Mr. Adams to Mr. Seward, December 11, 1863

Mr. Adams to Mr.
Seward.

Sir: I have the honor to transmit a copy of my
note to Lord Russell of the 5th instant, transmitting a number of
depositions from Mr. Underwood, the consul at Glasgow, in the case of
the Pampero, and likewise one of his lordship, in acknowledgment. Copies
of the depositions are also appended.

I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant,

[Enclosures.]

1. Mr Adams to Earl Russell, December 5, 1863.

2. Deposition of John McGibbon, November 21, 1863.

3. Deposition of James Ross, November 23, 1863.

4. Deposition of John M. Barr, November 23, 1863.

5. Depositions of Wm. McCambridge and Wm. Carrick, November 23,
1863.

6. Earl Russell to Mr. Adams, December 5, 1863.

Mr. Adams to Earl Russell.

My Lord: I have the honor to transmit
copies of several depositions fur nished to me by Mr. Underwood,
the consul of the United States at Glasgow, all relating to the
outfit of the vessel called the Canton or the Pampero at that
port.

I pray your lordship to accept the assurances of the highest
consideration with which I have the honor to be, my lord, your
most obedient servant,

Deposition of John
McGibbon.

I, John McGibbon, a riveter, residing at 63 King’s street,
Tradeston, Glasgow, in the county of Lanark, make oath and say:
I have been eight months in the employment of Messrs. James and
George Thompson, but was not all that time employed on the
Pampero. I left the employment three days before she was
launched. She was named the Canton, which name was in gilt
letters on each side of her bow. It was the general opinion that
name would be changed, and that chiefly for the reason that a
ship’s name is almost always carved or cut in, while the name
Canton was only put on by temporary gilt letters. I saw that
there were eight port-holes in the ship, besides two larger
ones, (one on each side,) both when they were open and when they
were closed. I saw also that ringbolts or gun-fasts were put on,
(similar to those of the Black Prince, on which I wrought when
she was being constructed,) and I knew that they were afterwards
removed. Nothing is now visible of the port-holes except the
hinges of the shutters which have been put on. The use of the
eyebolts or gun-fasts is to fasten guns and move them backwards
and forwards. The height of the ship’s bulwarks was about seven
feet. The number of stopcock’s and valves (there were six or
seven on each side, with grating on the outside) is greater than
is usually the case in other vessels. Some of these amidships
are close to one another. I cannot say for what purpose there
are so many, but there are more than would be necessary for
engine and other purposes. They could be made useful in drawing
the magazine if that were wished. Underneath the boiler seat and
engine seat the vessel is plated, and there is a tier of plating
above the engine, making her much stronger than any other vessel
having a wooden bottom. I know of a magazine having been fitted
up in the after-part of the ship with a hatch-hole capable of
admitting a man. I observed there were at least one hundred and
fifty lockers fitted up in said ship along the side in the
forecastle, between decks. There are four or five water-tanks
between decks,
between where the bunkers should be placed. I was not employed
working on board the ship for some time before I left, but I was
on board every day, at the meal hours, seeing what was doing. It
was believed by myself and by all my fellow-workmen that the
ship was fitted up as a vessel-of-war, intended for the
government of the Confederate States of America; at least, it
was so reported. The ship has no accommodation for such stowage
as would be required by a vessel in the merchant service. The
hatches were similarly constructed to those of other vessels,
but smaller, and with regard to her rudder it was composed of
brass plates and brass rivets, which is seldom the case with an
ordinary vessel; and the propeller is of solid brass, which is
also, very unusual. These are generally made of cast iron. All
this is truth, as I shall answer to God.

Deposition of James
Ross.

I, James Ross, clerk to Mr. Henry Miller, 13 Virginia street,
Glasgow, and residing at 136 West Graham street, Glasgow, in the
county of Lanark, make oath and say: That on this 23d day of
November, 1863, I visited the yard of Danach & Espie,
boat-builders and carpenters, Ardgowor street, Glasgow, and
there saw two new life-boats and two new long or jolly boats,
which are just completed; that these boats are presently being
painted which is the last thing to be done to them; that I was
informed by James Urquehart, the foreman boat-builder, and also
by Duncan McDiarmid, a wright who was employed on them, that
they were ordered by Messrs. James & George Thompson, and
are intended for the ship Pampero, recently built by them; that
each of said boats has six cross-beams, and provision is made
for eight oars; that they are about twenty feet in length, and
about eight feet in breadth of beam; that the said Duncan
McDiarmid informed me that said boats are very strongly
constructed, and that there is extra work at the stem of each of
them, which is unusual in the other long or jolly boats; that
between the stem itself and the aft cross-beams there is a
tranverse piece of wood (black birch) eleven inches deep and
four and a half inches thick, and there are besides four
diagonal pieces to strengthen the former and keep it in its
place, thus:

The said tranverse beam and diagonals are made movable so they
can be taken out and replaced at pleasure. That in the centre of
said beam is a hole which he stated was for a swivel, for the
purpose of a gun being there placed and wrought. That McDiarmid
stated that lately they were hurried to get said boats in
readiness, but that now they are not so pushed for them. All
which is truth, as I shall answer to God.

Deposition of John McQueen
Barr.

I, John McQueen Barr, clerk to Henry Miller, of No. 13 Virginia
street, Glasgow, and residing at No. 80 New City Road there,
make oath and say: That I know by sight a person calling himself
Captain Sinclair, and another called Captain Tennant, and have
been informed that both are from the Confederate States of
America and connected with the government of those States; that
I am aware that both, as well as a Captain North, resided for
some time at the Bridge of Allan and also in Glasgow; that I
know their lodgings in Glasgow to be in India street; that on
the second day of this present month of No vember I saw Tennant
and Sinclair in company together at Bridge of Allan; that I have
been shown a photograph containing a group of four males and
three females; that one of the four represents Sinclair, and
another is Tennant. It was from this that I first identified
Sinclair in person, and he was afterwards pointed out to me as
one of a number of American strangers who had been located there
during the autumn months, and I was then informed he was named
Sinclair. I had seen him at Bridge of Allan previously, though I
did not know anything of him then; that on the 31st day of
October last I ex amined in Sterling the file of the Bridge of
Allan Reporter, and selected the following from the list of
visitors:

April 5, 1863.—Captain and Mrs. North,
Miss North, Captain Sinclair, Confederate States of America, at
Mrs. Lanark’s, Belmair House.

May 8, 1863.—Captain, Mrs., and Miss
North, Charleston, Virginia; Captain Sinclair, at Belmair
House.

July 5, 1863.—Captain, Mrs., and Miss
North, Confederate States, at Belmair House.

March 28, 1863.—Mr. and Mrs. Tennant, at
J. Miller’s, Wellwood House. And I obtained the following
information as to the several lodgings they had occupied: 1st.
Mrs. Pattison’s, Fountain Road; 2d. Mrs. Smart’s, Belmair House;
3d. Miss McDonald’s, Prospect Villa; 4th. Mrs. Smart’s again;
5th. J. Miller’s, Wellwood House; 6th. Mrs. Young’s, Anpeld
Road—all Bridge of Allan.

That since the 9th day of the present month I have seen Sinclair
several times in Glasgow.

All of which is truth, as I shall answer to God.

Depositions of William McCambridge and
William Carrick.

I, William McCambridge, shipwright, of the town of Govan and
county of Lanark, make oath and say: That on the day the vessel,
called and known as the Pampero, arrived at the public crane on
the Broomielan, in Glasgow, about four weeks ago, for the
purpose of receiving her machinery, having some curiosity to see
her fittings, &c., from the reports I had heard concerning
her, I went on board of her, and went over nearly the whole of
her, making such examination of her as I was able. Prom this
examination, and from my experience as a shipwright, I state
that many of her fittings were and are quite different from and
unlike what are usual and customary on merchant vessels whether
screw or paddle-wheeled. The vessel Pampero is a screw steamer,
having been built in the shipyard of J. & G. Thomson, near
Glasgow; but having been employed for two years as a shipwright
in vessels-of-war of her Majesty’s dockyard at Portsmouth, I saw
at once that many of her fittings were evidently those of a vessel-of-war.
The engines and boilers of the Pampero, eight feet three inches
in height, have been placed and are under the water-line, as is
usual, for obvious reasons, in vessels-of-war, but very unusual
in merchant vessels. At each end of the engine-room there is on
the Pampero a donkey engine fitted that I have never observed on
merchant vessels, but common on vessels-of-war. The deck beams
of the Pampero are placed much closer together than on any
merchant steamer I have ever seen, there being one riveted to
every frame, and only eighteen inches from centre to centre. The
decks, of red pine, are also unusually thick, being four and a
half inches, and evidently calculated and intended to carry
heavy weight on deck. The Pampero is provided with a double
steering wheel, placed about six or eight feet under the upper
deck, and on the upper deck there is another similar steering
wheel. There were two yolks or tillers connected with these
wheels under deck, with the necessary blocks and leads for
tiller ropes, as in war vessels. At the interval of about four
days after this first examination, I again went on board the
Pampero, and. found that the lower steering wheel had been
removed, but that the tiles and fittings remained. The cabins on
the upper or gun deck of the Pampero are all hinged for removal
as a vessel-of-war, to enable the deck to be cleared for action,
fore and aft. Her deck ports, or port-holes, of which there are
eight on a side, are raised sixteen or eighteen inches above the
main deck, showing they are not intended to carry off water or
the sweepings of the ship. The hinges of the cabins and the
raised position of the ports are appropriate to war vessels, but
unusual and inappropriate to merchant vessels; and I give it as
my opinion, judgment, and belief, as a shipwright, having worked
at the trade for thirteen years, in merchant and war vessels,
that the Pampero is built and intended as a vessel-of-war, and
to be used for war purposes, and not as a merchant vessel. She
has been so held and reputed to be in the yard of Messrs.
Thomson, where she was built, and where I worked on her previous
to the 15th of February last, by all hands, and to be intended
for the Confederate States of America, being called and known in
the yard as the second “Alabama,” second “290,” and such like
names; and I have frequently seen two persons pointed out to me
as Captains North and Sinclair giving directions and apparently
superintending the work and operations in the Pampero as though
they were interested therein; and I recognize and identify the
two persons in the photograph shown to me of a family group,
under which is written the names of North, Sinclair, and others,
and here referred to. I further state that the Pampero has
telescope funnels, which is very unusual in merchant vessels,
but very common in vessels-of-war. I have worked in J. & G.
Thomson’s yard about five years previous to about the 15th of
February last; since then in A. & J. Angle’s, and have been
intimate with Thomson’s yard and hands up to this time.

WILLIAM McCAMBRIDGE.

Sworn before the collector at Glasgow, November 28, 1863.

I, William Carrick, shipwright, residing at No. 4 Ferrol street,
Relimbaugh, near Glasgow, and county of Lanark, make oath and
say: That I have heard the statement and affidavit of William
McCambridge fully and distinctly read; that I was present with
and accompanied the said William McCambridge, on both occasions
and visits, to the Pampero, which he in his said affidavit and
statement refers to and describes; and I fully and
understandingly concur and agree with each and all of said
descriptions and specifications of and concerning the vessel
Pampero, and that the said Pampero is different from a merchant
vessel and like to a war vessel in the parts and points he has
designated and specified. I also unite and concur with him in
the opinion that said vessel Pampero was and Is built and designed for
war purposes, or a vessel-of-war, and not for a merchant vessel.
I further state that I concur with him as to the general
reputation of the Pampero as a war vessel, intended and built
for the Confederate States of America, as also in regard to
Captains North and Sinclair, the Confederate agents,
superintending the building of said vessel. I therefore adopt
said affidavit as my own, for the purpose of avoiding
repetition, except so far as it relates to himself as a
shipwright. I have never worked in any of her Majesty’s
shipyards, but have worked at the trade of shipwright for
fifteen years last past. I worked in Thomson’s yard three years,
and am well acquainted with his hands.

Earl Russell to Mr. Adams.

Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge
the receipt of your letter of this day’s date, enclosing copies
of several depositions furnished to you by Mr. Underwood, the
consul of the United States at Glasgow, relative to the outfit
of the vessel called the Canton or the Pampero at that port, and
I have the honor to state to you that these papers shall be
considered by her Majesty’s government.

I have the honor to be, with the highest consideration, sir, your
most obedient, humble servant,