Cruise and Captures of the Alabama

CHAPTER III.

ARMING AT THE AZORES.

Captain Bulloch had gone ashore with the pilot at the Giant's Causeway, in the north of Ireland, and the vessel was under the command of Captain Butcher. During the next nine days the "290" struggled with strong head winds and a heavy sea, shaping her course toward the southwest. The speed at which she was driven was attended with some damage to the vessel and considerable discomfort to her crew, but immediate armament was a pressing necessity, and haste was made the first consideration.

On the 10th of August the welcome words "Land ho!" were wafted down from the foremasthead, and the "290" or "Enrica," as she had been christened in the shipping articles, came to an anchor--not at Nassau, but in the secluded bay of Praya in the little-frequented island of Terceira, one of the Azores. As an excuse for anchoring in their bay Captain Butcher represented to the Portuguese authorities that his engines had broken down. This b