"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 destitute 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 principal 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 hit twenty-eight times by shot and shell—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 shell 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 shell, and soon showed vast rents in her after-part. Her pivot-gun was a distinct mark for the enemy, and a single shell 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 shore. 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 cutlass, 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.