ndustries of the islands before the war were the collection and
exportation of sponges, corals, etc., and wrecking, to which was added,
during the war, the lucrative trade of picking and stealing. The
inhabitants may be classed as "amphibious," and are known among sailors
by the generic name of "Conchs." The wharves of Nassau, during the war,
were always piled high with cotton, and huge warehouses were stored full
of supplies for the Confederacy. The harbor was crowded at times, with
lead-colored, short masted, rakish looking steamers; the streets alive
with bustle and activity during day time and swarming with drunken
revellers by night. Every nationality on earth, nearly, was represented
there; the high wages ashore and afloat, tempting adventurers of the
baser sort; and the prospect of enormous profits offering equally strong
inducements to capitalists of a speculative turn. The monthly wages of a
sailor on board a blockade-runner was one hundred dollars in gold, and
fifty dollars bounty at the end of a successful trip; and this could be
accomplished under favorable circumstances in seven days. The captains
and pilots sometimes received as much as five thousand dollars besides
perquisites. All of the cotton shipped on account of the Confederate
Government was landed and transferred to a mercantile firm in Nassau,
who received a commission for assuming ownership. It was then shipped
under the British or other neutral flag to Europe. The firm is reputed
to have made many thousands of dollars by these commissions. But,
besides the cotton shipped by the Confederate Government, many private
companies and individuals were engaged in the trade; and it was computed
(so large were the gains) that the owner could afford to lose a vessel
and cargo after two successful voyages. Three or four steamers were
wholly owned by the Confederate Government; a few more were owned by it
in part, and the balance were private property; but these last were
compelled to carry out, as portion of their cargo, cotton on government
account, and to bring in supplies. On board the government steamers, the
crew which was shipped abroad, and under the articles regulating the
"merchant marine," received the same wages as were paid on board the
other blockade-runners; but the captains and subordinate officers of the
government steamers who belonged to the Confederate States Navy, and the
pilots, who were detailed from the army for this service, received th