The Cruise of the Alabama and the Sumter Part 22

From the middle to the 28th February there was but little excitement on board the Alabama. On that day the usual routine of life on a man-of-war was broken by the cry of "Man overboard." The vessel was at once hove to, but before a boat could be lowered a gallant fellow, Michael Mars, leapt overboard, and swimming to the rescue of his shipmate, fortunately succeeded in saving the man's life.

On the third of March they saw the first Cape Pigeon and Albatross, and on the 4th Captain Semmes writes as follows:-

The gale still continues, though moderating very fast; sea not so turbulent, though the surf is thundering into it now and then, and keeping the decks flooded. 'Tis three years to-day since I parted with my family in Washington, on the day in which Washington's great republic was humiliated by the inauguration as President of a vulgar democratic politician, in whom even the great events in which, by a singular destiny, he has been called to take a part, have not been able to sink the mountebank. These three years of anxiety, vigilance, exposure, and excitement, have made me an old man, and sapped my health, rendering repose necessary, if I would prolong my life. My ship is wearing out, too, as well as her commander, and will need a general overhauling by the time I can get her into dock. If my poor services be deemed of any importance in hara.s.sing and weakening the enemy, and thus contributing to the independence of my beloved South, I shall be amply rewarded.

The Alabama still kept on through gales, with creaking cordage and jerking tiller ropes, until on the 11th of March the Cape was sighted, off which they were knocked about until the 20th instant; lying in the track of vessels bounding before the gale at the rate of ten or twelve knots an hour, and only able to see them when within a mile of the ship.

Arrived in Table Bay, Captain Semmes received intelligence of the seizure of the Tuscaloosa, upon which he at once wrote a despatch to Admiral Walker.[15]

[Footnote 15: For papers relating to the seizure of this vessel, see Appendix.] The Cape was left on the 25th of March, the vessel's head being laid towards Europe, and on the 29th the following entry is found in the journal:-

"I have at length had a little leisure to read the late papers received at the Cape. The Yankee Government and people, and with them a great portion of the English press and people, seem to have jumped suddenly to the conclusion that we are beaten, and that the war must soon end by our submission! Mr. Lincoln has even gone so far as to prescribe the terms on which our States may re-enter the rotten "concern"-to wit, by a reorganization of the States government by one-tenth of the people. Verily, the delusion of these men in the matter of this war is unaccountable. No power on earth can subjugate the Southern States, although some of them have been guilty of the pusillanimity of making war with the Yankees against their sisters. History will brand them as traitors and cowards. As for the tone of the English press, I am not surprised at it. England is too rich to be generous. Our war for her is a sort of prize-fight, and she is looking on in about the same spirit with which her people lately viewed the prize fight between King and Heenan. Hurrah one; well done the other."

From March 29th to April 22d there were no events calling for special attention, save that on the sixteenth the intelligence was learned from the master of a French ship that there were no American vessels at the Chincha Islands, though in July, 1863, there were between seventy and eighty American sail there. This speaks volumes of the terror the Alabama had excited.

The night of the 22d of April was employed in giving chase to a strange sail, which was overhauled at daybreak on the following morning; and the United States flag having been responded to by a display of the same colours, the Alabama boarded and took possession of the guano-laden ship, Rockingham, which was employed as a target, and then set fire to. The cargo being claimed as the property of neutrals, Captain Semmes examined the ship's papers and entered the following in his journal:-

CASE OF THE ROCKINGHAM.

"Ship under United States colours and register. Is from Callao, bound to Cork for orders, and loaded with guano. This guano purports to be shipped by the Guano Consignment Company to Great Britain. One Joseph A. Danino, who signs for Danino and Moscosa, certifies that the guano belongs to the Peruvian Government; and Her Britannic Majesty's Acting Consul at Lima certifies that the said Joseph A. Danino appeared before him and 'voluntarily declared' 'that the foregoing signature is of his own handwriting, and also that the cargo above mentioned is truly and verily the property of the Peruvian Government.'

"As this is the only certificate of the neutrality of the cargo among the papers, and as n.o.body swears to anything in this certificate, there is no testimony at all. The ship being enemy's property, and the cargo being presumed to be enemy's property also, from being found on board the ship, it was inc.u.mbent on the neutral parties, if there are any such in the case, to have doc.u.mented their property by sworn certificates; and this rule of law is so well known, that the absence of an oath would seem to be conclusive as to the fraudulent attempt to cover. Ship and cargo condemned."

This capture was followed by that of the Tyc.o.o.n, on the 27th of the same month; and as no claim of neutrality of cargo was made, the ship was burned. This, as it afterwards turned out, was the last of the Alabama's prizes. Nineteen other vessels were overhauled before she reached Cherbourg, but not one of them sailed under the Stars and Stripes. When it is remembered that no less than sixty-five American ships had been taken by the gallant cruiser, it is not much to be wondered at that the Yankee flag was a rara avis on the high seas.

From the 25th of May to the 10th of June the Alabama was making her way north, and on the last-named date she was abreast of the Lizard, and was boarded by a Channel pilot. "I felt," writes Captain Semmes, "great relief to have him on board, as I was quite knocked up with cold and fever, and was too ill-qualified physically for exposure to the weather and watching through the night. And thus, thanks to an all-wise Providence, we have brought the cruise of the Alabama to a successful termination."

Little could Captain Semmes have imagined, when he penned these lines, that the cruising days of his vessel were so soon to end. The vessel entered Cherbourg on the morning of the 11th. Two days after news was received that the Kearsarge would shortly arrive there, intelligence which was confirmed next day by the appearance of that vessel.

CHAPTER x.x.xVI.

The Kearsarge-Preparations-The iron-clad-State of the Alabama-Out of the harbour-The Deerhound-The Captain's address-Armaments of the combatants-Plan of action-The engagement-Rapid fire-Badly wounded-Sinking-The end of the Alabama-In the water-Gallant conduct-Surgeon Llewellyn-The Deerhound to the rescue-The enemy's boats-Not a wrack-The informing spirit.

It was written that the Alabama was never to behold the ports of her country!

The latest entries in the diary of Captain Semmes are of an interest too great to permit us to exclude them, prior to the narration of the memorable duel which closes the history of a vessel whose renown, short as her career has been, may challenge that of any ship that has spread a sail upon the waters, and casts a l.u.s.tre even upon the heroic history of the Confederate States.

On Tuesday, June 14th, Captain Semmes writes:-

"Great excitement on board, the Kearsarge having made her appearance off the eastern entrance of the breakwater, at about 11 A.M. Sent an order on sh.o.r.e immediately for coal (one hundred tons), and sent down the yards on the mizen-mast, and the topgallant yards, and otherwise preparing the ship for action.

"Wednesday, June 15th.-The Admiral sent off his aide to say that he considered my application for repairs withdrawn upon my making application for coal, to which I a.s.sented. We commenced coaling this afternoon. The Kearsarge is still in the offing; she has not been permitted to receive on board the prisoners landed by me, to which I had objected in a letter to the Admiral. Mailed a note yesterday afternoon for Flagofficer Barrow, informing him of my intention to go out to engage the enemy as soon as I could make my preparations, and sent a written notice to the U.S. consul, through Mr. Bonfils, to the same effect. My crew seems to be in the right spirit, a quiet spirit of determination pervading both officers and men. The combat will no doubt be contested and obstinate; but the two ships are so equally matched, I do not feel at liberty to decline it. G.o.d defend the right, and have mercy upon the souls of those who fall, as many of us must!"

It has been denied that the captain of the Kearsarge sent a challenge to the Alabama. Captain Semmes, indeed, says nothing of it himself. What the Kearsarge did-and with a particular object, there cannot be a doubt-was, as recorded, to enter the breakwater at the east end, and "at about 11 A.M., on Tuesday, she pa.s.sed through the west end without anchoring." These are the words of a French naval captain, who speaks of what he saw. Few will deny that among brave men this would be considered something equivalent to a challenge. It was more than a challenge-it was a defiance. The officer we have quoted adds, that "anyone could then see her outside protection." It is easy to see everything after the event. The Kearsarge looked bulky in her middle section to an inspecting eye; but she was very low in the water, and that she was armed to resist shot and sh.e.l.l it was impossible to discern. It is distinctly averred by the officers of the Alabama that from their vessel the armour of the Kearsarge could not be distinguished. There were many reports abroad that she was protected on her sides in some peculiar way; but all were various and indistinct, and to a practical judgment untrustworthy. Moreover, a year previous to this meeting, the Kearsarge had lain at anchor close under the critical eye of Captain Semmes. He had on that occasion seen that his enemy was not artificially defended. He believes now that the reports of her plating and armour were so much harbour-gossip, of which during his cruises he had experienced enough.

Now the Kearsarge was an old enemy, constantly in pursuit, and her appearance produced, as Captain Semmes has written, great excitement on board the Alabama. And let us here call attention to what the officers and men of the ill.u.s.trious Confederate ship had been enduring for the s.p.a.ce of two years. During all this time they had been homeless, and without a prospect of reaching home. They had been constantly crowded with prisoners, who devoured their provender-of which they never had any but a precarious supply. Their stay in any neutral harbour was necessarily short as the perching of a hawk on a bough. Like the hawk's in upper air, the Alabama's safety as well as her business was on the high seas. Miserably fed, hunted, eluding, preying, destroying-is this a life that brave men would willingly have to be continuous? They were fortified by the a.s.surance of a mighty service done to their country. They knew that they inflicted tremendous damage upon their giant foe. They were, perhaps, supported by the sense that their captain's unrivalled audacity had done more harm to the United States than the operations of many thousand men. But their days were wretched; their task was sickening; it demands an imagination that can fix its eye upon stern, barren duty as a planet never darkened, always visible, for such a life as this to be carried on uncomplainingly and without a pa.s.sionate longing for the bare exercise of hard blows. In addition, they read of the reproaches heaped upon them by comfortable sh.o.r.e-men. They were called pirates, and other gloomy t.i.tles. The execrations of certain of the French and English, and of all the United States press, sounded in their ears across the ocean; but from their own country they heard little. The South was a sealed land in comparison with the rest of the world. Opinion spoke loudest in Europe, and though they knew that they were faithfully, gallantly, and marvellously serving their country in her sore need, the absence of any immediate comfort, either physical or moral, helped to make them keenly sensitive to virulent criticism, even to that of avowed and clamorous enemies.

It was this state of mind through the whole crew which caused the excitement on board the Alabama when the Kearsarge steamed in and out of the breakwater. Now, and at last, our day of action has come! was the thought of every man on board. The chivalrous give and take of battle was glorious to men who had alternately hunted and fled for so dreary a term. They trusted for victory; but defeat itself was to be a vindication of their whole career, and they welcomed the chances gladly.

The application for coal at a neutral port was in itself a renunciation of any further hospitality from the harbour, as Captain Semmes was aware. The Port-admiral contented himself with pointing it out to him. A duel is not an unpopular thing in France. The prospective combat of two apparently equally-matched ships of war would have been sufficient to have melted any scruples entertained by Frenchmen in authority; they were only too happy to a.s.sist towards an engagement between Federals and Confederates, the latter being as popular in France as in England, to say nothing for the sympathy excited for the Alabama. French officers agreed with Captain Semmes in thinking that there was marked offence and defiance in the manoeuvres of the Kearsarge, and that he could hardly do less than go out and meet her. We have done our best to show that the Captain, whether in his heart he felt the mere chances to be equal or not, was anxious to persuade himself that they were so. He knew his opponent to be the heavier in ship, battery, and crew, but "I did not know that she was also iron-clad," he says. Personally he desired the battle; the instigations of an enthusiastic crew, unanimous for action, as also of friendly foreign officers, are to be taken into account. Those who venture, now that we are enabled to measure by results, to cast blame upon him, should first, in justice, throw themselves into his position. President Davis may deplore the loss of a vessel that did a mighty service, but we doubt not that he will endorse the honourable words of Mr. Mason in his justification of Captain Semmes, and rejoice that the man who was the ship, is saved for further service to the Confederacy.

On Sunday, in the morning, being the 19th June, the Alabama steamed out of Cherbourg harbour by the opening to the west, and steered straight to meet the Kearsarge, accompanied by the French iron-clad La Couronne. The late foul weather had given way to a gentle breeze, and the subsiding swell of the Atlantic wave under a clear sky made the day eminently favourable for the work in hand. All Cherbourg was on the heights above the town and along the bastions and the mole. Never did knightly tournament boast a more eager mult.i.tude of spectators. It chanced fortunately that an English steam-yacht, the Deerhound, with its owner, Mr. John Lancaster, and his family, on board, was in harbour at the time. The Deerhound followed the Alabama at a respectful distance, and was the closest witness of the fight. Some French pilot-boats hung as near as they considered prudent. At the limit of neutral waters the Alabama parted company with her, escort, and the Couronne returned to within a league of the sh.o.r.e.

Left to herself at last, the Alabama made her final preparations for the coming struggle. Mustering all his ship's company upon the deck, Captain Semmes addressed them as follows;-

"OFFICERS AND SEAMEN OF THE ALABAMA:"

"You have, at length, another opportunity of meeting the enemy-the first that has been presented to you since you sunk the Hatteras! In the meantime, 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 theatre 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 how to uphold it. Go to your quarters."[16]

[Footnote 16: The above is a correct report of Captain Semmes' address on this occasion. Various statements have appeared as to the way in which it was continued: received. Captain Semmes states, "The only replies that were made were shouts from the seamen of 'Never! never!' when I spoke of the name of their ship being tarnished by defeat."]

It took three-quarters of an hour for the Alabama to come within range of the Kearsarge. At the distance of one mile, the Alabama opened fire with solid shot. The Kearsarge took time to reply. After ten minutes the firing was sharp on both sides.

According to the statement of the Captain of the Kearsarge, her battery consisted of seven guns-to wit, two 11-inch Dahlgrens-very powerful pieces of ordnance; four 32 pounders, one light rifle 28 pounder. She went into action with a crew of 162 officers and men.

The armament of the Alabama consisted of one 7-inch Blakeley rifled gun, one 8-inch smooth-bore pivot gun, six 32 pounders, smooth-bore, in broadside. The Alabama's crew numbered not more than 120. On this head Captain Winslow speaks erroneously. He sets down the Alabama's crew at 150 officers and men. The Alabama had a formidable piece in the Blakeley rifled gun, but she was dest.i.tute of steel shot.

It will thus be seen that there was inequality between the antagonists. Captain Winslow speaks of the Alabama having "one gun more" than the Kearsarge. His two great Dahlgrens gave the balance altogether in his favour. But in an estimate of the rival capabilities of the two vessels, the deteriorated speed of the Alabama should be considered as her princ.i.p.al weakness. Cherbourg had done little to repair the copper of her bottom, which spread out in broad fans and seriously impeded her cutting of the water; and it had been found impossible to do more than to patch up the boilers for the day's business. They were not in a state to inspire the engineers with confidence. The Kearsarge, on the other hand, was in first rate condition and well in hand. She speedily showed that she could overhaul the Alabama. In fact, the Alabama entered the lists when she should have been lying in dock. She fought with an exhausted frame. She had the heroism to decide upon the conflict, without the strength to choose the form of it. After some little manoeuvring this became painfully evident to Captain Semmes. The Kearsarge selected her distance at a range of five hundred yards, and being well protected she deliberately took time and fired with sure effect.

Captain Semmes had great confidence in the power of his Blakeley rifled gun, and we believe it is a confidence not shaken by its failure to win the day for him. He wished to get within easy range of his enemy, that he might try this weapon effectively; but any attempt on his part to come to closer quarters was construed by the Kearsarge as a design to bring the engagement between the ships to a hand-to-hand conflict between the men. Having the speed, she chose her distance, and made all thought of boarding hopeless.

It was part of the plan of Captain Semmes to board, if possible, at some period of the day, supposing that he could not quickly decide the battle with artillery. It was evidently Captain Winslow's determination to avoid the old-fashioned form of a naval encounter, and to fight altogether in the new style; his superior steam power gave him the option. When the Alabama took her death-wound she was helpless. We must interpret the respectful distance maintained by the Kearsarge up to the very last, and the persistent plying of her guns while the side of the sinking ship was visible, as a settled resolution on Captain Winslow's part to trust to guns alone, and throughout, so that a dangerous proximity might be shunned. That much homage was paid by him to the hostile crew, and that his manoeuvre was creditably discreet, few will deny.

The crew of the Alabama, seamen and officers, were in high spirits throughout the engagement, though very early the slaughter set in and the decks were covered with blood. Their fire was rapid and admirable. It has been said in the House of Lords by no less a person than the Duke of Somerset, that her firing was positively bad; and that she hit the Kearsarge only three times during the action. By Captain Winslow's own admission the Kearsarge was. .h.i.t twenty-eight times by shot and sh.e.l.l-or once to every fifth discharge. No seaman knowing anything of an actual engagement on the deep will object to the accuracy of such an aim. Had the Kearsarge shown the same blank sides as the Alabama, another tale might have been told. Captain Semmes, however, perceived that his sh.e.l.l rebounded after striking her, and exploded harmlessly. This led him to rely upon solid shot. The Alabama, not being thus or in any way shielded, was pierced with sh.e.l.l, and soon showed vast rents in her after-part. Her pivot-gun was a distinct mark for the enemy, and a single sh.e.l.l exploding near it killed and wounded half the number of men by whom it was worked. Each ship fought her starboard broadside, and steamed in a circle to keep that side to the enemy. So, for an hour, this, to a distant spectator, monotonous manoeuvre continued, without perceptibly narrowing the range. Captain Semmes was standing on the quarter-deck when the chief engineer sent word to say that the ship was endangered by leakage. The first lieutenant, Mr. Kell, was sent below to inspect the damage. He returned with word that the ship was sinking. Captain Semmes at once ordered the ship to be put about and steered towards sh.o.r.e. But the water was rising in her: the fires were speedily extinguished. The Alabama's shot from slackening had now ceased. It was evident to all on board that she was doomed. To have continued firing would have been to indulge a stupid rancour, and to act in such a manner is not in the nature of a seaman like Captain Semmes. On the contrary, his thoughts were directed towards saving the lives of his crew. He gave command for the Confederate flag to be hauled down.

Many wild stories are being told of something like a mutiny of the crew at this desecration of the Southern banner; of how they implored the Captain to spare them the disgrace of it; and of a certain quartermaster drawing his cutla.s.s, daring any hand on board to haul down the flag, and being dramatically threatened with a loaded pistol by Mr. Kell, the First Lieutenant, and so brought to his senses. The fact is, that the flag came down quietly and decorously. All on board perceived that there was no help for it, and that it would be a shocking breach of humanity to imperil the lives of the wounded men.

The general detestation of the Yankee was yet more strongly instanced when the men were struggling for life in the water. The head of every man was pointed away, as if instinctively, from the vessel that stood nearest to rescue him. One who was hailed from the Kearsarge with the offer of a rescue, declined it civilly, and made his way for the neutral flag. The men swam as if they had still an enemy behind them, and not one that was ready to save. Tardy as were the boats of the Kearsarge in descending to perform this office, they found many of the poor fellows still painfully supporting themselves above the surface. Of these, both men and officers, when, after being hauled into the boats, they had dashed the blinding salt water from their eyes and discovered among whom they were, many sprang overboard again, preferring any risk to the shelter of the Federalists. Hatred to the flag of the old Union and love of their Captain appear to have been their chief active pa.s.sions. When taken on board the Deerhound, the question as to the safety of Captain Semmes was foremost in every mouth.

Captain Semmes a.s.serts that shots were fired at the Alabama after the signal of surrender. We will not attempt to substantiate a charge like this: but French officers maintain it to be an undeniable fact that, after the Confederate flag had been lowered, the Kearsarge fired no less than five shots into her. We believe that Captain Winslow does not deny the charge; but a.s.serts that he was unaware of the act of surrender. In his letter to the Daily News, he declares the accusation that he had been guilty of this act to be "twaddle" (we quote his own phrase).

The master's mate of the Alabama, Mr. Fullam, was despatched in the dingey to the Kearsarge with a request that a.s.sistance might immediately be given in rescuing the lives of the wounded men. It was promised, but the fulfilment of the promise, owing, as we trust it may be proved, to circ.u.mstances incidental to the fight, was, as we have said, tardy. Captain Winslow expressed himself in kindly terms with regard to his old shipmate in the days when the Union was not a mockery of its name; Captain Semmes having served with him in the same vessel many years back. During Mr. Fullam's absence the Alabama had gone down stern foremost. All the wounded had been stretched in the whale-boat for transmission to the Kearsarge. The surgeon of the Alabama, an Englishman, Mr. David Herbert Llewellyn, son of an inc.u.mbent of a Wiltshire parsonage, and G.o.dson of the late Lord Herbert of Lea, was offered a place in this boat. He refused it, saying that he would not peril the wounded men, and he sank with the Alabama. The rest of the crew, with their captain, were already in the waves. Mr. Lancaster meantime had steamed up to the Kearsarge, requesting permission to a.s.sist in saving life, and he was soon among them, throwing lines from the yacht, and picking up many exhausted men in his boats. The loss of men by drowning was nineteen, including an officer (Mr. Llewellyn), carpenter, and a.s.sistant-engineer. The loss in killed and wounded was twenty-eight, of whom seven were killed. Not a wrack of the Alabama was secured by the victors in this memorable sea-fight. The captain and his officers dropped their swords into the deep; the men drove their oars into the bottoms of the boats. One spirit-the spirit of the unconquerable Confederation of the Southern States-animated all. Not a man who was able to support himself in the water, swam towards the Kearsarge.

So sank the Alabama. It would have been glorious for her to have won, but it was not disgraceful that the day went against her. She fought against odds such as brave commanders are not in the habit of declining; she fought to the water's edge. An end like this, and the splendid antecedents she points to, have made her name and that of her captain household words. Her flag has been indeed a "meteor flag," and that it shall "yet terrific burn" we may reckon to be probable, when it is remembered that the informing spirit, of which the good vessel was but the gross body, is alive, and prepared once more to offer himself to the land of his choice for service upon the seas.

APPENDIX.

No. I.