, the
hard work and rough usage she had experienced in her seven months at
sea, had been too much for her already enfeebled constitution, and she
was now little better than a wreck. At last she fairly broke down
altogether, was surveyed by a board of her officers, pronounced
unseaworthy, and on the 24th of February Captain Semmes makes the
following entry in his journal:--

"And so the poor old Sumter is to be laid up. Well! we have done the
country some service, having cost the United States at least a million
of dollars, one way or another!"

And so she unquestionably bad. Eighteen vessels captured; seven burned,
with all their cargo on board; and two released on heavy ransom bonds,
represent in themselves no inconsiderable amount of damage. Add to this
the amount really expended in pursuit of her; the enormously increased
rates of insurance; the heavy losses from reluctance to entrust goods in
United States bottoms, or to send ships themselves to sea under the
United States colours, and we have an aggregate of loss that a million
of dollars can hardly cover.

Her career was now over; but she was ere long to find a successor under
the same command, beside whose exploits her own were to sink almost into
insignificance. The events of the few months that elapsed between the
final abandonment of the Sumter and the Alabama's start on her
adventurous career, may best be gathered from Captain Semmes' own
official report to the Secretary of the Navy at Richmond.

Nassau, New Providence, June 15 to 20, 1862.

SIR,--I have the honour to inform you of my arrival at this place, on
the 8th instant, in twenty days, from London. I found here Lieutenants
Maffit and Sinclair, and received from the former your letter of May
29th, enclosing a copy of your despatch to me of May 2d. As you might
conclude from the fact of my being here, the original of the latter
communication had not reached me; nor, indeed, had any communication
whatever from the department. As you anticipated, it became necessary
for me to abandon the Sumter, in consequence of my being hemmed in by
the enemy in a place where it was impossible to put the necessary
repairs upon her-to make her fit to take the sea. For some days after my
arrival at Gibraltar, I had hopes of being able to reach another English
or a French port, where I might find the requisite facilities for
repair, and I patched my boilers, and otherwise prepared my ship for
departure. In consequence