bound South. We arrived at
Halifax the 16th of October. The cargo of cotton was consigned to the
firm of B. Wier & Co. with instructions to purchase shoes, etc., with a
part of the proceeds, and to hold the balance to my credit. There was
then no agent of the Confederate Government in Halifax, but I had taken
letters of introduction from a mercantile house in London to this firm
to be used in case of touching there on the way back from Glasgow the
year before. When I received my instructions from the Secretary of the
Navy before leaving Richmond, I wished to ascertain to whom the cargo
was to be consigned on our arrival at Halifax; and then learned from the
Secretary of State, to whom I was referred, that there was no accredited
agent of the government there. In this dilemma I sought counsel of my
good friend Mr. Seddon, Secretary of War, who advised me to act
according to my own judgment. I therefore directed the bills of lading,
invoices, etc., to be made out with B. Wier & Co. as consignees. In no
case, I believe, did the Confederate Government appear as the shipper or
consignor. Every cargo was supposed to be owned by private individuals;
and the blockade-runners were regularly entered and cleared at the
Confederate Custom House. Upon this occasion the Lee's papers were
closely scrutinized by the collector of the customs at Halifax, who did
me the honor of personal attention; but he could find no flaw in them,
and the vessel was regularly entered, with little more than the
customary delay.

The Lee had made her last voyage under the Confederate flag. Sailing for
Wilmington with a full cargo, she was captured off the coast of North
Carolina. The land had been made the night before under quite favorable
circumstances, but neither the captain, nor the pilot, being willing to
assume the responsibility of taking charge of the vessel, the Lee was
put to sea again, and by further culpable mismanagement, she fell an
easy prey next morning to one of the United States cruisers. She had run
the blockade twenty-one times while under my command, and had carried
abroad between six thousand and seven thousand bales of cotton, worth at
that time about two millions of dollars in gold, and had carried into
the Confederacy equally valuable cargoes. My staunch old helmsman, who
had been released in New York by claiming British protection, and who
started at once in search of me, met me in Halifax on our return from
the Johnson's Islan