Engagement between the U. S. S. Kearsarge and the Alabama off Cherbourg, on Sunday, June 19, 1864.
From a French lithograph.
As this circling was started the Kearsarge opened fire. Word was sent to every gunner to “make every shot count,” and they obeyed. The gunnery of the Kearsarge was the best shown during the Civil War. The Alabama fired rapidly—she hurled 370 shot in sixty-five minutes, of which only twenty-eight struck the Kearsarge. Of these, two were turned by the chain armor, but had they penetrated they would have had no serious effect. One shell penetrated the stern post, but failed to explode. Had it exploded, the Kearsarge would have had difficulty in steering—perhaps she would have been made helpless; but the battle was then so far done that the Alabama would, at best, have been able to escape.
The Kearsarge fired only 173 shot, but so many of these struck home that before the end of an hour the Alabama was sinking.
Hoisting trysail and jib, Semmes headed for the shore, hoping to escape with the aid of his sails, but it was too late. The Kearsarge ran across her bow to deliver a raking broadside, and then the Alabama hauled down her flag. A little later a white flag was displayed, and then it was seen that the Alabama was rapidly settling in the water. A boat put off from her to ask for assistance. The Kearsarge sent two boats to rescue the crew, and the steam yacht Deerhound came up to help also. Semmes seeing at last that she must sink, threw his sword into the sea and leaped overboard, and while he swam for life the Alabama’s stern sank under the sea, the bow was lifted high out of water, and down she went, with her bowsprit disappearing last of all.
There was some diplomatic trouble over the escape of a lot of the Alabama’s crew, including Semmes, on the Deerhound. The reader will, perhaps, be able to determine the rights of the Deerhound in this case by putting himself mentally in her owner’s place. Suppose Ireland should secede from Great Britain and an Irish cruiser should be sunk in the presence of a Yankee yacht. Would the Yankee yacht-owner deliver up the Irishmen’s crew to the triumphant British warship? Certainly, if the Yankee yacht-owner was a politician, he would not do so.
The Kearsarge Sinking the Alabama.
From an engraving.
And, then, there were the virulent attacks on Semmes for swimming to the Deerhound instead of swimming to the Kearsarge. What would the reader have done? What would that other “pirate,” John Paul Jones, have done in a case like that?