Cruise of the Rappahannock in Calais Harbor

IN the year 1863 I was one of the English residents at the country village of Fréthun, about six miles from Calais, when rumors of a most extraordinary nature began to circulate. It was confidently stated that a pirate ship had been brought into the harbor; some averred that she had come in of her own accord for the express purpose of burning Calais and massacring the inhabitants. To ascertain the exact truth, my two sons speedily walked into town, and having well examined this redoubtable craft, brought back more certain information. The ship was a Confederate cruiser bought at Sheerness under another name, by Confederate agents, which had been brought over to Calais by a lieutenant of the Southern navy, with only a few men; on nearing Calais harbor they had hoisted the Confederate flag and christened the vessel the Rappahannock. Very soon after her arrival she had gathered together a motley crew of one hundred and eighty men and thirty-two officers, who expected, after getting stores and ammunition on board, to sail out of the harbor fully prepared for action. Such was not the intention of the authorities; an embargo was laid upon the Rappahannock, and to prevent any sudden attempt of her commander to take her out of port, she was placed in the Bassin à Flots, and kept there for more than a year.

My two sons, of the respective ages of twenty-one and eighteen, were heartily tired of the monotony of their country life, and I felt uneasy when, after the arrival of the Rappahannock, every day found them prepared for a walk into Calais and a further inspection of the Southern vessel; I was certainly more grieved than surprised when one day they informed me that they had shipped as two of the crew of the Rappahannock, and would be expected to join immediately. All remonstrance was useless, and I had no option left but to do my best towards preparing them comfortably for their new life. This I did, and my daughters and myself bade them farewell with many tears, many blessings, and many sad misgivings as to their future prospects. In a short time our kind friend the Protestant clergyman, who was the English consular chaplain at Calais, wishing if possible to comfort me, brought down with him on a visit one of the lieutenants of the ship, that I might ask him all the questions my maternal solicitude prompted. This officer was a young Virginian of good family, whose uncle was an admiral in the Confederate service, his family being all stanch supporters of the Southern cause. He had been educated at West Point, and was very good-looking and agreeable. I heard afterwards that both in principles and in manners he was greatly superior to his brother officers. This prepossessing young man was most enthusiastic as to the cause he had espoused, and seemed to feel certain of its favorable issue. He gave me every promise and assurance that my sons should be speedily promoted, that their comfort and welfare would be well looked to, and even that, if inclined to study, time would be allowed them for the purpose. I knew too well that much of this would be impossible on board such a ship, but he certainly left me much comforted, and as far as he was concerned amply redeemed his promises, for he proved a very kind friend to both my sons. As he had predicted, they were speedily promoted: the elder was made an officer, and the younger a quartermaster. They went on board in December, 1863, and during the summer of the following year the time of our old gardener was greatly taken up in carrying books, fruit, flowers, clean linen, and many little delicacies on board their ship, to insure their own comfort and to recommend them to their messmates.

In the mean time all Calais and its environs became stanchly Confederate.

I am bound to say that the crew of the Rappahannock were a goodly assemblage of robbers, murderers, pirates, deserters, and pickpockets, and even according to their own account of themselves, there was hardly one who did not deserve hanging. The officers, however, were all gentlemen, mostly young and good - looking, and they certainly were caressed, feted, and lionized to their hearts’ content. Enthusiastic young ladies wore the Confederate colors of gray and blue, and fastened their collars with Rappahannock buttons presented by their gallant admirers. In musical families among the English residents, sweet voices sung Southern songs to admiring audiences, and breakfasts, dinners, concerts, balls, pienics, and, I must add, desperate flirtations, enlivened the whole neighborhood. The officers returned the civilities of their town friends by many pleasant parties and one splendid ball given on board, at which they spared neither expense nor trouble. Hor was the delicate attention omitted of providing a dressing-room for their fair visitors, and ladies’ maids to assist them in the adjustment of their dress. Great was the curiosity of all classes to go over the vessel, and inexhaustible the politeness of the officers in showing it off. The throngs on the quay, which assembled every day to watch the proceedings of these rovers of the sea, seemed never to have seen enough, and especially at the sailors’ dinner-hour their curiosity was powerfully excited. A wag on board having suggested that they came to see the wild beasts feed, the crew entered into the joke, and not only pretended to snatch up their food and claw it to pieces like wild animals, but, simulating bears, gave utterance to sundry horrid growls, to the great terror of the female portion of the lookers-on.

It might have been supposed that the Rappahannock, being peaceably moored by the side of the quay, would have been in no danger of law proceedings. Not so. A timber vessel came into the Bassin à Flots, and injured her bowsprit rigging by running into the rigging of the Southern ship. The matter was referred to the Tribunal de Commerce, and one of my sons, who was only too well acquainted with the very unsatisfactory course of French justice, told the captain at once that the Rappahannock, and not the aggressive timber ship, would bear the brunt of the affair, and for this simple reason, that the president of the Tribunal de Commerce was father-inlaw to the owner of the timber vessel. He was right; the Rappahannock was condemned to pay a fine of three hundred francs, and as the captain positively refused to pay, the town bill-sticker was ordered not only to paste up bills of sale all over the town, but also to go on board the ship for the same purpose. Having fulfilled the first part of his commission, the public functionary strolled along the quay and fearlessly stepped on to the deck of the Rappahannock, with his pot of paste and bundle of bills. The officer of the deck instantly signaled to two stalwart tars, who, seizing the man, each by an arm and his trousers, hove him on to the quay, which, being at least ten feet above the level of the deck, made his rapid ascent rather perilous. He was not hurt, but, from the impetus given, fell into his paste pot, and the day being stormy his bills were scattered to the four winds of heaven. He shook his fist at the ship and hurried to tell his tale to the authorities. In half an hour a fierce-looking gendarme was sent to parley with the recalcitrant ship; but by this time the officer of the watch had completely lost his patience, and sending the steward for his sword, laid it on the capstan and swore that he would cleave the head of the first man who dared to set foot on the deck. Afraid any longer “to beard the lion in his den,” the gendarme disappeared, and what more came of the matter history does not record.

An incident of a more serious kind,

which under other circumstances would have led to a naval execution, took place while my sons were on board. A tall, good-looking young man came one day and shipped before the mast, and though rated as a common seaman, seemed marvelously conversant with nautical affairs. He attracted notice at last by his constant examination of every part of the ship to which he could gain access, and he was specially addicted to prowling about the powder - magazine. A whisper began to circulate in the ship that a Northern spy was on board, and suspicion at once fell upon this young man. The captain intercepted and read a letter from his mother, which fully verified the fact of his being a spy. It was supposed that he belonged to the Kearsarge, which kept cruising between Cherbourg and Calais, and which sometimes came almost to the entrance of the harbor. He was at once made prisoner, heavily ironed both hand and foot, and confined on the lower deck, where he remained nearly two months strictly guarded. My sons, whose hearts had not been hardened by the cruelties of war, so far as they had known them, found means of supplying the unfortunate man with clean linen, of which he was dreadfully in want, and other small comforts which were rigorously denied him. If the captain had dared he would at once have hung his prisoner, but in a foreign harbor that was impossible. It was, however, fully decided that if the ship were ever released and got out to sea, the spy would swing from the yard - arm. He was saved from this fate. It was found so difficult and troublesome to have him constantly guarded, that at length it was decided to dismiss him with ignominy. The crew and the officers were accordingly mustered upon the deck, and the prisoner being brought up, his irons were taken off and he was very unceremoniously put on shore in nothing but his shirt and trousers, much broken down by his long imprisonment. Far from being ashamed of his detection as a spy, he gloried in it, and maintained that he was in the strict line of duty and was performing a most heroic act of patriotic self-devotion. He openly acknowledged that it had been his intention to blow up the Rappahannock with all on board, could he once have gained access to the powder-magazine, and he had taken the precaution of having always a small boat at a short distance to facilitate his own escape. He must have had friends and resources in Calais, for the day after his dismissal he reappeared in gentlemanly dress and took up his abode at one of the best hotels. He wrote once afterwards to my sons to thank them for their kindness.

While these events were passing, my daughters and myself spent a summer of torturing anxiety. We had always the dread that the Rappahannock might be allowed to go out to sea, in which case my sons would be carried away from us. We also knew that the notorious Alabama was off Cherbourg and in want of more hands. I fear that it will be thought very shocking in an Englishwoman, but I confess that when I heard of the total destruction of the Alabama in her fight with the Kearsarge, I felt nothing but an inexpressible relief and thankfulness. My sons, longing for active service, and heartily weary of the idle, droning life they led in the harbor, had signed their names as volunteers for the Alabama only a few days before her destruction. My long trial was, however, coming to a close. Early in August, 1864, Antoine, our old gardener, returned one day from the ship, bringing back with him all the parcels I had sent in the morning. He told me that he had seen and spoken with both his young masters, who had sent me word that they were both coming back for good the next day, and wished nothing more sent. Seeing me still incredulous, the old man added that the crew were being paid off as fast as possible, and that many of the officers had already quitted the ship. The next day this joyful news was confirmed by the arrival of our two absentees, and if we did not actually kill the fatted calf, we at least received them with heartfelt thankfulness.

How many broken hearts the gallant Confederate officers left behind them, I am not prepared to say; but this I do know, that great grief and lamentation took place at their departure, and that for months afterwards the very spirit of dullness brooded over the old streets of Calais. The Rappahannock was for years a standing joke in our family, and was christened Mamma’s Sinking Fund, so great was the outlay of money and everything else it had cost me.

H. B. K.