This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1884 edition. Excerpt: ...ten days from date of release, and that while in the United States we will commit no hostile act, ' and I left the fort for the steamer Canada. It may be of importance to state that we were officially informed by Major Gibson, commanding the Post part of the time we were there, that we could hold no communication with the Brazilian authorities. Very respectfully, Your obedient servant, Thomas K. Porter, First-Lieutenant, Confederate States Navy. CHAPTER V. The building of the Alabama.--Suspicions of the United States Consul at Liverpool.--Captain Butcher.--The equipping of the Alabama.--Quitting Liverpool.--Bond, the Pilot.--Official Correspondence.--Captain Semmes.--The Alabama handed over to his charge.--Some matters connected with the clearance of the Alabama from Liverpool.--Mr. Price Edwards, the Collector of Customs at that Port.--The Alabama's first engagement.--The Alabama a legitimate vessel-of-war.--Action of the United States in regard to commissioning vessels at sea.--Influence of the cruisers on the United States carrying trade.--The Alabama's action with the Keasarge.--Mr. Seward and Earl Russell. Writing subjectively, and following the career of the Florida from her birth on the busy but peaceful shores of the Mersey to her violent seizure in Bahia, and thence to her final resting-place among the oyster-beds in the estuary of the River James, the narrative has been carried far beyond the regular course of events, and we must now return to March, 1862, and pick up that thread of the history which was woven into the general occurrences of the period by the Alabama. At the time of the Florida's departure from Liverpool, her still more famous consort had not yet been dignified by any other name or title than the dockyard number..