I answered correctly.

The person in charge of the other boat then inquired if the war-steamer was the Alabama.

I replied, 'Certainly not, she was the Iroquois U.S.

steamer.' 'Have you any news of the Alabama ?' 'Yes, we had heard of her being in the West Indies, at Jamaica or Costa Rica, &c.' A conversation ensued, by which I learned that the boats belonged to the two vessels in the distance, that they were both whalers put in for supplies, and that seeing the steamer they were rather dubious as to her nationality, and had therefore spoke me, to gain the required information.

A brisk conversation was then kept up; my object in engaging them in it was to enable the Alabama to get under way ere the whalers took the alarm, feeling certain that the preparations were being made to go after them.
'I then invited the masters to come on board my ship, which they cheerfully consented to do, and were within a boat's length, when a cry of alarm broke from the steersman in the foremost boat.