We took the narrow and most unfrequented channel to the Strait, passing Stroom Rock and the small garrison town of Anjar. Our next prize in these waters was a beautiful new ship Winged Racer. She was a New Yorker, of graceful, symmetrical mold, known in the shipping world as a "clipper." She was returning from Manila with a cargo for New York of coffee, Manila tobacco, sugar, jute, etc. We found just what we wanted, and made havoc in the coffee, sugar and tobacco. We thought the Winged Racer too handsome a ship to burn, but what could we do? Our tenders were not a success; our only sale, the Sea-Bride, was a failure. We could run nothing into our own ports, and to fire our prizes seemed the only thing to do. We made the master of the Winged Racer a present of his boats and all he could stow in them, and he took our prisoners of the Amanda and proceeded to Batavia, the little fleet of boats looking very pretty as they pulled away.[Contest]
By the lighted bonfire of the Winged Racer we steamed out of sight of Java and Sumatra, made a little island called Lone Watcher, here meaning to wait till daylight for further action. Scarcely was the propeller hoisted when "sail ho!" rang out, and we made sail in chase. If the breeze had freshened at all we would have lost her, but fortune favored us and the failure of the wind acted greatly in our favor. It made the capture more possible each moment, and finally complete. The speed of the Alabama made her shorten sail and heave to. The ship proved to be the Contest, from Yokohama for New York, a fine clipper ship; cargo, Japanese goods, curios, etc. Among other things some elegant hand-carved ebony armchairs that it seemed a shame to burn, they were so beautiful. We made the night brilliant with her destructive conflagration. We sighted and boarded a great many vessels in these waters, but American commerce had dwindled into very small dimensions! The sails were mostly Dutch and English, but Dutch predominated.
Source: John McIntosh Kell, Recollections of a Naval Life, including the Cruises of the Confederate Steamers "Sumter" and "Alabama," Washington: Neale, 1900.
Alabama Collection, William Stanley Hoole Special Collections Library, The University of Alabama