Though the voyage of the steamer between Teneriffe and Cadiz has been
unusually long, perhaps the Calabar may not have reached Liverpool in
time for Mr. Dabney’s despatches for you to be put on board for New
York.
Nothing has been heard here of the new pirate vessel now undoubtedly
under the command of Semmes, who escaped from the wreck of the Alabama,
since the transfer of her armament and crew as related by Mr.
Dabney.
Hon. William H. Seward,
Secretary of State.
Mr. Dabney to Mr. Perry
Consulate of the U. S. of America, Teneriffe, Canary
Islands,
Tenerife,
October 29, 1864.
Sir: The English blockade-runner steamer
Laurel, Ramney master, arrived at this port on the night of the 21st
of October for the purpose of getting coals and. to land forty-two
men, said to have belonged to the English steamer Sea King, which
foundered near, the Desertas, of Madeira, and who were picked up in
their boats near those islands.
On landing, Captain Corbett, late master of the Sea King, declared
that he should main-tain the crew and send them home at his expense,
as he did not wish to trouble the consul with them. He placed them
at a hotel instead of a sailors’ boarding-house, at double the
expense of sailors usually, and all the expenses to be paid by
himself with money obtained from Bruce, Hamilton & Co., to whom
it is said he brought a letter of introduction.
All this appeared so remarkable that my suspicions were excited at
once, and failing to elicit anything definite from the different
employes of this house, I imagined that these men were intended for
some confederate vessel to call here for them. I therefore went to
the commander de la Varina and stated my suspicions and asked him to
investigate the circumstances of the loss of the Sea King. Two days
elapsed before he received any answer, and it was a remarkable one
which he showed to me. It was to the effect that the crew belonged,
as stated, to the Sea King, which did not founder, but was sold at
sea, the transfer there made and the price paid down, and that
therefore the captain paid all expenses of his crew here and their
passages hence to Liverpool in the steamer of the 30th proximo.
The inference is that another transfer has been made in this
vicinity, (similar to that of the Alabama at Terceira two years
ago,) of a vessel’ suitable for a cruiser to the confederates; that
this crew brought her from England to the place of rendezvous, and
that the Laurel brought her confederate officers and crew out and
transferred them at the same place, and that we shall ere long begin
to hear of her depredations on our commerce.
I went to the British consulate, where I was kindly shown her
register, but was not allowed to make any extracts. However, I
examined it well, and wrote down her description afterward from
memory, which I believe may be relied on as correct, and which is as
follows:
Screw steamer Sea King; iron frame, wood planking; 1,017 tons gross,
990 net; 200 horsepower; built at Glasgow in 1863: lately owned by
William Wallace, banker, in London, and others; sailed from London;
cleared for Bombay; is three-masted, square rigged, round stern; has
a poop and bust head.
This is all the information I have been able to collect and which I
hasten to communicate to you.
I shall address Mr. Seward and also Mr. Adams to-morrow by the
English packet, and communicate these same particulars. The crew are
yet here and are to go to-morrow in the steamer to Liverpool, then
due from the west coast of Africa, the Calabar.
I remain, sir, &c., &c.,
Horatio J. Perry,
U. S. Chargé d’Affaires, Madrid.
