On the night of December 24, thirty miles out of New Harbour, the Alabama hailed the barque Martaban, flying the English flag. Despite the flag, she was believed to be American. As Kell would say, "We could tell them as infallibly by the `cut of their jib' as we could detect by their sharp brogue the nationality of their captains." the captain, after producing British papers, insisted that his was an English ship. Claiming the protection of his flag, he refused to accompany the boarding party to the Alabama. For the first time, Semmes was forced to personally board a captured vessel. Declaring the ship's papers a forgery, he ordered that the barque be burned. Later, the skipper, aboard the Alabama and under oath, admitted that he had "tried a game of bluff."

Source: Norman C. Delaney. John McIntosh Kell of the Raider Alabama. University, AL: The University of Alabama Press, 1973.

Gorgas Library, The University of Alabama