ontinued to make her regular trips either to Nassau or
Bermuda, as circumstances required, during the summer of 1863; carrying
abroad cotton and naval stores, and bringing in "hardware," as munitions
of war were then invoiced. Usually the time selected for sailing was
during the "dark of the moon," but upon one occasion, a new pilot had
been detailed for duty on board, who failed in many efforts to get the
ship over the "rip," a shifting sand bar a mile or more inside the true
bar. More than a week of valuable time had thus been lost, but the
exigencies of the army being at that time more than usually urgent, I
determined to run what appeared to be a very great risk. The tide
serving at ten o'clock, we succeeded in crossing the rip at that hour,
and as we passed over New Inlet bar, the moon rose in a cloudless sky.
It was a calm night too, and the regular beat of our paddles through the
smooth water sounded to our ears ominously loud. As we closely skirted
the shore, the blockading vessels were plainly visible to us, some at
anchor, some under way; and some of them so near to us that we saw, or
fancied we saw, with our night glasses, the men on watch on their
forecastles; but as we were inside of them all, and invisible against
the background of the land, we passed beyond them undiscovered. The roar
of the surf breaking upon the beach, prevented the noise of our paddles
from being heard. The Lee's head was not pointed seaward, however, until
we had run ten or twelve miles along the land so close to the breakers
that we could almost have tossed a biscuit into them, and no vessel was
to be seen in any direction. Discovery of us by the fleet would probably
have been fatal to us, but the risk was really not so great as it
appeared; for, as I had been informed by a blockade-runner who had been
once captured and released, being a British subject, the vigilance on
board the blockading fleet was much relaxed during the moonlit nights.
The vessels were sent to Beaufort to coal at these times. My informant
was an officer of the British Navy, and was the guest, for a few days
after his capture, of Captain Patterson then commanding the blockading
fleet off the Cape Fear. Speaking of the arduous service, P. remarked to
him, that he never undressed nor retired to bed, during the dark nights;
but could enjoy those luxuries when the moon was shining. On this hint I
acted.

It was about this time that I adopted an expedient which proved