Captain de Saumarez, commanding Her Majesty's ship Dasher, to proceed at once to Alderney. It was found, however, that Mr. Adains's information as to the immediate destination of the two vessels mentioned in his note was erroneous. The commissioners of customs were, on the same day, (8th June,) directed by the lords commissiouers of the treasury to instruct their officers at Alderney to co operate with the lieutenant-governor of Guernsey. This order was forthwith executed, and the commissioners wrote to the same effect to their officers at Guernsey. They likewise instructed the collectors of customs at Greenock and Glasgow to report all the information which they might be able to obtain respecting the Japan. The collector at Greenock reported as follows:1 Mr. Hodder to commissioner of customs. CUSTOM-HOUSE, Greenock, April 10, 1863. HONORABLE SIR: With reference to the board's commands signified by Mr. Gardner's letter of yesterday's date, directing me to report to the board all the particulars I may be enabled to ascertain respecting a vessel called the Japan or Virginia, which it is alleged has recently sailed from the Clyde, to be employed against ships of the United States, I beg to report an iron vessel named the Japan, Thomas Hitchcock master, registered at Liverpool as 427 tons, official No. 45868, was built at Dumbarton and measured by the measuring officer at Glasgow, came down the river and proceeded to Gareloch Head, to adjust her compasses, and afterward brought up at the Tail of the Bank, where she remained three or four days. This vessel was, on the 31st ultimo, entered outward by Colin S. Caird, for Point de Galle and Hong-Kong, with a crew of forty-eight men. On the 1st instant she shipped the under-mentioned bonded stores, which were sent from Liverpool, viz: 115 gallons of spirits, 32 gallons of wine, 244 pounds of tea, 590 pounds of coffee, 212 pounds of tobacco, 10 pounds cigars, 18 cwt. 3 quarters 2 pounds of sugar, 2 cwt. 2 quarters 8 pounds of molasses, 2 cwt. 1 quarter 5 pounds of raisins, and 1 cwt. 1 quarter 8 pounds of currants; and cleared the same day in ballast for Point de Galle and Hong-Kong. It appears she left the anchorage at the Tail of the Bank early on the morning of the 2d instant, with the ostensible purpose of trying her engines, intending to return, having on board several joiners who were fitting up her cabins, and I am informed that [122] after she left this the joiners were employed in *fitting up a magazine on board, and were subsequently landed on some part of the coast lower down the Clyde. It is reported that she did not take her final departure until the 6th or 7th instant; but I cannot ascertain where she went after leaving this anchorage. I have questioned the officer who performs tide-surveyor's duty afloat, and who, ⚫ visited her, on the evening of the 1st instant, to see that the stores were correct. He informs me he saw nothing on board which could lead him to suspect that she was intended for war purposes. I can testify that she was not heavily sparred; indeed she could not spread more canvas than an ordinary merchant-steamer. I beg to add, when the tide-surveyor was on board, the joiners were fitting doors to the cabins. I am, &c., (Signed) J. F. MOORE HODDER, Collector. The officer acting for the collector at Glasgow transmitted the subjoined report, made by the measuring surveyor at that port. He added that the Japan had not cleared from Glasgow: CUSTOM-HOUSE, Glasgow, April 10, 1863. SIR: In compliance with your reference, I beg to report that an iron screw-steamer, called the Japan, was recently built by Messrs W. Denny, Brothers, at Dumbarton. I surveyed her on the 17th January last, and visited on two subsequent occasions for the purpose of completing my survey. She appeared to me to be intended for commercial purposes, her frame-work and plating being of the ordinary sizes for vessels of her class. 'Appendix, vol. i, p. 403. Ibid., p. 404. I annex a copy of my certificate of survey, which shows the vessel's tonnage and description, and beg to add that the formulæ and certificate of survey for the Japau were forwarded to Liverpool on the 2d ultimo, with a view to her being registered as a British ship. Respectfully submitted. (Signed) M. COSTELLO, FORM NO. 1A. Steamer. Certificate of survey.1 Name of ship. British or foreign built. Port of intended registry. How propelled. By a screw-propeller. Clincher. Iron. MEASUREMENTS. Length from the fore part of stem under the bowsprit to the aft side of the head of the stern-post.. Main breadth to outside plank... Depth in hold from tonnage-deck to ceiling at midships.......... Tonnage under tonnage-deck. TONNAGE. Closed-in spaces above the tonnage-deck, if any; viz: Space or spaces between decks.. Poop.. 85.67 Round-house. Other inclosed spaces, if any, naming them-store-room on deck. 1.39 6.68 Total 648.28 Deduction for space required for propelling-power as measured....... 221.03 Register tonnage, (after making deduction for space for propelling-power in steamers). 427.25 Length of engine-room, 54 feet 3 tenths. Number of engines, two. Combined power, (estimated horse-power,) number of horses-power, 200 horses. I, the undersigned Martin Costello, measuring surveyor for this port, having surveyed the above-named ship, hereby certify that the above particulars are true, and that the name and the port of registry are properly painted on a conspicuous part of her stern in manner directed by the merchant shipping act, 1854. Dated at Glasgow, the 4th day of February, 1863. (Signed) M. COSTELLO, Surveyor. It appears from these reports that the vessel, when surveyed by the measuring surveyor, presented nothing calculated to excite suspicion; that she had the appearance of being intended for commercial [123] purposes, her frame work and plating being such as are *ordinary in trading-vessels of her class; that she had been regularly entered outwards for Point de Galle and Hong-Kong, with a crew of 'Appendix, vol. i, p. 423. forty-eight men, and that, on the 1st April, 1863, she had cleared for that destination in ballast. It subsequently appeared further that she had, on the 20th of March, 1863, been registered as the property of a Mr. Thomas Bold, a merchant residing at Liverpool, on the declaration of Bold that he was the sole owner of her. It also appeared that she had been advertised at the Sailors' Home in Liverpool as about to sail for Singapore; that seamen were hired for her at Liverpool as for a ship bound for that port; and that all her crew so hired signed articles for a voyage to Singapore, or any intermediate port, for a period of two years, and that the men believed that this was the real destination of the ship. She took her crew on board while lying in the Clyde, off the port of Greenock, and on the 2d of April she sailed. With respect to the Alar, the small steamer stated by Mr. Adams in his note of the 8th to have conveyed men and munitions of war to the Japan, the commissioners of customs had, before the date of that note, received from their collector at Newhaven the following report, which they had forwarded to the treasury:1 Mr. Dolan to the commissioners of customs. CUSTOM-HOUSE, Newhaven, April 6, 1863. HONORABLE SIRS: The steamship Alar, of London, 85 tons, owned by H. P. Maples, sailed on Sunday morning, 5th instant, at 2 a. m., bound, according to the ship's papers, viz, the accompanying content, for Alderney and St. Malo. On Saturday, at midnight, thirty men, twenty of whom appeared to be British sailors, ten mechanics, arrived by train. Three gentlemen accompanied them, Mr. Lewis, of Alderney, Mr. Ward, and Mr. Jones. The men appeared to be ignorant of their precise destination; some said they were to get £20 each for the trip. Aman, rather lame, superintended them. Shortly after midnight a man arrived from Brighton on horseback, with a telegram, which, for purposes of secrecy, had been sent there and not to Newhaven, it is suspected. Mr. Staniforth, the agent, replied to my inquiries this morning that the Alar had munitions of war on board, and that they were consigned by to a Mr. Lewis, of Alderney. His answers were brief, and with reserve, leaving no doubt on my mind nor on the minds of any here that the thirty men and munitions of war are destined for transfer at sea to some second Alabama. The private telegram to Brighton intimated, very probably, having been reserved for the last hour, where that vessel would be found. Whether the shipment of the men, who all appeared to be British subjects, can, if it should be hereafter proved that they have been transferred to a Federal or confederate vessel, be held as an infringement of the foreignenlistment act, and whether the clearance of the Alar, if hereafter proved to be untrue, can render the master amenable under the customs consolidation act, is for your consideration respectfully submitted. (Signed) No. 7. R. J. DOLAN, Collector. Ship's name number of If British, port of Number of registry; if for eign, the coun Number of Name of try. passengers or troops. British goods and foreign goods free of duty, and foreign goods not for drawback: Sundry free goods. Examined. (Signed) G. W. STANIFORTH, Broker. Cleared, dated April 4. W. S. FLINT, Examining Officer. I do declare that the above content is a true account of all goods shipped or intended to be shipped on board the above-named ship, and correct in all other particulars, and that all the requirements of the act 17 and 18 Vict., cap. 101, have been duly complied with. (Signed) Signed and declared, this 4th day of April, before me. (Signed) JOS. BACK, Master. W. K. STAVELEY, Collector. [124] *When this report was received no information respecting the vessel then known as the Japan had reached the commissioners of customs or the government, and on this point no information was or could be conveyed in the report, since none was possessed by the collector at Newhaven. On the 11th April, 1863, the following statement appeared in the second edition of the Times newspaper:1 PLYMOUTH, Saturday Morning. The steamship Alar, Captain Back, of and from Newhaven, for St. Malo, put in here this morning, and landed seventeen men belonging to the steamship Japan, Captain Jones, 600 tons, which left Greenock on the 28th March for a trading voyage in the Chinese seas. On arrival off the coast of France she lay to for three days, it is supposed to take in more cargo. On the 4th April, at 11 a. m., one of the condensers of the steam-engines, which are about 200 horse-power, exploded, and two firemen in the stokehole were scalded, viz, Alexander McDuff, of Edinburgh, and William Hamilton, of Downpatrick, seriously; they were taken immediately into the captain's cabin, transferred to the Alar on the 9th, and are now in the Devon and Cornwall hospital here. The other fifteen are seamen and firemen, who took advantage of the proximity of the Alar, and are said to have "backed out of the voyage to China." They left by train this morning for Liverpool, Portsmouth, &c. The Japan, which had a complement of eighty men, has proceeded. The Alar had to lay to in the Channel on Thursday and Friday, in consequence of some trifling damages. Earl Russell, on observing this statement, gave orders that it should be immediately brought to the notice of the secretary of state for the home department, and the lords commissioners of the treasury. Afterward, and on the same day, at 5 p. m., he received from Mr. Adams the following note referring to it:2 'Appendix, vol. i, p. 402. 2 Ibid., p. 401. Mr. Adams to Earl Russell. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, MY LORD: I have the honor to inclose to your lordship a slip extracted from the London Times of this day, touching the case of the vessel now called the Japan, but named at Greenock lately the Virginia. It is needless to add that the statement therein made of the destination of the vessel is known to me to be false. I have reason to believe that she has not gone. The steamer Alar has already transferred to her one 56-pounder gun and four smaller ones, and is expected to return to her. I pray, &c., CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS. Copies of this note were immediately sent to the home department and the treasury, with a request that it should receive immediate attention, and that those departments would take such steps as might be legally in their power to prevent a violation of the law. On the same evening, at 7.40 p. m., orders were sent by telegraph to the collector of customs at Plymouth to make inquiry about the Alar; and at 11.40 p. m. an answer was received from him to the effect that she had arrived that morning, and that the collector had taken the master's statement, and had forwarded it to the board of customs. The statement so forwarded, and the collector's letter inclosing it, were as follows:1 Mr. Browne to the commissioners of customs. CUSTOM-HOUSE, Plymouth, April 11, 1863. HONORABLE SIRS: I beg to submit, for your honors' information, the inclosed statement of the master of the steamer Alar, of London, to which he has affixed his signature. He states that his vessel is a regular trader between Newhaven and the Channel Islands. Respectfully, &c., N. E. BROWNE. Statement of Mr. Back, master of the screw-steamer Alar. I cleared from Newhaven on the 4th April for Alderney and St. Malo, in ballast, and sailed from thence on Sunday the 5th, having on board about thirty passengers, of whom about six were in the cabin, and a quantity of packages, which I supposed contained provisions and passengers' baggage. Before leaving a principal party was pointed out to me by the owner of my ship, and I was informed by him that the provisions belonged to this party, and that I was to obey his instructions. On Sunday, about 3 p. m., my engine broke down, owing to the bursting of the feedpipe, and I was compelled to rake out fires, and blow off steam; the engineer repaired [125] * damage, and after about seven or eight hours' delay I proceeded on my voyage. Broke down again on Monday morning, from some cause, and proceeded, after repairs and similar delay. Laying-to on Tuesday afternoon and night, weather very thick, and blowing from westward. On Wednesday, about 11 a. m., saw a steamship a long way off to the westward, with signal flying, but I know not what colors. The passenger before mentioned asked me to bear down to the ship, which I did; but before reaching her, my engine broke down again, when the steamer came up to me, and took my vessel in tow. The steamer towed me toward the coast of France, in order that I might get shelter to effect repairs. She towed me for about an hour, then the rope parted; and in coming back to fetch me again, the tow-rope got foul of the large steamer's propeller, and caused her to fall down upon us, damaging our stanchions, and carrying away our bowsprit. The passenger before mentioned then asked me to transfer the provisions and baggage to the large steamer, which was done, by about twenty of the passengers, who also went on board the steamer, where they remained. I was then asked by a person in authority on board the large steamer, if I would take two men who had been badly scalded to any port where there was an hospital, which I consented to do, and they, with about nine or ten others, and the person who had spoken to me about the sick men, came on board my vessel; and I at once proceeded for the first English port I could make that had an hospital. 1Appendix, vol. i, p. 408. |