Petrel, the
The
United States revenue-cutter
Aiken, which had been surrendered to the insurgents at
Charleston, in December, 1860, was converted into a privateer, manned by a crew of thirty-six men, mostly
Irish, and called the
Petrel.
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159]
On July 28, 1861, she went to sea, and soon fell in with the
National frigate
St. Lawrence, which she mistook for a merchantman.
She was regarded as a rich prize, and the
Petrel bore down upon her, while she appeared to be trying to escape.
When the latter came within fair range, the
St. Lawrence opened her ports and gave her the contents of three heavy guns.
One of these sent a shell known as the “Thunderbolt,” which exploded in the hold of the
Petrel, while a 32-pound shot struck her amidships, below the watermark.
In an instant she was made a total wreck, and went to the bottom of the ocean, leaving the foaming waters over her grave thickly strewn with splinters and her struggling crew.
Four of these were drowned; the remainder were saved.
They were so dazed that they did not known what had happened.
A flash of fire, a thunder-peal, the crash of timbers, and engulfment in the sea had been the incidents of a moment of their experience.
Her surviving crew were sent to prison to answer the charge of piracy, but received the same treatment as those of the
C. S. S. Savannah (q. v.).
