re: 150 years ago this day...

Monday, 8 August 1864

The Battle of Mobile Bay was over, but then there was the minor matter of two forts located near the entrance to the bay yet to be settled. Fort Powell was evacuated and subsequently blown up, but something needed to be done about Fort Gaines located on Dauphin Island in the Bay. Colonel Charles DeWitt Anderson, CSA, had spent yesterday in negotiations, with a little prodding from the guns of the USS Chickasaw. This morning, matters were completed and, by 10 AM, the Stars and Stripes were flying over Mobile Bay.

Sailors in the Civil War were often called upon to perform duties far removed from ordinary shipboard routine. This morning, Rear Admiral John A.B. Dahlgren wrote to the commanders of ships in the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron on the subject of naval infantry: "It has frequently happened that the peculiar nature of the duties in this command has required the service of bodies of men to be landed from vessels to act for a short time as infantry, assisted by light field pieces. In order to meet similar exigencies commanders of vessels will take pains to select from their crews such men as may seem to have a turn for this kind of duty and have them drilled with small arms until they have attained the necessary proficiency...The light-infantry drill will be best adapted to this service, and to the habits of the seamen."

The USS Violet, under Acting Ensign Thomas Stothard, ran aground off the western bar at Cape Fear River, North Carolina, and was destroyed. Stothard and his men labored to keep Violet afloat for five hours, but seeing that the water was gaining, fired her magazine and abandoned the small wooden steamer.

Though the Union fleet under Rear Admiral David G. Farragut now controlled Mobile Bay and both Forts Powell and Gaines were in Northern hands, Brigadier General Richard L. Page, formerly a U.S. naval officer and until recently a Commander in the Confederate Navy, gallantly refused to surrender Fort Morgan to the overwhelming forces opposing him. Federal naval forces took station in the Bay while troops began the land investment of Fort Morgan. After a brief bombardment, Farragut and Union Army commander Major General Gordon Granger advised page: "To prevent the unnecessary sacrifice of human life which must follow the opening of our batteries, we demand the unconditional surrender of Fort Morgan and its dependencies." Undaunted, the Confederate officer replied: "I am prepared to sacrifice life, and will only surrender when I have no means of defense." He was fighting his fort as he would have his ship.

The ram Tennessee, whose big guns had so valiantly sought to defend Confederate possession of Mobile Bay on 5 August, now in Union hands, bombarded Fort Morgan. Her log recorded: "At 10 a.m. having no steam up on this vessel, the U.S. gunboat Port Royal took us in tow down towards the Fort Morgan. Anchored between the Middle Ground and the fort and opened our battery upon the fort." At 10 p.m. the Winnebago towed the Tennessee back up to her anchorage.

Reflecting Union concern regarding the great strength of the CSS Albemarle, Rear Admiral Lee wrote to Commander Macomb, commanding off Albemarle Sound, of the measures to employ in the event of another engagement with her: "The Department is of the opinion that too light charges of powder were used in the engagement of May 5 with the Albemarle, and that the IX-inch with 13 pounds and the 100-pounder rifle with 10 pounds of powder can effect nothing, and that even using XI-inch guns the vessels should touch the ram while engaging her and the XI-inch guns be fired with 30 pounds of powder and solid shot."

Two resourceful members of the Confederate Torpedo Corps, John Maxwell and R. K. Dillard, planted a clockwork torpedo containing twelve pounds of powder on a Union transport at City Point, Virginia, causing a huge explosion which rocked the entire area. Maxwell and Dillard succeeded in getting through Union lines to the wharf area, where Maxwell convinced the trusting wharf sentry that he had been ordered by the captain of the ammunition barge to deliver a box on board. The box was accepted and the two Confederates hastily started back for Richmond. When the torpedo exploded an hour later, it set in motion a devastating chain reaction which spread the holocaust from the barges to storage buildings on shore and even to Lieutenant General Hiram U. Grant's headquarters. Grant hurried off a message to General Henry Wager Halleck in Washington: "Five minutes ago an ordnance boat exploded, carrying lumber, grape, canister, and all kinds of shot over this point. Every part of the yard used as my headquarters is filled with splinters and fragments of shell."

General Grant wrote to Rear Admiral Lee, in response to a question as to the usefulness of the Union ironclads on the James River: "...I think it would be imprudent to withdraw them. At least two such vessels, in my judgment, should be kept in the upper James. They stand a constant threat to the enemy and prevent him taking the offensive." From experience Grant well understood the vital part sea power played in the struggle between North and South, whether on the ocean, the Western rivers, or the restricted waters of the James. The General was a master at employing the unique advantages of strength based afloat in combined operations to overwhelm opposition.

The blockade running steamer Prince Albert went aground off Fort Moultrie at Charleston and was destroyed by the USS Catskill, Commander Napoleon B. Harrison in charge, and the Morris Island batteries.

Baxter Watson, one of the inventors of the submersible Hunley, writes to Confederate President Jefferson Davis and makes the case for buying a $5000 “electro-magnetic engine” in New York City or Washington, DC. Watson maintains that this is the best way to power a submarine. Watson had worked on scratch-building such a motor for the Pioneer II.

Federal expeditions began from Salina, Kansas; on the Little Missouri in the Dakota Territory; and Camp Anderson, California.

Wednesday, 10 August 1864

There were no major battles today, besides some skirmishing that occurred in Florida, Mississippi and Virginia. The only other fighting of any significance was the unending battle against unsanitary conditions. President Jefferson Davis, chief executive of a beleaguered nation, wrote to his commanding general in the field, to tell him he was trying to obtain and send the Army of Northern Virginia, sitting in considerable squalor in the trenches of Petersburg, an adequate supply of soap.

Rear Admiral David Glasgow Farragut continued steady day and night bombardment, battering down the walls of Fort Morgan, the masonry star fort at the mouth of Mobile Bay, Alabama, resolutely defended by his former shipmate, Brigadier General Richard Lucian Page.

Writing from Paris, Confederate Flag Officer Samuel Barron, reported to Secretary of the Navy Stephen Mallory that all Confederate midshipmen except the Alabama's had been examined for promotion. Though its ships were few in numbers, the Confederacy continued an active and systematic training program for young naval officers. In his annual report to President Jefferson Davis, Secretary Mallory stressed the value of training to the naval service: "Naval education and training lie at the foundation of naval success; and the power that neglects this essential element of strength will, when the battle is fought, find that its ships, however formidable, are but built for a more thoroughly trained and educated enemy...While a liberal education at the ordinary institutions of learning prepares men for useful service not only in the Army, but in most branches of public affairs, special education and training, and such as these institutions cannot afford, are essential to form a naval officer." The Confederate Naval Academy, on board the CSS Patrick Henry in the James River, translated this active interest in proper naval training into concrete instruction, and provided trained officers to the Southern cause until her loss when Richmond finally fell in 1865.

Secretary Mallory wrote Commander James Dunwoody Bulloch in Liverpool of the continuing importance of commerce raiding to the Confederacy: "It seems certain that we can not obtain such ships as we specially want; but we must not therefore desist in our attempts and must do the best we can under the circumstances which surround us. The enemy's distant whaling grounds have not been visited by us. His commerce constitutes one of his reliable sources of national wealth no less than one of his best schools for seamen, and we must strike it, if possible" The Secretary's desires were to be carried out with even greater success than he had anticipated by the CSS Shenandoah.

One of the additional difficulties of naval operations in the lowlands surrounding the James River, Virginia, was the high incidence of sickness. This morning, Flag Officer John K. Mitchell, commanding the Confederate James River Squadron, wired Major General George E. Pickett: "Our crews are so much reduced in number from sickness that we shall have to discontinue our picket guard at Osborne's on James River to enable us to man our batteries, in order that we may act against the enemy. About one-third of the men are sick." Later in the month, a board of surgeons inspected the ships of the squadron with a view toward reducing the prevalence of malaria and other disabling diseases. The conclusions reached in the subsequent report illustrated the hazard of duty on board river gunboats: "We consider the causes of the great amount of sickness on board said vessels to be, first, and chiefly, that exposure to malaria, the necessary consequence of a residence upon the waters of James River; as secondary causes to this, but in our opinion highly conducive to the hurtful influence, we would enumerate the heated atmosphere of the ironclads, especially when at quarters for and during action, the want of proper exercise on shore, and of a deficient supply of vegetables and fruits for the ships' companies. Difficult living conditions and sickness were common, especially in the summer, for both navies in the James River as well as elsewhere throughout the tidewaters of the South.

Departing Atlanta under Lieutenant General John Bell Hood's orders, General Joseph Wheeler’s Confederate cavalry began raiding Federal railroad, communications, and other supply lines in northern Georgia and eastern Tennessee. Though far-ranging, these raids did little meaningful damage, but did deprive General Hood of his scouting force during the decisive stages of the struggle for Atlanta.

A Federal expedition began from Pointe Coupee Parish, near Morganza, Louisiana.

Friday, 12 August 1864

It was not uncommon for soldiers on both sides to be in the army despite having no great desire to actually be there. Perhaps they were drafted, or enlisted in an outburst of enthusiasm which they might now have regretted. When one of these soldiers was captured they could be offered freedom on the condition of joining the opposing army. Such new recruits were said to have been "galvanized", as in having a coat of a new coating painted on the outside. The procedure, however, did not just apply to men. The gunboat Tennessee, formerly of the Confederate navy, having had her smokestack replaced and other damage repaired, began her new career in the US Navy as she got up steam today.

Another report: The ram Tennessee got up steam for the first time since her capture by Rear Admiral David G. Farragut on 5 August. She had been fitted with a new stack on the 11th and this date tried it out by steaming around the bay. On the 13th, the Tennessee would steamed down and open on Fort Morgan.

The CSS Tallahassee, Commander John Taylor Wood in charge, seized six more prizes while continuing her devastating cruise off the New York coast. Wood burned the ships Atlantic, Adriatic, and Spokane, all with a full cargo of lumber; attempted to scuttle the brig Billow, cargo of lumber, and released the bark Suliote and schooner Robert E. Packer, cargo of lumber, on bond. The Billow did not sink and was retaken by the USS Grand Gulf, under Commander George M. Ransom, two days later.

In Washington, DC, various politicians--including Republican boss Thurlow Weed, who was a New York newspaper publisher and Whig and Republican operative--warned President Abraham Lincoln he would be defeated in the upcoming election.

Union soldiers operated against native Americans in the New Mexico and Colorado territories.

Sunday, 14 August 1864

Union General Andrew Jackson Smith had been given an assignment: to track, find, capture or kill Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest. Although known as a cavalryman, Forrest’s force was structurally similar to a mounted infantry unit. A brilliant tactician, Forrest had become more of an actual nuisance than a serious military threat--but a very earnest nuisance he was, and an even greater embarrassment to the Union commanders, particularly those with a West Point pedigree. Again today though, Smith’s efforts came to naught in the miniscule burg of Lamar, Mississippi, an unincorporated community in Benton County. Forrest and his merry men whupped the Yankee invaders in a heated skirmish and departed, with the sound of laughter hanging in the humid air.

As all-out Union efforts to capture the CSS Tallahassee, under the intrepid leadership of Commander John Taylor Wood, increased daily, the cruiser seized and scuttled the ship James Littlefield with a cargo of coal. Rear Admiral Hiram Paulding noted in New York: "Our vessels must fall in with her. They strip everybody of everything valuable."

Lieutenant General Hiram U. Grant was operating on the intelligence that General Robert E. Lee, commander of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, was sending part of his force to the Shenandoah Valley to support General Jubal Early, who had spent the summer fending off Union forces and threatening Washington, DC, Maryland and parts of Pennsylvania. Without realizing that this information was false, Grant believed that a section of the Confederate trenches around Deep Bottom Run, between Richmond and Petersburg, was now lightly defended.

He had shipped parts of three Federal corps north across the James River yesterday, on 13 August. Led by General Winfield Scott Hancock, the plan called for a series of attacks along the Confederate fortifications. Beginning this morning, the Yankees tried for six consecutive days to find a weakness. Although a Union force eventually broke through at Fussell's Mill on the 16th, a lack of reinforcements left the Federals vulnerable to a Confederate attack, and the Rebels quickly restored the broken line.

The campaign cost over 3,000 Union casualties in contrast to under 1,500 for the Confederates. The Southern defensive network, stretching over 20 miles, remained intact, but the failed operation prevented Lee from shipping troops to Early in the Shenandoah Valley. Early would soon face defeat at the hands of a much larger Union force commanded by General Philip Sheridan.

Another report: Sensing a weakness in the Confederate defenses around Richmond and Petersburg, Virginia, Union General Hiram U. Grant seeks to break the siege of Petersburg by concentrating his force against one section of the Rebel trenches. However, Grant miscalculated, and the week-long operation at Deep Bottom Run that began last night and early this morning, failed to penetrate the Confederate defenses.

Wednesday, 17 August 1864

The Union siege of Petersburg dragged wearily on. And on. And on. The weather was oppressively hot, as is hardly uncommon in August in Virginia, and the sheer inactivity was leading to frustration in many quarters. Every attempt at frontal assault had failed, most miserably, at an unspeakable cost in Yankee blood, and Lieutenant General Hiram Ulysses Grant’s intention was to maintain the siege, at any cost. He wrote to President Abraham Lincoln for confirmation that he approved this plan, and today got his answer. Lincoln wrote back that Grant should “...hold on with a bull-dog gripe [sic], and chew & choke, as much as possible." The President was better at strategy than spelling, which was not all that standardized in the North and West during those times anyway.

General Robert E. Lee, attempting to consolidate his position on the James River below Richmond, turned to the ships of Flag Officer John K. Mitchell's squadron for gunfire support. "The enemy is on Signal Hill, fortifying..." he telegraphed. "Please try and drive him off. Our picket line is reestablished with the exception of Signal Hill." The ironclads CSS Virginia II, commanded by Lieutenant Oscar F. Johnston, and CSS Richmond, Lieutenant John S. Maury in charge, promptly steamed to a position above Signal Hill where they took the Union positions under fire. Shortly thereafter scouts reported that Union forces had fallen back and that Lee's troops now commanded the hill.

Running short of coal, Commander John Taylor Wood headed the CSS Tallahassee for Halifax, Nova Scotia, where he hoped to refuel in order to continue his devastating attack on Federal commerce. Enroute, Tallahassee destroyed the schooners North America and Josiah Achom and released brig Neva on bond.

In the Shenandoah, General Jubal Early learned that General Philip Sheridan’s Federals had withdrawn from their positions at Cedar Creek toward Winchester, Virginia, and advanced north to pursue them. Federal cavalry, however, protected the main army's retreat at Winchester.

Confederates captured the Federal steamer Miller on the Arkansas River near Pine Bluff, Arkansas.

Friday, 19 August 1864

The battle of the Weldon Railroad continued today south of Petersburg, Virginia. General A. P. Hill’s Confederates slammed into the Union infantry of General Gouverneur K. Warren. The ground being disputed today had been similarly contested the day before, as the Federal forces pushed past the Globe Tavern. This afternoon, the contest went the other way as the Confederates regained much of the ground lost. The division of Samuel W. Crawford was particularly hard-hit and suffered more than 3000 casualties, losing over 2500 men to capture. At sunset, however, Warren still held the vital rail link, even as Confederates continued attempts to dislodge them.

In Georgia, General Judson Kilpatrick’s Federal cavalry began raiding Lovejoy’s Station; efforts to destroy the Macon & Western Railroad were largely unsuccessful. Meanwhile, General John Schofield’s Federal Army of the Ohio pushed forward along Utoy Creek. This was an effort to provide a pivot that Major General William T. Sherman could use to swing his Federal armies east and cut supply lines south of Atlanta.

Federal General-in-Chief Hiram U. Grant refused for the second time to exchange Confederate prisoners of war, arguing that doing so would give the Confederacy more manpower to continue the war. Confederate officials had requested resuming prisoner exchange not only to secure more manpower, but also because they lacked the resources to feed, clothe, and shelter the mushrooming numbers of Federal prisoners in Southern POW camps.

Union President Abraham Lincoln told an interviewer, “I cannot but feel that the weal or woe of this great nation will be decided in the approaching canvas.”

A Federal expedition began on the Republican River in Kansas, an huge basin bordered by Colorado on the west and Nebraska on the north.

Sunday, 21 August 1864

The bane of Union efforts in western Tennessee and northern Mississippi was a barely literate, former livestock and slave trader, self-taught in the arts of war, who had transformed himself into one of the greatest cavalry commanders of all time. Nathan Bedford Forrest, the only soldier on either side who enlisted as a private and rose to the lofty rank of lieutenant general, rode into Yankee held Memphis, Tennessee, early this morning and raised some Southern Hell. He occupied the city for most of the day and came very close to capturing two Union generals--Stephen Augustus Hurlburt and Cadwallader Colden Washburn. Actually, aside from confiscating a load of supplies and setting the entire Northern military establishment and government into an uproar, Forrest’s small force of about 2000 men accomplished little else before leaving later this same evening. The effect of the raid, however, was to cause the supply column led by General Andrew Jackson Smith to be ordered back to help guard the town. This allowed Forrest a free hand in again raiding General William Tecumseh Sherman’s supply lines, which was exactly what he was after.

Another report: General Nathan Bedford Forrest’s almost 2,000-man Confederate cavalry force occupied Memphis after a daring raid in which they nearly captured two Federal major generals. The Confederates ultimately pulled back with minimal losses. The Memphis raid frustrated and demoralized the Federals, as Forrest continued raiding Major General William T. Sherman’s Federal supply lines virtually uncontested, and Federal efforts to stop him were, once again, largely unsuccessful.

Confederates launched one final attack on Federals holding the Weldon Railroad outside Petersburg, but it once again failed to dislodge them. The Confederates returned to their original siege lines, acknowledging the loss of the Weldon Railroad as a supply line for Richmond and Petersburg. Federals suffered a total of 4,455 casualties from 18-21 August, and Confederates lost some 1,600 troops.

In the Shenandoah, Jubal Early planned to attack while Philip Sheridan’s Federals retreated to Harpers Ferry in a nearly impregnable position. The Valley was once more largely free of Yankees.

Tuesday, 23 August 1864

Fort Morgan was the final outpost, the last major Confederate battery guarding the inlets to Mobile Bay, which was the last Confederate port of any size on the Gulf of Mexico not in Federal hands. Since yesterday, the fort had been pounded by land batteries, gunboats, and three monitors. Although the damage inflicted was not massive, it was relentless and the fort was unable to respond as it was cut off from supplies. This afternoon, the installation was surrendered, and the road to Mobile lay open. After this, only Wilmington, North Carolina, would be accessible to that Confederate shipping that could slip past the blockade. Confederates retained control of Mobile, but the bay was now closed to Confederate shipping.

Having doggedly withstood Federal naval bombardment for more than two weeks, and invested by Union soldiers ashore, Brigadier General Richard Lucian Page surrendered the last Confederate bastion at Mobile Bay about 2 p.m. with this statement: "My guns and powder had all been destroyed, my means of defense gone, the citadel, nearly the entire quartermaster stores, and a portion of the commissariat burned by the enemy's shells," he reported. "It was evident the fort could hold out but a few hours longer under a renewed bombardment. The only question was: Hold it for this time, gain the eclat, and sustain the loss of life from the falling of the walls, or save life and capitulate?" Indignant, Page broke his sword over his knee instead of surrendering it to the Federals. Page's situation was further worsened when he was suspected of destroying munitions and works within the fort after the surrender agreement. For this he was arrested by the Union authorities and imprisoned.

Acting Master's Mate Woodman made his second dangerous reconnaissance up the Roanoke River, North Carolina, to gather intelligence on the CSS Albemarle and the defenses of Plymouth. Woodman reported: "At 10 a.m. I arrived on the Roanoke River, opposite Plymouth. The ram Albemarle was lying alongside of the wharf at Plymouth, protected with timbers, extending completely around her..." Woodman, who would make yet another reconnaissance mission, gained much vital information upon which Lieutenant Cushing planned the expedition which would end the Albemarle's career.

A boat expedition under Commander George Musalas "Colvos" Colvocoresses, of the USS Saratoga, composed of men from the Saratoga, USS T.A. Ward, Acting Master William L. Babcock, and USS Braziliera, Acting Master William T. Gillespie, engaged Confederate pickets along the Turtle River, Georgia. The expedition aimed at the capture of an encampment at Bethel, Georgia, but the Confederates there were alerted by the firing downstream and escaped. On 15 September the daring and resourceful Colvocoresses was commended by Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles for his three successful forays into Southern territory.

Federals destroyed more track on the Weldon Railroad outside Petersburg, Virginia, and President Jefferson Davis expressed apprehension over loss of the railroad and other supply lines. In the Shenandoah Valley, General Jubal Early’s Confederates continued pressing and skirmishing with General Philip H. Sheridan's Federals in the northern end of the Shenandoah Valley.

President Abraham Lincoln asked his cabinet members to endorse a memo without reading it. The memo stated that his re-election was unlikely, and as such “...it will be my duty to so cooperate with the President elect, as to save the Union between the election and the inauguration; as he will have secured his election on such ground that he can not possibly save it afterwards.”

Lincoln expressed disappointment that he could be defeated by a Democrat who would cancel many of his, largely unconstitutional, War policies. The new president could also seek a compromise with the South, which potentially included granting Southern Independence or repudiating the Emancipation Proclamation.

Federal expeditions began from both Ozark and Cassville, Missouri, as well as Clinton, Louisiana.

Thursday, 25 August 1864

The rumors, for once, were entirely correct. Confederate forces under General A.P. Hill had been reinforced and struck hard at the Federals engaged in railroad destruction at Reams’ Station south of Petersburg. Federal casualties were 2372, of which around 2,000 were listed as “missing or captured”. Hancock’s Second Corps suffered a clear defeat but in fact Hill’s victory was empty. Destruction of the Weldon Railroad continued apace, and the program to extend the Union lines further and further to the right were not disrupted in the slightest.

Another report: The Second Battle of Reams Station was fought during the Siege of Petersburg today, in Dinwiddie County, Virginia. A large Union contingent under Major General Winfield S. Hancock began destroying part of the Weldon Railroad, which was a vital supply line for General Robert E. Lee's Confederate army in Petersburg, Virginia. Lee sent a force under Lieutenant General A. P. Hill to challenge Hancock and the Confederates were able to rout the Federal troops from their fortifications at Reams Station. However, they lost a key portion of the railroad, causing further logistical difficulties for the remainder of the Richmond-Petersburg Campaign.

Full summary: On this day, at the Second Battle of Ream’s Station, Virginia, Confederate troops secure a vital supply line into Petersburg, Virginia, when they halt destruction of the Weldon and Petersburg Railroad by Union troops.

The railroad, which ran from Weldon, North Carolina, was a major supply line for General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. For more than two months, Lee had been under siege at Petersburg by General Hiram U. Grant's Army of the Potomac. Grant had tried to cut the rail line in June and again in August. On 18 August, his troops succeeded in capturing a section of the track, but the Confederates simply began to stop the trains further south of Petersburg and haul the supplies by wagon into the city.

Grant responded by ordering his troops to tear up the track and move further south. Soldiers from General Winfield Hancock's corps tore up eight miles of rail, but Lee moved quickly to halt the operation. This morning, General Ambrose P. Hill's infantry and General Wade Hampton's cavalry were ordered to attack the Federals at Ream's Station, and they drove the Yankees into defensive positions. The Union earthworks, hastily constructed the day before, were arranged in a square shape that was too small and so Confederate shells easily passed over the top. The green troop in Union General John Gibbon's division was unnerved by the bombardment, and a Confederate attack broke through the Yankee lines. The Union force retreated in disarray.

Hancock's corps lost 2,700 men, most of whom were captured during the retreat. Hill and Hampton lost just 700. The battle was a stinging defeat for Hancock's proud Second Corps, which had held the Union line against Pickett's Charge at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and was considered among the best in the Army of the Potomac. Gibbon and Hancock blamed each other for the disaster, and both soon left their positions in the Second Corps.

The CSS Tallahassee, Commander John Taylor Wood in charge, successfully ran the blockade into Wilmington, North Carolina, after being chased and fired at by several blockading vessels. Rear Admiral Samuel Phillips Lee issued orders urging "...utmost vigilance..." to prevent her re-entry onto the high seas. In his cruise, cut short by lack of coal, Wood took some 31 prizes, all but eight of which were destroyed.

Stirred by the heavy toll of Union shipping taken by the CSS Tallahassee, the Navy Department redoubled efforts to track down remaining raiders. Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles dispatched warships in search of the Tallahassee and instructed: "Telegraph your arrival at each port you may enter to the Navy Department, but your departure therefrom need not be delayed in waiting for an answer, unless you consider an answer necessary...Report the length of time under sail, under steam, and under both sail and steam, respectively; also all vessels spoken or boarded, and other incidents of interest or importance during the cruise."