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Updated: June 8, 2025
At the proper moment, the gunner himself sighted the piece, the lock string was operated, and the hull of the ship shook under the discharge. Christy had a spy-glass to his eye, levelled at the Dornoch. She had just begun to change her course to conform to that of the Chateaugay, and the observer on the quarter-deck discovered the splinters flying about her forecastle.
On the one hand, there was the danger of mistaking the Dornoch Firth for the Moray, as it lies only a short way to the north of the latter; and, in the case of the Firth of Forth, there was the terrible Bell Rock.
"If the Dornoch cripples you, and then takes her own time to knock the Chateaugay to pieces, it will amount to the sacrifice of many lives," suggested the unattached officer. "I should be very glad to have your opinion, Mr. Passford," added the commander. "I certainly do not desire to thrust my opinion upon you, Captain Chantor; but as you have asked for it, I will express myself freely."
The commander went on deck, and the two passengers retired to Christy's stateroom, where they discussed the enterprise for a couple of hours. In the mean time the Chateaugay was making her best speed, for Captain Chantor did not wish to lose any of his chances by being too late; and he believed that the Dornoch must be fully due at the Bermudas.
Neither of these gentlemen recognized you; but the captain of the Dornoch would certainly know me, for I talked with him a long time." "Suppose both of them know us: what difference will that make?" demanded the young lieutenant. "It will explain to them in what manner we obtained our knowledge of the force and weight of metal of the Dornoch.
The captain requested the presence of the two passengers in his cabin, and read to them in full the latest instructions that had been sent off to him. "Our next duty is to look for the Dornoch, with her six guns and fifty men, and we are not likely to have so soft a time of it as we had with the Ionian," said Captain Chantor, when he had read the letter.
The darkness soon settled down upon the ocean, and the port light of the stranger showed itself over the starboard quarter of the ship, proving that it crossed the wake of the other. The action, if the steamer proved to be the Dornoch, must be deferred till the next morning.
This was an order for her to come to; but, instead of doing so, she flung out the Confederate flag, and fired a shotted gun, the ball from which whizzed over the heads of the Chateaugay's officers on the quarter-deck. The shot from the Dornoch, which had evidently been intended to hit the Chateaugay, sufficiently indicated the purpose of her commander.
"I apprehend no difficulty in doing that, for the Dornoch is good for fourteen knots an hour, and most of the Federal fleet cannot make more than twelve." Christy was very glad to hear this acknowledgment of the speed of the intended cruiser, for it assured him that the Chateaugay could outsail her.
"That is important; if the Dornoch is the Confederate man-of-war that arrived at St. George's yesterday, this steamer brought letters from Davis to her captain," said the Frenchman to Christy, in French. "But Davis could not have learned that the Ionian had been captured before the mail steamer left New York," added Christy, in the same language. "No matter for that, Christophe.
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