r and the surrounding waters
were deep enough for merchant-vessels, but too shallow to allow much
cruising about by warships of heavy armament. It was within a few
hours' running of three Confederate ports, and it was protected by the
flag of Great Britain. Early in the war the Confederates established a
consulate in the little town, and the Stars and Stripes and the Stars
and Bars waved within a few rods of each other. Then great
shipping-houses of Liverpool sent over agents, and established branch
houses. Great warehouses and wharves were built Soon great ocean ships
and steamers began unloading their cargoes at these wharves. Then
swift, rakish schooners began to drop into the harbor, and after
discharging heavy loads of cotton would take on cargoes of English
goods, and slip out at nightfall to begin the stealthy dash past the
watching gunboats. As the war went on, and the profits of the trade
increased with its dangers, a new style of craft began to appear in
the little harbor. These were the Clyde built blockade-runners, on
which the workmen of the Clyde shipyards had been laboring day and
night to get them ready before the war should end. They were long,
low, piratical looking craft, with two smoke-stacks raking aft, and
with one or two masts for showing signals, for they never hoisted a
sail. Two huge paddle-boxes towered above the deck amidships, the
wheels being of enormous size. No structure of any kind encumbered the
deck. Even the steersman stood unsheltered at a wheel in the bow. They
were painted dark gray, and at night could slip unseen along the water
within a stone's-throw of the most watchful lookout on a man-of-war.
They burned great quantities of a kind of coal that gave out no smoke,
and when steaming at night not a light was allowed on board. Many of
these strange craft can be seen now along the levees at New Orleans,
or at the wharves in Mobile, where they are used as excursion-steamers
or for tug-boats. They were always the merest shells, fitted only for
carrying freight, as not many passengers were to be found who desired
to be taken into the Confederate territory. Occasionally, however,
some soldier of fortune from abroad would drift from Nassau, and
thence to the mainland, to join the armies of the Confederacy. The
Confederate agents on the island were always on the lookout for such
adventurers, and were ever ready to aid them. Sometimes, too,
returning agents of the Confederacy from Europe wo