March 20, 1864: CSS Alabama Not Being Chased Now: "Chasing the Alabama" Doesn't Pay Off

MARCH 20TH, 1864:  Arriving off Capetown, South Africa, Captain Semmes, CSS Alabama, noted that there were no Union cruisers in the vicinity, though he was well aware that many had been dispatched from Northern ports to capture him.

He recalled later:  "That huge old coal-box, the Vanderbilt, having thought it was useless to pursue us farther, had turned back, and was now probably  doing a more profitable business, by picking up blockade-runners on the American coast.  This operation paid -- the Captain might grow rich upon it.  Chasing the Alabama did not."

--Old B-Runner