Deposition of George T. Chapman., the 7th day of July, 1863

Deposition of George T. Chapman.

I, George Temple Chapman, of New York, in the United States of America, but now at Liverpool, in the county of Lancaster, gentleman, make oath and say as follows:

1. In the early part of the month of April last I had an occasion to call at Messrs. Fraser, Trenholm & Co.’s office, in Liverpool, to see Capt. Bullock, whom I had known formerly in the United States. Capt. Bullock was not in when I first called at the office, but I saw Mr. Pridleau, one of the partners in the firm of Fraser, Trenholm & Co., and had some conversation with him. In the course of such conversation Mr. Pridleau told me that his firm were the financial agents for the Confederate States of America, and that I might speak with him in perfect safety on anything connected with the south, as the whole of his establishment were in the confederate interest. I noticed that there was a confederate flag displayed in the office. On this occasion I handed to Mr. Pridleau some letters which had been given to me by the wife of Clarence Randolph Yonge, who, Mr. Pridleau told me, had been Capt. Bullock’s secretary, and afterwards purser of the Alabama.

2. On the day following, on which I had the conversation above mentioned with Mr. Pridleau, I called again at Messrs. Fraser, Trenholm & Co.’s: office, and saw there Capt. Bullock, who told me that he had seen the letters which I had left with Mr. Pridleau, but that they were of no importance, and that he never trusted Yonge with anything important. Capt. Bullock told me that he came to Liverpool to build and procure ships and vessels-of-war for the confederate service. He referred to the Alabama, and the Oreto or Florida, as two of the ships he had fitted out, and said that he was fitting out more, but that he managed so that he could defy any one to prove that he was fitting them out for the use of the confederate government.

3. Whilst I was with Capt. Bullock, Lieut. John Randolph Hamilton, son of Gov. Hamilton, of South Carolina, (formerly a lieutenant in the United States navy,) came in, and I recognized him. I first knew him at the Naval Academy at Annapolis, in the United States, where we were midshipmen together. I knew him afterwards as lieutenant in the United States service. He told me he had become, a lieutenant in the confederate service, and that he came over to Liverpool, by direction of the Confederate States government, to assist Capt. Bullock in the fitting out of vessels, and to advise Messrs. Fraser, Trenholm & Co., and to give his advice generally, in the interests of the confederate government. The said John Randolph Hamilton told me that he and Bullock had a private office in Fraser, Trenholm & Co.’s house of business, and that the Alabama was built according to a model prepared by Capt. Bullock, and that Lairds were not entitled to any credit for that ship. He spoke without hesitation about the Oreto, which they had sent out, and both he and Capt. Bullock spoke of themselves as the employe’s of the confederate government, and that they were paid as such.

4. In the early part of the month of April last a Capt. Morton, who is the overlooker of Messrs. Boult, English & Brandon, of Liverpool, merchants, took me with him to Messrs. Laird & Co.’s ship-building yard, at Birkenhead, in order that I might see two iron rams or vessels-of-war, which he said were, without doubt, for the southerners. I saw the two vessels in question, which were being built alongside each other at the south end of the yard. The hulls were complete, and the sides were covered with slabs of teak wood about 12 inches thick. In the early part of this present month one of the vessels, the more northwardly of the two, had a great number of her iron armor plates fixed. The armor plates appeared to me to be about four inches thick. Each vessel was about 250 feet long, as well as I could judge, and the deck of each vessel was prepared to receive two turrets. I saw the turrets being built in the yard near the rams above mentioned. Each ram had a stem made of wrought iron, about eight inches thick, projecting about five feet under the water-line, and obviously intended for the purpose of penetrating and destroying other vessels. The rams, in question were of immense strength, and could by no possibility be intended for anything but vessels-of-war. The only other vessels building in the yard at that time were an iron-plated vessel-of-war for the British government, to be called the “Agincourt,” and two merchant vessels, one a steamer and the other a sailing ship.

5. I saw the above mentioned John Randolph Hamilton some days after I had seen the rams above mentioned; I met him, at his request, at the Angel hotel in Liverpool. On that occasion, the said John Randolph Hamilton told me that the rams which were being built by Laird & Company were for the confederates.

GEORGE TEMPLE CHAPMAN.

Sworn before me at the custom-house, Liverpool, this 29th day of June, 1863.

G. St. GEORGE, pro Collector.

I, Thomas Haines Dudley, esq., of No 3 Wellesley Terrace, Prince’s park, Liverpool, in the county of Lancaster, do solemnly, sincerely, and truly affirm and declare that the taking of any oath is, according to my religious belief, unlawful; and I do also solemnly, sincerely, and truly affirm and declare as follows:

1. I am the consul of the United States of America for the port of Liverpool and its dependencies.

2. I say there is now, and for some time past has been, a war carried on between the government and people of the United States of America and certain persons who have rebelled against such government, and pretended to set up and assume to exercise the powers of government, styling themselves the Confederate States.

3. I further say that, to the best of my knowledge, information, and belief, no leave or license has been had or obtained from or of her Majesty the Queen, under her sign manual, or any order in council, or any proclamation of her said Majesty, or otherwise, or at all authorizing any person within any part of the United Kingdom, to equip, furnish, fit out, or arm ships or vessels, with intent or in order that such ship or vessel shall be employed in the service of the so-called Confederate States to cruise or commit hostilities against the government and people of the said United States of America, and that her Majesty is not now at war with the said United States.

4. I say there have been built in this port for the government of the so-called Confederate States two vessels-of-war. One of them named the Oreto, now called the Florida, was built by Messrs. W. C. Miller & Sons, of Liverpool, and another, the Alabama, by Messrs. Laird & Co.; and they have been employed by the said so-called Confederate States against the government and people of the United States of America in the war that is now going on; and armaments and war crews for both the said vessels went out in them, or were sent out from England to meet the ships abroad, and were then placed on board of them. On the 4th of the present month of July another vessel built by the said Messrs. Laird & Co., and intended for an iron-clad steam ram, and, as this deponent verily believes, built and intended for a vessel-of-war, was launched by them from their shipbuilding yard at Birkenhead, and such vessel is now at Birkenhead, in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

5. I say that I have read the affidavits of George Temple Chapman, sworn on the 29th day of June last, of Clarence Randolph Yonge, sworn on the 6th day of April last, and of William Hayden Russell and Joseph Ellis, sworn the 7th day of July instant, and I say that from the facts there spoken to, and from the facts and circumstances aforesaid, I verily believe and say that the said vessel above mentioned is being equipped, armed, and fitted out with intent and in order that the said vessel shall be employed in the service of the said persons setting up to exercise the power of government, and called the Confederate States of America, and with intent to cruise and commit hostilities against the government and citizens of the United States of America.