REAR-ADMIRAL SEMMES, C. S. N.. CAPTAIN OF THE “ALABAMA.’ From a photograph, taken in England after the loss of his ship.
you sank the Hatter as ! In the mean time you have been all over the world, and it is not too much to say that you have destroyed, and driven for protection under neutral flags, one-half of the enemy’s commerce, which at the beginning of the war covered every sea. This is an achievement of which you may well be proud, and a grateful country will not be unmindful of it. The name of your ship has become a household word wherever civilization extends! Shall that name be tarnished by defeat? The thing is impossible! Remember that you are in the English Channel, the theater of so much of the naval glory of our race, and that the eyes of all Europe are at this moment upon you. The flag that floats over you is that of a young Republic, which bids defiance to her enemy’s whenever and wherever found! Show the world that you know howto uphold it! Go to your quarters.”
In about forty-five minutes we were somewhat over a mile from the Kearsarge, when she headed
fight the Kearsarge had been circulated, and many persons from Paris and the surrounding country had come down to witness the engagement. With a large number of the inhabitants of Cherbourg they collected on every prominent point on the shore that would afford a view seaward. As we rounded the breakwater we discovered the Kearsarge about seven miles to the northward and eastward. We immediately shaped our course for her, called all hands to quarters, and cast loose the starboard battery. Upon reporting to the captain that the ship was ready for action, he directed me to send all hands aft, and mounting a gun-carriage, he made the following address :
“Officers and Seamen of the *Alabama’: You bave at length another opportunity of meeting the enemy—the first that has been presented to you since 295
THE CONFEDERATE CRUISER “ALABAMA.”
The bridge was in the center, just before the funnel. She carried five boats; cutter and launch amidships, gig and whale-boat between the main and mizzen-mast, and dingey astern. The main deck was pierced for twelve guns. She had an. elliptic stern, billet head, and high bulwarks. Her cabin accommodations were first-class; and her ward-room was furnished with a handsome suite of state-rooms. The starboard steerage was for midshipmen, the port for engineers. Next came the engine-room, coal-bunkers, etc.; then the berth-deck, accommodating 120 men. Under the wardroom were store-rooms, and under the steerage were shell-rooms. Just forward of the fire-room came the hold, next the magazines, and, forward of all, the boatswain’s and sail-maker’s store-rooms. The hold was all under the berth-deck.
This sketch was made from a photograph (of a drawing) which Captain Semmes gave to a friend, with the remark that it was a correct picture of his ship. On the stocks, and until she went into commission, the Alabama was known as “No. 290,” that being her number on the list of ships built by the Lairds. According to the volume, “ Our Cruise in the Confederate States’ War Steamer Alabama,” she was a bark-rigged wooden propeller, of 1040 tons’ register; length of keel, 210 feet; length over all, 220 ; beam, 32; depth, 17. She carried two horizontal engines, each of 300 horse-power; she had stowage for 350 tons of coal. All her standing rigging was of wire. She had a double wheel placed j ust before the mizzenmast, and on it was inscribed the motto, “Aide toi et Dieu V aider a.”
THE DUEL BETWEEN THE “ALABAMA” AND THE “KEARSARGE.”
port. The authorities conceding this objection valid, the Kearsarge steamed out of the harbor, without anchoring. During her stay we examined her closely with our glasses, but she was keeping on the opposite side of the harbor, out of the reach of a very close scrutiny, which accounts for our not detecting the boxing to her chain armor. After she left the harbor Captain Semmes sent for me to his cabin, and said:	“I am going out to fight the
Kearsarge; what do you think of it?” We discussed the battery, and especially the advantage the Kearsarge had over us in her 11-inch guns. She was built for a vessel of war, and we for speed, and though she carried one gun less, her battery was more effective at point-blank range. While the Alabama carried one more gun, the Kearsarge threw more metal at a broadside; and while our guns were more effective at long range, her 11-inch guns gave her greatly the advantage at close range. She also had a slight advantage in her crew, she carrying 163, all told, while we carried 149. Considering well these advantages, Captain Semmes communicated through our agent to the United States consul that if Captain Winslow would wait outside the harbor he would fight him as soon as we could coal ship.
Accordingly on Sunday morning, June 19th, between 9 and 10 o’clock, we weighed anchor and stood out of the western entrance of the harbor, the French iron-clad frigate Couronne following us. The day was bright and beautiful, with a light breeze blowing. Our men were neatly dressed, and our officers in full uniform. The report of our going out to
Note.—The Confederate Government sent out during the progress of the war a number of cruisers to attack the commerce of the United States. Most of them were built abroad ; several of them in England. The most famous of these was the Alabama, which sailed from Liverpool on the 29th of July, 1862, on the day that the law officers of the Crown rendered an opinion that the vessel was clearly intended for warlike use against the United States, and recommended that she be seized at once. She was fitted up in one of the islands of the Azores, and for two years was a terror to the commerce of the United States, until finally sunk by the Kearsarge.
FROM THE DECK OF THE “ALABAMA.”
BY JOHN MCINTOSH KELL, EXECUTIVE OFFICER OF THE “ALABAMA.”
. . . Our little skip was now showing signs of the active work she had been doing. Her boilers were burned out, and her machinery was sadly in want of repairs. She was loose at every joint, her seams were open, and the copper on her bottom was in rolls. We therefore set our course for Europe, and on the 11th of June, 1864, entered the port of Cherbourg, and applied for permission to go into dock. There being none but national docks, the Emperor had first to be communicated with before permission could be granted, and he was absent from Paris. It was during this interval of waiting, on the third day after our arrival, that the Kearsarge steamed into the harbor, for the purpose, as we learned, of taking on board the prisoners we had landed from our last two prizes. Captain Semmes, however, objected to this on the ground that the Kearsarge was adding to her crew in a neutral