Barron will enable you to judge correctly of the situation of the Rappahannock, and to reach a definite conclusion as to the course which the interest of the country requires in her case.' The Secretary suggested that it was not advisable to continue the expense of maintaining her as a ship-of-war at Calais, unless there was some reasonable hope of getting her to sea.

On the 28th of February, 1865, Commodore Barron notified me of the purport of his instructions, desired me to designate the officers I wished to remain, and added::6 I have instructed Lieutenant-Commanding C. M. Fauntleroy, Confederate States steamship Rappahannock, to carry out any instructions that you may give in reference to the disposition of the ship, and to render you every facility for examining into her condition, and also to give you all the information he possesses which may aid you in determining what should be done with her.'

The ultimate fate of the Rappahannock is beyond my ken. All that I know of her may be stated thus. On March 31st, 1865, in a general despatch to the Secretary of the Navy, I reported as follows in reference to her :

On the 28th ultimo Commodore Barron resigned command as senior naval officer on the Continent, and, by official letter, turned over all unfinished business heretofore under his charge. Subsequently, under date of March 4th, he informed me that there was no business. under his control except such as related to the Rappahannock. March 2nd I ordered careful survey of that ship by a board of officers, Lieutenant William H. Murdaugh president, directing minute examination into condition of hull and outfit, and general statement as to capacity for keeping the sea. Report of survey, dated March 9th: "Outfit good, but incomplete; frame timbers

sound, but requires some new deck-planks and recaulking-can carry but four and a half days' fuel at full speed, and eleven at a reduced rate; has tanks for 2,340 gallons of water and no condenser; and, in fine, with a crew of 100 men, her bunkers full of coal, and the stores and outfit necessary for cruising on board, she could only carry provisions for six weeks, and even then some of the wet provisions would have to be carried on deck."'

I informed the Secretary of the Navy that in consequence of the above report 'I have directed LieutenantCommanding Fauntleroy to pay off and discharge the crew, detach the officers, and strip and lay up the ship. This has been done, and she now lies in dock at Calais in charge of a master's mate.'

Even if the Rappahannock had been in perfect condition for cruising, the state of affairs in March, 1865, would not have justified me in sending her on a cruise. The Confederate finances in Europe could not have supplied the necessary funds, and, moreover, it was manifest that the Confederate armies could not hold out much longer. The mere cost of keeping the ship at Calais, with a few ship-keepers, was an embarrassing expense, and yet the vessel was unsaleable. At last I got a ship-broker to assume charge under a nominal sale, and he brought her over to England as an English ship, but by the time this was accomplished the end had come-the Confederate Government had expired-I could give no legal title to her, and I was only too glad to be disembarrassed of all connection or concern with her. She was, I believe, claimed by the United States, and no one appearing to resist the claim, she fell into their possession. At any rate, I never called upon the purchaser for payment of the nominal amount for which the ship was sold to him, nor has he made any claim for the

expenses of removing her from Calais. How he got rid of her, or whether he was reimbursed for his outlay, I have never inquired, but it is not likely that I would have remained in ignorance on those points if the final disposal of the vessel had left a deficit.

Commodore Barron was well known in the United States navy as a gallant officer. He came to Europe buoyant with the hope of commanding the Liverpool rams; he bore the disappointment and the many months of forced idleness in Paris with patience, and retired to privacy and partial poverty after the war, having been denied the opportunity which would have at least afforded him the chance of winning naval honours.

After the fall of Fort Fisher, which closed the Cape Fear river and Wilmington to foreign trade, there was no port left open to the ordinary blockade-runner east of the Mississippi, and it became a question of very serious consideration how to get further supplies into the Confederacy. Commander M. F. Maury thought that he might make his investigations into the subject of submarine defences useful in keeping open Galveston or some other inlet on the coast of Texas, and offered to go out for that purpose if I would ship the necessary material to Havana. This proposal was carried out. I forwarded to the Confederate agent at Havana, by steamer from Southampton, the quantity of insulated wire, copper tanks, magnetic exploders, etc., suggested by Commander Maury, and he took passage in the same steamer. On his arrival at Havana, the news of General Lee's surrender had already reached that place; and that event was so soon followed by the surrender of the forces under General Johnston that it appeared to Commander Maury useless to make any effort to get into a Texan port. He therefore abandoned the project.

It has been mentioned in a previous chapter that Lieutenant James H. North was sent to England at an early period of the war to examine into the construction of ironclad vessels, and that he was authorized to contract for a ship of that class, which, if completed and got to sea, he was to have commanded. Lieutenant (afterwards Commander) North contracted on the Clyde for an armour-clad ship of the broadside type. She was a large vessel, fully up in all respects to the ships of her class at that date; but when she was almost complete it became so manifest that her Majesty's Government would not permit her to go to sea, that Commander North consulted the Confederate Commissioners, Messrs. Mason and Slidell; and acting under their advice, he permitted the builders to sell the ship to the Danish Government. The sale was bonâ fide, and the ship was delivered to the purchasers in due course, and was paid for.

Commander North was instructed by the Navy Department to turn over the proceeds of the sale to me for general naval uses. Before those orders were received, £105,000 of the amount had been loaned to the fiscal agent of the Treasury Department to complete the sum necessary to meet the interest on the seven per cent. Bonds of the Erlanger Loan,' due September, 1864. At a later date, October, 1864, Commander North transferred to me a further sum of £67,000. Upon the receipt of the transfer order from the Navy Department, I confirmed the loan to the Treasury, and upon the requisition of General McRae and his urgent representation I advanced £40,000 in addition out of the Naval Exchequer to meet drafts drawn by agents of the War Department.

These loans were necessary by reason of the great wants of the War Department and other heavy drains

upon the financial agents. They were immediately reported to the Secretary of the Navy, and at a later period the Confederate Congress confirmed them as a permanent transfer, and by an arrangement between the heads of Departments a still further appropriation of the funds originally assigned to the navy was made for the use of the army, and for the general demands upon the Treasury.

In point of fact, no fresh naval enterprises were set in train, nor were any fresh contracts made for that Department after February 1st, 1865. By that time it had become manifest that all available resources should be appropriated to such efforts as might keep up the supplies to the armies in the field, or to meet the contracts which were still open, and the numerous Treasury drafts which were rapidly accumulating in the hands of the fiscal agents.

Among the printed correspondence on the subject of Confederate affairs in Europe are several letters relating to the ironclad frigate built on the Clyde' and sold to Denmark. It appears to have been the impression of some of the United States Consuls that she was still the property of the Confederate States at the end of the war, and that the sale to Denmark was a sham. The action of the Danish Government at the time of the sale, and the delivery of the ship by the builders, should have satisfied them that their suspicions were unfounded, but the statement made above is a true and precise account of the disposition that was made of her.

The published report of a case in the Scotch Courts, called The Pampero Case,' makes it necessary for me to give some account of that vessel. In June or July, 1863, Lieutenant George T. Sinclair arrived in England on special service, his orders being to build, if possible,