I was saved by
the Deerhound and knew Mr. Lancaster again as soon as I saw him,
and recognized him as the same I had seen on board the Alabama.
I only saw him once on board the Alabama. He was on board about
an hour. He went all over the ship. He was in the cabin. Captain
Semmes was on board at the time. I know that Mr. Lancaster and
his family were in the cabin with Captain Semmes for about, ten
minutes. I know it because I went below to ask if they could
come down. The officer of the deck sent me below to ask if
Captain Semmes was disengaged, as the owner of the Deerhound was
on board. Captain Semmes replied, “Show the gentry down.” The
captain of the Deerhound had been on board before that. The
Deerhound was anchored about 600 yards from the Alabama. Captain
Semmes was not ashore at Cherbourg. Captain Sinclair was on
board the Alabama on Sunday morning. He came about half-past
nine. He did not stop long. Captain Sinclair’s son was in
Cherbourg and wanted to get on board, but was not allowed by the
authorities. Captain Sinclair came in a shore boat which waited
for him. The Deerhound got under way before us; she appeared to
steam out of the harbor, but came back, and inside of the
Alabama, then went round the starboard, and then went out. She
did not come very near us
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when she came round again—not so near as
she had been before she got under way. There was no
communication with her; she was not near enough for that. There
was no signal or anything of that sort. We did not go out of the
same entrance that she did. She went out of the east entrance,
and the Alabama went out of the west entrance. We were better
than an hour after her. I did not notice the Deerhound after she
went out until after the fight. I should have noticed her if she
had been near us. It must have been a good half hour after the
last shot was fired before the Deerhound came up to us. I was
saved by swimming to the Deerhound. Mr. Lancaster assisted me on
board. I was the first on board. Captain Semmes was brought in
one of the Deerhound’s boats about seven or ten minutes after. I
did not see him come. I did not see him for an hour afterwards.
I was told of his being brought. The Deerhound laid there about
a quarter of an hour or more after Captain Semmes came aboard
before she steamed away. She steamed straight to Cowes, and then
to Southampton, where she landed all but myself and another the
same night about ten o’clock. I left her about half-past six on
the next morning, Monday. I don’t think there was any
arrangement between Captain Semmes and the Deerhound. I think
Captain Semmes was certain he should beat the Kearsarge. I
received a splinter through my foot, and some others light
wounds, during the fight. I have been in five other engagements.
I was in the Crimean war, and I was over three months with
Garibaldi. I was with him at the taking of Palermo.
On Saturday evening before we came out I assisted to pass
chronometers from the Alabama into a boat from the yacht Hornet.
The boat came twice and took 65 chronometers. At Southampton I
lodged at the house of one of the crew of the Hornet, named John
Williams, and when I received part of my pay I went to see him
at Gravesend. The Hornet was then there. That would be on the
Thursday after the fight. Williams told me the chronometers had
just been landed. I have been informed by one of the officers
since I came here that they were all taken to London, and
sold.
Sworn at
Liverpool, in the county of
Lancaster, the
thirteenth day of September, one thousand eight hundred
and sixty-four, before me.
A. T. SQUAREY, A Commissioner to
Administer Oaths in Chancery, in
England.
