Trial of the Officers and Crew of the Privateer Savannah, on the Charge of Piracy, in the United States Circuit Court for the Southern District of New York. Warburton Adolphus Frederick
Repeat that?
A. If I bear in mind, Captain Meyer asked what authority he had to hail his vessel, or to that effect. The reply of Captain Baker, I think, was that he was under a letter of marque of the Confederate Government, and he would take him as a prisoner, and his vessel as a prize to the Southern Confederacy. I do not know the very words, but that was the purport of the statement, as near as I understood.
Q. When Captain Baker hailed the Joseph, do you remember the language in which he hailed her?
A. I think, "Brig, ahoy! Where are you from?" He answered him where from—I think, from Cardenas; I think, bound to Philadelphia or New York.
Q. Did he inquire about the cargo?
A. No, sir, I think not, until Captain Meyer came on board. We were but a short distance from the brig. The brig was hove to.
Q. Do you remember anything further said by Captain Baker, or any of the prisoners?
A. He had some further conversation with Captain Meyer, on the deck, with respect to the vessel, where from, the cargo, and the like of that. She had in sugars, as near as my memory serves me.
Q. What flag had the Savannah, or how many?
A. She had the Confederate flag.
Q. What other flags, if any?
A. She had the United States flag.
Q. Any other?
A. No, sir, I do not know that she had any other.
Q. Did you notice what flag the Joseph had?
A. I did not see her flag, or did not notice it. I saw her name, and where she hailed from. I knew where she belonged.
Q. What was on her stern?
A. I think "The Joseph, of Rockland." I knew where it was. I had been there several times.
Q. When the sail was first descried was there any flag flying on the Savannah?
A. No, sir.
Q. When you ran down towards the Joseph was there any flying?
A. Yes, sir, we had the Confederate flag flying, and, I believe, the American flag.
Q. Which was it?
A. I believe both flying—first one, and then the other.
Q. Which first?
A. I think the Stars and Stripes first. I am pretty certain that Mr. Evans then hauled that down.
Q. When running down toward the Joseph you had the American flag flying?
A. Yes, sir; I think so; and Mr. Evans hauled down that, and put up the Confederate flag, when we got close to her.
Q. She ran with the American flag until close to her, and then ran up the Confederate flag?
A. Yes, when some mile or so of her—in that neighborhood.
Q. Do you remember who gave the order to the prize crew to leave the Savannah and go on board the Joseph?
A. Issued the orders? Well, Captain Baker, I believe, told the pilot, Mr. Evans, to select his men, and go with the boat.
Q. And they went on board?
A. Yes, they went on board.
Q. Do you remember anything said among the men, after the prize crew went off, in respect to the Joseph, or her cargo, or her capture?
A. Captain Meyer was there, and stated what he had in her, and where he was from, and so forth. We were merely talking about that from one to the other.
Q. Do you remember any directions given to the prize crew, as to the Joseph—where to go to?
A. I do not recollect Captain Baker directing where to get her in, or where to proceed with her. Evans was better authority, I presume, than Captain Baker, where to get her in.
Q. Any directions as to where the vessel was to be taken?
A. No, sir; either to Charleston or Georgetown—the nearest place where they could get in, and evade the blockade. That was the reason of having the pilot there.
Q. Did Captain Meyer remain on board the Savannah?
A. Yes, sir, until we were captured, and then he was transferred to the brig Perry, with the rest of us.
Q. What direction did the Joseph take after she parted from you?
A. Stood in northward and westward. Made her course about northwest, or in that neighborhood.
Q. In what direction from Charleston and how far from Charleston was the Joseph?
A. I think Charleston Bar was west of us about 50 or 55 miles.
Q. Out in the open ocean?
A. Yes, sir. I calculated that Georgetown light bore up about 35 miles in the west; but whether that is correct or not I cannot say.
Q. Where was the nearest land, as nearly as you can state?
A. I think the nearest land was Ball's Island, somewhere in the neighborhood of north and west, 35 or 40 miles.
Q. What sail did you next fall in with?
A. We fell in with a British bark called the Berkshire.
Q. What did you do when you fell in with her?
A. We passed closely across her stern. She was steering to the northward and eastward—I suppose bound to some Northern port.
Q. That was a British brig?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. What was the next sail you fell in with?
A. The next sail we fell in with was the brig-of-war Perry.
Q. At what time did you descry her?
A. I suppose about 3 o'clock in the afternoon of the same day.
Q. Where were you when you fell in with her?
A. We were somewhere in the same parallel. We saw the brig Perry from the masthead, and stood towards her.
Q. What was said when she was seen?
A. We took her to be a merchant vessel. That was our idea, and we stood to the westward.
Q. Did you make chase?
A. Yes, sir, we stood to the westward when we saw her; and the brig Joseph, that we took, saw her. The Perry, I presume, saw us before we saw her, and was steering for us at the time we were in company with the Joseph.
Q. How far off was the Joseph at the time?
A. Not more than three or four miles. When we made her out to be the brig-of-war Perry, we then tacked ship and proceeded to sea, to clear her.
Q. How near was the brig Perry when you first discovered she was a man-of-war?
A. I should think she was all of 10 or 11 miles off.
Q. The brig Perry made chase for you?
A. Yes, sir.
Mr. Larocque: If the Court please, from the opening of counsel I suppose he is now proceeding to that part of the case that he laid before the jury in his opening, that consists in an exchange of shots between the brig Perry and the Savannah. We object to that. There is no charge in the indictment of resisting a United States cruiser, or of any assault whatever.
Mr. Smith: What the vessel did on the same day, before and after the main charge, goes to show the purpose of the voyage—the general object of the Savannah and her crew. It may be relevant in that respect.
Mr. Larocque: We are not going to dispute the facts testified to by this witness. There will be no dispute