guerre de course, for which history affords no object lesson unless it be that incident in the Chili-Peruvian War when the Huascar, but for sheer bad luck, would have destroyed half the serious naval force arrayed against Peru.
A final instance of partial guerre de course remains to be quoted—the careers of the Confederate Alabama and her consorts. A total of 261 Northern merchant ships were captured and American trade practically destroyed. This was done on purely piratical lines, that is to say there was no guerre de course having subsequent action by an inferior battle fleet as its objective, but a guerre de course, bent only on sheer mischief, and consequently less dangerous. Yet it annihilated the American merchant marine.
From this it is very easy to draw deductions, plausible in themselves, but considerably more obvious than accurate.
In the first place, beyond some coasting corsairs, only two of the Confederate cruisers issued from Confederate Ports. Of these the Tallahasse (subsequently named Olustee) came from Wilmington and after making some prizes was turned into a blockade runner. She was subsequently seized in England and handed over to the Northerners.
The Sumter, commanded by Semines, slipped through the Northerners' blockade, and was chased afterwards by various Northerners which attempted to block her earths—and finally did so at Gibraltar.
