On board
ourselves, only two slightly wounded.
After the action had been over an hour or more, and whilst I was
steaming off on my course, it was reported to me that a boat of the
enemy, containing an acting master and five men, which had been lowered
before we opened fire upon him, to board "Her Majesty's steamer Petrel,"
had escaped. As the sea was smooth and the wind blowing gently towards
the shore, distant only about nineteen miles, this boat probably reached
the shore in safety in five or six hours. The night was clear and
starlit, and it would have no difficulty in shaping its course. But for
these circumstances, I should have turned back to look for it, hopeless
as this task must have proved in the dark. The weather continued
moderate all night, and the wind to blow on shore.
It was ascertained that Galveston had been retaken by us, and that the
Brooklyn and four of the enemy's steam-sloops were off the port,
awaiting a reinforcement of three other ships from New Orleans to
cannonade the place. So there was no "Banks' expedition," with its
transports, heavily laden with troops, &c., to be attacked, and but for
the bad look-out of our man at the masthead, we should have got instead
into a hornet's nest.
CHAPTER XXIV.
_Crowded with prisoners--Chasing a friend--At Jamaica--Enthusiastic
reception--Rest on shore--Speech making--Up anchor!--A prize--Case of
the Golden Rule--Reinstating the discipline--Capture of the
Chastelain--San Domingo--The Palmetto--Men of the day in the United
States.
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