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Semmes, Raphael, 1809-1877

"The Cruise of the Alabama and the Sumter"


* * * * *
_Tuesday, November 10th._--Passed between the islands of Beezee and
Sonbooko, both high and picturesque, the channel about a mile wide, some
villages under the groves of cocoa-nut trees on the former. The naked
natives coming down to the beach to gaze at us. We ran through the
Strait of Sunda about 2 P.M., passing to the westward of Thwart-the-Way.
Soon after passing out of the Strait and shaping our course, we
discovered a clipper-looking ship, under topsails, standing towards
North Island. Gave chase, although we were in the midst of a rain
squall, and in the course of fifteen or twenty minutes we were near
enough to him to make him show his colours. They were United States, and
upon being boarded he proved to be the Winged Racer, a vessel for which
we had been hunting outside the Strait. We captured him and sent him to
anchor about three miles from North Island (the Island bearing about
W.S.W.), and ran up and anchored near him ourselves. By working hard we
were enabled to get everything we wanted out of him by 2 o'clock A.M.;
and having despatched her crew, together with the crew of the Amanda, in
the boats of the prize, at their own request, we got under way at 4
A.M., and steamed out of sight of the coast by daylight. We were
fortunate enough to get some fowls, fruits, and vegetables from a
bum-boat of Malays, who made a business of supplying ships.


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