Mr. Seward to Mr.
Adams.
No. 1639.]
Department of State, Washington,
December 30, 1865.
Sir: I enclose herewith, for your information,
an anthenticated copy of an affidavit which was communicated to this
department by William Skiddy, esq., of Stamford, Connecticut, upon the
subject of the letter of Sir James Elphinstone to the London Standard.
Mr. Skiddy participated in the transaction referred to therein, and by
his own statement destroyed the applicability of the precedent to
Waddell’s conduct.
I am, sir, your obedient servant,
Charles Francis Adams, Esq., &c., &c., &c.
[Untitled]
Stamford, Conn.,
December 18, 1865.
Sir: I have received your letter of
December 13th. instant, in reference to my communication made to the
Hon. Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy, which contained an
extract from the Herald, to the effect that Sir James Elphinstone
had written to the London Standard, stating that a precedent existed
for the course of the Shenandoah in the conduct of the United States
sloop-of-war Hornet in the year 1815—(given in James’s History of
the War.) I was, as then ranked, a midshipman master’s mate on hoard
the Hornet at that time, (equivalent to an ensign now,) and believe
myself to be the only surviving officer—the rebel Admiral French
Forrest excepted. We sailed from New York about the 22d of January,
1815. Two or three days after, we boarded a Portuguese brig in the
Gulf Stream, but a dark night and increasing gale from the northwest
obliged the boat and crew to return, and we were nearly lost before
reaching the ship. This brig had been a long time at sea, and could
not give us any news. I was the boarding officer. We had parted
company with the Peacock and Tom Bowling. Nothing further transpired
until about a month afterwards, when in latitude of the Cape de
Verde islands we boarded a French merchant brig from Bordeaux bound
to the West Indies. I was the boarding officer, and conducted the
captain on board the Hornet. Captain Biddle not speaking French, I
was his interpreter, and the conversation was all carried on through
me, and at its close I put the French captain on board his brig. We
saw no other vessel until the 23d of March, 1815, when in the
morning we made the island of Tristan d’Acunha, in latitude 37° 6'
south, and longitude 12° west. As we were getting ready to land, we
discovered a sail standing for us. We laid off and on until after 1
p. m., when the action commenced, and in twenty-two minutes after
his Majesty’s sloop-of-war Penguin, nineteen guns, was a prize to
the United States sloop Hornet. The Penguin was but a few days from
the Cape of Good Hope, and without news of a peaceable nature. On
the contrary, she told us that an English frigate was not far off
cruising for American vessels. About a month after this, April 27th,
28th, or 29th, in latitude 38° 30', longitude 33° east, we were
chased, and under the fire of a British seventy-four, (Cornwallis,)
but escaped by throwing our guns overboard. Thus disabled we steered
for St. Salvador, where we arrived about the last of June, when and
where we first heard of a cessation of hostilities. On receiving
this news Captain Biddle steered for home, and we arrived in New
York the latter part of July.
I have the honor to remain your obedient servant,
WILLIAM SKIDDY, Late Naval Constructor for
United States Mail Steamships.
Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State,
Washington, D. C.
[Untitled]
State of Connecticut, County of Fairfield, ss:
Be it remembered, that on this 20th day of December, A. D. 1865,
before me, William H. Holly, a notary public in and for said State,
residing in Stamford, in said county, duly commissioned and sworn,
personally appeared William Skiddy, who subscribed to the foregoing
letter directed to the Hon. William H. Seward, and made solemn oath
to the matter therein contained as true and correct.
In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed my
official seal the day and year above stated.
[SEAL.]
WILLIAM H. HOLLY, Notary
Public.
[Page 39]
[From the Herald.]
alleged precedents for waddell’s
course.
Sir James Elphinstone writes to the London Standard on the subject of
the Shenandoah, and furnishes an extract from James’s Naval History
to prove the depredations of that vessel, alter the termination of
the war, are not without a precedent. At the close of the war
between Great Britain and the United States, the American sloop
Hornet captured his Majesty’s sloop-of-war Penguin, after a
desperate engagement. The captain of the Hornet had previously been
informed by a neutral of the cessation of hostilities, but he
disregarded the notice, taking the Penguin, and proceeded in company
with an American sloop, the Peacock, to the East Indies, in order to
have their share of the prizes yet to be made. The Hornet became
disabled and returned, but the Peacock entered into an engagement
with an East India Company’s vessel, named the Nautilus, and the
latter was compelled to surrender. In these engagements lives were
sacrificed, and the affair naturally made a great sensation at the
time. Sir James Elphinstone refers to the incidents now, because
they may assist in the discussion which will inevitably ensue upon
the surrender of the Shenandoah.
