ANNEX D.-FURTHER NOTE ON THE CLAIMS PRESENTED BY THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES FOR EXPENDITURE ALLEGED TO HAVE BEEN INCURRED IN THE PURSUIT AND CAPTURE OF CONFEDERATE CRUISERS.

EFFORTS MADE TO CAPTURE CONFEDERATE CRUISERS.

ALABAMA.

The United States in their Counter Case, while denying the pertinence. of the point to the questions at issue, reiterate the assertion that they "made great efforts and incurred great expense in their efforts to capture the Alabama."

It is not proposed in this paper to do more than make a passing reference to the cases which the British Government considers point to an opposite conclusion, and which have been fully discussed in its Case and Counter Case:

(a.) The Tuscarora's remissness in not following up the Alabama after getting away from Liverpool.

(b.) The escape of the Alabama from the San Jacinto at Martinique, on 16th November, 1862.

(c.) Commodore Bell's remissness in not capturing her after she sunk the Hatteras off Galveston.

(d.) Admiral Wilkes's interference with the Secretary of the Navy's orders to the Vanderbilt; the failure of the captain of that ship to carry out the orders implicitly when allowed to proceed in their execution, and his final abandonment of the pursuit at the Cape of Good Hope.

The question now to be considered is, did the United States Government, with the means at its disposal, use "due diligence" in its efforts to arrest the career of the Alabama?

Mr. Welles, the Secretary of the United States Navy, in his first Report to Congress after the commissioning of the Alabama, of 1st December, 1862, stated that his department had "dispatched vessels to effect the capture of the Alabama, and there is now quite a fleet on the ocean engaged in pursuing her." (Page 24.)

Now, on referring to the claims put forth against Great Britain, in Volume VII of the Appendices to the United States Case, and comparing the several dates, we find this "fleet" is stated to have consisted of

1. The Tuscarora, a suitable ship for the service, which was ordered on the "5th September, 1862, to go to the West Indies in search of the Alabama and Florida." 1

1 For the various orders given to these vessels, and alluded to in the course of this Annex, see the Synopsis of Orders given in the Appendix to the Case of the United States, vol. vii, opposite to page 120.

As Mr. Welles, in the same Report to Congress, stated that "the Tuscarora is now in pursuit of this pirate,” (Alabama,) it may be taken that these orders were sent to her about the time that the Chippewa was ordered to relieve her at Algeciras in watching the Sumter. The Chippewa was at Cadiz early in November, 1862. It may therefore be assumed that she relieved the Tuscarora about that time; but, as the Tuscarora was, in the months of November and December, cruising off Madeira; was at Gibraltar on the 31st December, 1862; at Cadiz on the 17th January, 1863; subsequently paid two, if not three, visits to Madeira; was again at Gibraltar on the 17th March,' and completed her cruise, it is presumed at some port in the United States, on the 13th April, (See Synopsis of Orders,) she could not possibly have put the orders into execution. The name of the Tuscarora does not appear in the returns of the United States ships-of-war that visited the British Islands in the West Indies during this period. This suggested a more careful and complete investigation into her case, which has resulted in proving conclusively that, in spite of the intentions of the Navy Department, she did not on or after the 5th September, 1862, " go to the West Indies for the Alabama and Florida," and that therefore she was not, on the 1st December, 1862, the date of Mr. Welles's Report, in pursuit of the Alabama.

2. The Vanderbilt, a suitable vessel when supplies of coal were procurable, then cruising in the track of vessels bound to and from Europe; of her proceedings on this cruise nothing further is known.2

3. The San Jacinto, a suitable vessel, then in the West Indies; the Alabama had on the previous 18th November escaped from her at Martinique.

4. The Mohican, a suitable vessel; she could not have left the United States on the "belligerent" mission of capturing the Alabama, as on the 14th November, 1862, when applying for coals at Bermuda, to enable him to go to the eastward, her commander, Captain Glisson, assured Governor Örd that "he was not directly engaged in any belligerent operations against the Confederate States, but was proceeding to a foreign station in the performance of an ordinary duty." (Appendix to the British Case, vol. v, p. 32.)

5. The Dacotah, a suitable vessel; she had ceased her pursuit by 17th November, (see Synopsis of Orders,) although Mr. Welles named her as being still in pursuit.

1 1 For record of visits to Gibraltar, see Appendix to British Case, vol. v, p. 229. The dates of the visits of these and other vessels to foreign ports, mentioned throughout this Annex, are recorded in returns from British Consuls, Mail Agents, &c., which can be produced for the satisfaction of the Arbitrators, if so desired.

2It is more than probable, from indications met with in tracing out the proceedings of other United States cruisers, that, had time permitted, good reasons would have been discovered for suggesting abatements on account of this cruise, the claim for which is at the rate of nearly $1,500 a day. Indeed, it might be equally desirable to endeavor to trace out the proceedings of other vessels, which are wholly unknown, except so far as stated in the synopsis of orders, such as the Augusta, Ticonderoga, &c.; the claims on their account were necessarily treated, in the former report, as admissible in the hypothetical sense there explained, but further light might discover, as in so many other cases, errors which would justify abatements.