海角大神

When the Civil War broke out in 1861, the Union had 42 commissioned ships in its Navy while the Confederacy had a mere one. What鈥檚 more, the North, unlike the South, had the industrial capacity to increase its stock. In 鈥淭he Lion and the Fox: Two Rival Spies and the Secret Plot to Build a Confederate Navy,鈥� Alexander Rose tells the improbable story of James Bulloch, a Confederate sympathizer dispatched to England to secretly build a fleet of ships, and Thomas Dudley, the U.S. consul in Liverpool who was determined to stop him.聽

Rose鈥檚 extensive research has yielded an exhilarating account told with style and verve. It begins with U.S. Navy veteran Bulloch, an accomplished sailor from a family of slaveholders, meeting with Confederate Secretary of the Navy Stephen Mallory early in the war to concoct a complex plan. President Abraham Lincoln had already imposed a naval blockade of the South intended to prevent the Confederacy from importing needed supplies and to devastate its economy by halting its lucrative export of cotton.

The scheme Mallory and Bulloch devised had three components. The first involved building a fleet of fast blockade runners that could get past the Union ships and smuggle necessary weapons into the South. The second involved building cruisers to harass and sink Union merchant ships, with the expectation that the U.S. Navy would have to divert some of its warships for their protection, thus creating holes in the blockade. The final stage involved building advanced warships to attack the U.S. Navy directly.

Bulloch, described by Rose as possessing an 鈥渆ffortless superiority, relaxed charm, and worldly detachment,鈥� was well suited for his clandestine mission. His adversary, Dudley, was quite different, known for 鈥渉is Quaker rectitude, stiff-necked temperance, and remorseless work ethic.鈥� The book鈥檚 most well-drawn character, however, is Liverpool itself, where much of the action takes place. It was, in the author鈥檚 words, 鈥渢he most violent, vice-ridden, crime-soaked locale in Europe.鈥� Rose memorably describes the port city as 鈥渁 low-lying place inhabited by low, lying people.鈥�

England was officially neutral in America鈥檚 Civil War, but Confederate flags were flown throughout Liverpool. Many British citizens saw the Confederates not as rebels fighting for slavery but as freedom fighters battling government oppression. Liverpool in particular had strong ties to the American South. Most of England鈥檚 slave ships had been built there, and when the British slave trade was abolished in 1807, Rose writes, many former slavers 鈥減ivoted to cotton, effectively doing business with the same Southerners as before, just trading white gold rather than the humans harvesting it.鈥澛犅�

Bulloch, then, had little trouble enlisting co-conspirators; those without political motivation for aiding the Confederacy were open to being bribed. While Dudley and other Union officials were immediately aware of Bulloch and suspicious of his aims, the Confederate agent, who had well-placed spies working on his behalf inside the British government, always seemed to be one step ahead of his pursuers.

In addition to evading Dudley, Bulloch had to find a way around Britain鈥檚 Foreign Enlistment Act of 1819, which prohibited British subjects from participating in foreign wars. He cannily exploited a loophole in the law, constructing ships in Liverpool but waiting to load them with weapons and inform the unwitting crew of their real purpose until they were safely out of England. While Dudley was on to Bulloch鈥檚 tactics 鈥� 鈥渢here is no doubt but that she is intended for the Rebels,鈥� he wrote of one of Bulloch鈥檚 ships to Secretary of State William Seward 鈥� he faced the formidable challenge of producing enough evidence to compel the British government to seize the ships.

Bulloch鈥檚 most notable successes were the Oreto and the Enrica, ships the builders falsely claimed had been purchased by the Italian government. Once in international waters, Confederate flags were raised as they were rechristened the CSS Florida and the CSS Alabama, respectively. The crew, who had signed on as merchant seamen, were exhorted to join the fight for the Confederacy instead (and assured they鈥檇 be paid handsomely for their participation).

The ships were successful 鈥� in one two-week period, the Alabama destroyed 10 American whalers and mail and cargo ships. President Lincoln, however, resisted pressure to divert the Navy from the blockade. In the end, Rose notes, compared to the success of the naval blockade, the attacks on Union merchant ships amounted to little more than a nuisance. Moreover, British public opinion turned in favor of the North after the Emancipation Proclamation made clear that the war was not simply about the preservation of the Union but about ending slavery. The shift made Bulloch鈥檚 job all the more difficult.

鈥淭he Lion and the Fox鈥� tells a fascinating tale, but it remains unclear whether Bulloch鈥檚 actions ever posed a real threat to the Union. He certainly had big ambitions; in fact, he seems downright delusional as he imagines his warships attacking the port cities of the North, demolishing their navy yards, and demanding large payments in gold and cash to fill the Confederate coffers.

What the author calls Bulloch鈥檚 鈥渕ad fantasies鈥� make the coda even more tantalizing. Bulloch remained in Liverpool after the war; he didn鈥檛 have to worry about being prosecuted for treason in the wake of President Andrew Johnson鈥檚 full pardon for Confederates, but he feared being sued for financial compensation as a result of all those downed merchant ships. The Confederate spy鈥檚 half-sister, Mittie Bulloch, was the mother of Theodore Roosevelt, and Teddy was apparently quite fond of his 鈥淯ncle Jimmie,鈥� who regaled him with his war stories on a rare visit to America in 1877. In his first book, 鈥淭he Naval War of 1812,鈥� which established the future president鈥檚 reputation, Roosevelt acknowledged 鈥淐aptain James D. Bulloch, formerly of the United States Navy ... without whose advice and sympathy this work would probably never have been written or even begun.鈥� His uncle鈥檚 devoted work on behalf of a different Navy remained unmentioned.