800 bales of cotton for government $40,000 00 800 bales of cotton for owners 40,000 00 Return freight for owners 40,000 00 Return freight for government 40,000 00 Passengers, out and home 12,000 00 ---------- $172,000 00 ----------- Leaving a monthly profit of $91,735 00 On the other hand, it should be observed that the Federal ships captured over 1,000 prizes during the war. One of these, the _Memphis_, paid $510,914.07 in prize money to her captors, two or three paid over $400,000, and whole fleets yielded from $100,000 to $300,000. The _Banshee_, of which Taylor boasts, paid $104,948.48 to the Yankee crews of the _Fulton_ and _Grand Gulf_. Blockade-running, like privateering in 1812, paid a few firms handsomely. The Frasers of Charleston are said to have cleared $20,000,000 in gold, but many others lost heavily--the Jews who bought the _Will-o’-the-Wisp_, for instance. It was a thoroughly disreputable business, but so much of the story must be told, if only to show the character of part of the opposition which the government faced in the Civil War. CHAPTER III LOSS OF THE NORFOLK NAVY YARD EFFECTIVE WORK DONE BY SOUTHERN NAVAL OFFICERS WHO CONTINUED TO WEAR THE NATIONAL UNIFORM THAT THEY MIGHT THE MORE READILY BETRAY THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT--THE SECRETARY OF THE NAVY WAS DECEIVED AND THE COMMANDANT AT NORFOLK DEMORALIZED--WILLIAM MAHONE’S TRICKS ADDED TO THE DEMORALIZATION AT THE YARD, AND IT WAS ABANDONED AT LAST IN A SHAMEFUL PANIC--PROPERTY THAT WAS WORTH MILLIONS OF DOLLARS, AND GUNS THAT TOOK THOUSANDS OF LIVES, FELL INTO THE CONFEDERATES’ HANDS--THE FIRST NAVAL BATTLE OF THE WAR--THREE LITTLE WOODEN VESSELS WITH SEVEN SMALL GUNS SENT AGAINST A WELL-BUILT FORT MOUNTING THIRTEEN GUNS--THE HAZARDOUS WORK OF PATROLLING THE POTOMAC.