oretopsail to the mast, lay submissively awaiting the commands of her
captors.

She proved to be the ship Lafayette, of Boston, bound to Belfast, with a
full cargo of grain, &c. Of her own nationality there was, of course, no
doubt; but a question now arose about the ownership of the cargo, and
some hours of patient investigation were necessary before Captain Semmes
could determine upon the course to pursue. Finally it was determined
that the claim of neutral ownership was a mere blind to insure against
capture; and at 10 P.M., the ship having been formally condemned, the
crew were transferred to the Alabama, and the prize fired and left to
her fate.

The following is Captain Semmes' memorandum of the

CASE OF THE LAFAYETTE.

Ship and cargo condemned. The cargo of this ship was condemned by me as
enemy's property, notwithstanding there were depositions of the shippers
that it had been purchased by them on neutral account. These _ex-parte_
statements are precisely such as every unscrupulous merchant would
prepare, to deceive his enemy and save his property from capture. There
are two shipping houses in this case; that of Craig and Nicoll, and that
of Montgomery Bros.: Messrs. Craig and Nicoll say that the grain
supplied by them belongs to Messrs. Shaw and Finlay, and to Messrs.
Hamilton, Megault, and Thompson, all of Belfast, to which port the ship
is bound, but the grain is not consigned to them, and they could not
demand possession of it under the bill of lading, it being consigned to
_order_, thus leaving the control in the hands of the shippers. The
shippers, farther, instead of sending their grain as freight in a
general ship, consigned to the owners, they paying the freight, charter
the whole ship, and stipulate themselves for the payment of the freight.
If this property had been _bona fide_ the property of the parties in
Belfast named in the depositions, it would undoubtedly have been
consigned to them, under a bill of lading authorizing them to demand
possession of it, &c., &c.; the agreement with the ship would have been
that the consignees and owners should pay the freight upon delivery.
Even if this property were purchased, as pretended, by Messrs. Craig and
Nicoll, for the parties named, still their not consigning it to them and
delivering to them the proper bill of lading passing the possession,
left the property under the dominion of Craig and Nicoll, and as such,
liable to capture. The property