Privateering.
Our correspondent at Havana announces the arrival at Cienfuegos of the Sumter, a steamer of the rebel navy, bringing six prizes, the result of a short predatory cruise. A seventh had been burnt at sea. This Sumter was in other times a mail steamer, plying between Havana and New Orleans, with the title Havana; but seized by the rebel Government, she was converted into a man-of-war, and well armed and manned, put to sea the other day from New Orleans, in saucy defiance of what the journals of that city properly describe as the paper blockade. The news of her departure has Barely reached us when it is hotly pursued by this latter news of her success. It is true the insular authorities have reclaimed the six prizes, because they had been captured within Spanish waters; but the fact of seizure shows the power for mischief possessed by the cruiser in question, and renders it almost certain that if any of these released vessels hereafter depart for their ports of destination in the United States, they will be exposed to serious danger of recapture and condemnation. Moreover, the Sumter sailing from Cienfuegos has doubtless placed herself in the path of the Aspinwall steamers, with their millions of California treasure. Much pains have been taken by the Steamship Company to put their packets in a thoroughly defensible condition; and it is possible they may be able to contend successfully against privateers. But the Sumter, according to the New Orleans papers, is far more perfectly armed and equipped than any privateer; and if the treasure ship crosses its track, the odds are fearfully against an escape. These facts and dangers are the first fruits of the laxity with which the blockade is enforced at the mouth of the Mississippi.--New York Times, 15th instant. It will doubtless interest our readers to peruse something more from the Northern papers, which are intensely excited in regard to privateering. The New York Herald gives the following list of vessels captured by the Sumter: The ship Golden Rocket was the one that was taken by the privateer, and after being ransacked and burned, her officers and crew were landed at Cienfuegos. She was commanded by Captain French, was 608 tons burthen, and was rated as A 1½. She was built at Brewer, Maine, in 1858, and belonged to Messrs. E. S. Dole & Co., Bangor. At the time of her capture she was on her way from Havana to Cienfuegos. The bark Louisa Kilham was bound to Falmouth from Cienfuegos, and was commanded by Capt. White. She is 463 tons burthen, is rated A 2, and is owned in Boston by C. R. Kilham & Co. She was built in 1851 at Bath, Maine. The bark West Wind, commanded by Capt. Bolger, was also bound to Falmouth from Cienfuegos. She was built at Westerly, Rhode Island, in 1853, and was owned by Greenman & Son, of the same place. She is rated as A 2, and is 429 tons burthen. The brig Cuba was commanded by Captain Strout, was built in Millbridge in 1851, and is owned by J. M. Sawyer, of the same place.--She was on the way from Trinidad to New York at the time of her capture. The Machias, Capt. Shoppy, was built in Machias in 1858. She is owned by N. Long-fellow, of the same place. She is 245 tons burthen, and rates A 2. She was, like the Cuba, bound for this port from Trinidad. The Naiad, when captured, was bound to this city from Cienfuegos. She was commanded by Captain Richardson, was built in Cherry field, Maine, in 1857, 385 tons and rated A 2 She is owned by Tucker & Lightbourne, of this city. The Ben Dunning, commanded by Captain Havons, was also bound to this city from Cienfuegos. She is 284 tons, was built in 1855 at Falmouth, and belongs to Portland. She rated A 2, and is owned by Messrs. Ross & Sturdivant. The Albert Adams, Captain Cousins, was built at Dennisville, Me., in 1852. She is 192 tons, rates A 2, and is owned by the captain and others. She belongs to Boston. Like the Dunning, she left Cienfuegos for this city. The Herald also devotes several columns to the privateer ‘"Jeff. Davis,"’ whose prizes are valued at $225,000." This trim little craft has had the audacity, it seems, to run way up amongst the Nantucket Shoals, and has of course created much excitement among the Yankees on that coast. The Herald's Newport correspondent gives the following account of the privateer's operations:Capture of the brig John Welsh.
The John Welsh, Capt. Fifield, left Trinidad, Cuba, on the 22d of June, for Falmouth, England, having on board a cargo of 300 hogsheads and 475 boxes of sugar. She is owned in Philadelphia, principally by John Welsh, Esq., after whom she is named, and was chartered in Trinidad by a Spanish firm, the owners of the sugar. The voyage until Saturday, July 6, was made without the occurrence of any noteworthy incident, when, about 6 o'clock on the morning of that day, and while the vessel was off Hatteras, and a little to the east of the Gulf Stream, a brig was discovered ahead, showing French colors. The Welsh, supposing this signal to exhibit a wish on the part of the stranger to speak her, the American flag was run up in response, seeing which the brig altered her course to leeward, crossed the bows of the Welsh, and when near the latter fired a shot diagonally across her bows, the ball passing only about twenty yards ahead, and striking the water about two hundred yards to leeward. During this time she continued under French colors, and when the shot was fired, it was supposed on board the Welch that she was a French man-of-war. Captain Fifield, at the signal of hostility, gave orders to have the fore-topsail backed, and his craft then hove to. This done, the privateer lowered away her boat, with an officer and sixteen men on board.--The French colors at the same time were hauled down and the rebel flag hoisted.The officer was not in uniform, had no sword, and was armed with a revolver only He subsequently proved to be first Lieutenant Pastile, of the privateer — but more of him personally anon. Like their leader, the men also were without uniforms, and carried no muskets, side arms, cutlasses or weapons of any kind, save a few old bowie-knives. When the boat — a small surf boat — had reached the side of the brig, the officer came aboard with his men. The side ladder had not been lowered for them, so they were compelled to clamber up the main chains in the best way they could. The Lieutenant gaining the deck, passed aft to Captain Fifield, who had been watching all the proceedings with the greatest anxiety, and whose indignation was uncontrollable at his inability to make any resistance.--He had not a carronade or musket, or fire-arm of any kind on board, except a couple of revolvers, and a sudden becalming of the wind precluded even the hope of escaping by setting sail. The interview between the rebel officer and Captain Fifield was a brief one. The former politely but firmly requested the surrender to the Confederate States of the vessel as a prize, and ordered Captain Fifield to get ready to go on board the privateer as a prisoner. The Captain, in response, said he was sorry to be compelled to surrender his ship to an American, and would not have thought so hard of it had it been to a foreign vessel. This ended the parley, and the Lieutenant proceeded to the Captain's cabin, where he overhauled the ship's papers, while the crew scattered over the vessel and ransacked every portion of her, pillaging and stealing whatever suited each one's particular fancy in the articles they came across. The property carried off comprised the Captain's and mate's nautical instruments, charts and books, and the clothing and private effects of the officers and crew. The ship's papers were sent on board the privateer, together with the brig's crew of four seamen, in the first boat, which returned again, and in successive trips took away the stores and provisions, leaving sufficient only for the subsistence of the prize crew subsequently sent aboard. The privateer also exchanged her rotten, worthless small boats for the comparatively excellent ones of the brig. When this transfer had been effected, the Welsh's officers, four in number, were sent in one boat on board the privateer, the Lieutenant, with some six or eight men, remaining on the prize until the prisoners were disposed of. Shortly afterwards the prize master, a Charleston harbor pilot, and eight men, were detailed to take charge of her; and the Lieutenant having returned to his vessel, the John Welsh filled away to the southwest, and was lost sight of about 2 o'clock in the afternoon. Care had been taken while she was in the hands of the rebel crew not to disturb her cargo. If she reaches any Southern port in safety, she will prove a rich prize to the rebels, as her value, ship and cargo, is estimated to be worth $75,000. A number of the subsequent captures alleged to have been made by the bold privateer are described by the Herald, a portion of which we copy: On Sunday afternoon, July 7, when about two hundred miles Southeast of Nantucket, a schooner was discovered standing Southwest. Sail was made for her, and when within a quarter of a mile, the rebel vessel hoisted the French flag, and fired a gun across her bows. She immediately have to, and proved to be the schooner S. J. Waring, Capt. Smith, from New York to Montevideo, with a general cargo. When within complete range of the brig's guns, the rebel flag was hoisted, and Lieut. Pastille, with nine men and the Captain of Marines, boarded her in a small boat. The schooner submitted — the captain seeing that resistance was useless — and in half an hour afterwards, her commander, with his little boy six years old, and the first and second mates, were sent prisoners on board the brig. Her provisions, stores, supplies, papers, and other valuables, were also transferred to the brig, which then detailed a prize master and crew to take charge of her. Three of the original crew, two seamen and the cock, were kept on board. The prize master said he intended to take her, if possible, into Beaufort, N. C. She set sail about two o'clock in the afternoon. The Waring, with her cargo, is valued at $100,000.
