CSS
Alabama was a screw sloop-of-warA screw sloop is a propeller-driven sloop-of-war. In the 19th century, during the introduction of the steam engine, ships driven by propellers were differentiated from those driven by paddle-wheels by referring to the ship's screws...
built for the Confederate States NavyThe Confederate States Navy was the naval branch of the Confederate States armed forces established by an act of the Confederate Congress on February 21, 1861. It was responsible for Confederate naval operations during the American Civil War...
at BirkenheadBirkenhead is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral in Merseyside, England. It is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the west bank of the River Mersey, opposite the city of Liverpool...
, United Kingdom, in 1862 by John Laird Sons and Company. Alabama
served as a commerce raider, attacking UnionDuring the American Civil War, the Union was a name used to refer to the federal government of the United States, which was supported by the twenty free states and five border slave states. It was opposed by 11 southern slave states that had declared a secession to join together to form the...
merchant and naval ships over the course of her two-year career, during which she never anchored in a Southern port. She was sunk by the USS Kearsarge
USS Kearsarge, a Mohican-class sloop-of-war, is best known for her defeat of the Confederate commerce raider CSS Alabama during the American Civil War. The Kearsarge was the only ship of the United States Navy named for Mount Kearsarge in New Hampshire...
in 1864.
Construction
Alabama was built in secrecy in 1862 by British shipbuilders John Laird Sons and Company in
North West EnglandNorth West England, informally known as The North West, is one of the nine official regions of England.North West England had a 2006 estimated population of 6,853,201 the third most populated region after London and the South East...
at their shipyards at
BirkenheadBirkenhead is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral in Merseyside, England. It is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the west bank of the River Mersey, opposite the city of Liverpool...
,
CheshireCheshire is a ceremonial county in North West England. Cheshire's county town is the city of Chester, although its largest town is Warrington. Other major towns include Widnes, Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Runcorn, Macclesfield, Winsford, Northwich, and Wilmslow...
. This was arranged by the Confederate agent
James Dunwoody BullochJames Dunwody Bulloch was the Confederate States of America's chief foreign agent in Great Britain during the American Civil War. He was the half-brother of a distinguished Confederate naval officer, Irvine Bulloch and of Martha "Mittie" Bulloch Roosevelt. Mittie was the mother of future U.S...
, who was leading the procurement of sorely needed ships for the fledgling
Confederate States NavyThe Confederate States Navy was the naval branch of the Confederate States armed forces established by an act of the Confederate Congress on February 21, 1861. It was responsible for Confederate naval operations during the American Civil War...
. He arranged the contract through Fraser, Trenholm Company, a cotton broker in Liverpool with ties to the Confederacy.
Initially known as hull number 290, the ship was launched without fanfare on 29 July 1862 as Enrica
. Agent Bulloch arranged for a civilian crew and captain to sail Enrica
to Terceira IslandReferred to as the “Ilha Lilás” , Terceira is an island in the Azores archipelago, in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean. It is one of the larger islands of the archipelago, with a population of 56,000 inhabitants in an area of approximately 396.75 km²...
in the AzoresThe Archipelago of the Azores is composed of nine volcanic islands situated in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean, and is located about west from Lisbon and about east from the east coast of North America. The islands, and their economic exclusion zone, form the Autonomous Region of the...
. With Bulloch staying aboard to witness her recommissioning, the new ship's captain, Raphael SemmesFor other uses, see Semmes .Raphael Semmes was an officer in the United States Navy from 1826 - 1860 and the Confederate States Navy from 1860 - 1865. During the American Civil War he was captain of the famous commerce raider CSS Alabama, taking a record sixty-nine prizes...
, left Liverpool on 5 August 1862 aboard the steamer Bahama
to take command of the new cruiser. Semmes arrived at Terceira Island on 20 August 1862 and began overseeing the refitting of the new vessel with various provisions, including armaments, and 350 tons of coal, brought there by Agrippina
, his new ship's supply vessel. After three days of back-breaking work by the three ship's crews, the new ship was transformed into a naval cruiserA cruiser is a type of warship. The term has been in use for several hundreds of years, and has had different meanings throughout this period...
, designated a commerce raider, for the Confederate States of AmericaThe Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...
.
Alabamas British-made ordnance was composed of six broadside, 32-pounder, naval smoothbores and two larger and more powerful pivot cannons. Both pivot cannons were positioned roughly amidships along the deck's centerline, fore and aft of the main mast. The fore pivot was a heavy, long-range 100-pounder 7-inch (178 mm)
Blakely rifleA Blakely rifle is one of a series of muzzle-loading rifled cannon design by British army officer, Captain Theophilus Alexander Blakely. They were widely sold outside of the British army, and were best known for their use by the Confederate States of America during the American Civil...
, the aft pivot a heavy, 8-inch (203 mm) smoothbore.
The new Confederate cruiser was powered by both sail and by two John Laird Sons and Company 300 hp
horizontalA marine steam engine is a reciprocating steam engine that is used to power a ship or boat. Steam turbines and diesel engines largely replaced reciprocating steam engines in marine applications during the 20th century, so this article describes the more common types of marine steam engine in use...
steam engineA steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid.Steam engines are external combustion engines, where the working fluid is separate from the combustion products. Non-combustion heat sources such as solar power, nuclear power or geothermal energy may be...
s, driving a single, Griffiths-type, twin-bladed brass screw. With the screw retracted using the stern's brass lifting gear mechanism,
Alabama could make up to ten knots under sail alone and 13.25 knots (26 km/h) when her sail and steam power were used together.
Commissioning and voyage
The ship was purposely
commissionedShip commissioning is the act or ceremony of placing a ship in active service, and may be regarded as a particular application of the general concepts and practices of project commissioning. The term is most commonly applied to the placing of a warship in active duty with its country's military...
about a mile off Terceira Island in international waters on 24 August 1862: All the men from
Agripinna and
Bahama had been transferred to the quarter deck of
Enrica, where her 24 officers, some of them Southerners, stood in full dress uniform. Captain Raphael Semmes mounted a gun-carriage and read his commission from President
Jefferson DavisJefferson Finis Davis , also known as Jeff Davis, was an American statesman and leader of the Confederacy during the American Civil War, serving as President for its entire history. He was born in Kentucky to Samuel and Jane Davis...
, authorizing him to take command of the new cruiser. Upon completion of the reading, musicians that assembled from among the three ships' crews began to play the tune "Dixie" just as the quartermaster finished hauling down
Enricas British colors. A signal cannon boomed and the stops to the halliards at the peaks of the mizzen gaf and mainmast were broken and the ship's new battle ensign and commissioning pennant floated free on the breeze. With that the cruiser became Confederate States Steamer
Alabama.
Captain Semmes then made a speech about the Southern cause to the assembled seamen, asking them to sign on for a voyage of unknown length and destiny. Semmes had only his 24 officers and no crew to man his new command. When this did not succeed, Semmes changed his tack. It should be noted here that engraved in the bronze of the great double ship's wheel was
Alabamas motto: "Aide-toi et Dieu t'aidera" (
God helps those who help themselvesThe phrase "God helps those who help themselves" is a popular motto that emphasizes the importance of self-initiative.The phrase originated in ancient Greece, occurring in approximately equivalent form as the moral to one of Aesop's Fables, Hercules and the Waggoner, and later in the great tragedy...
). Semmes then offered signing money and double wages, paid in gold, and additional prize money to be paid by the Confederate congress for all destroyed Union ships. When the men began to shout "Hear! Hear!" Semmes knew he had closed the deal: 83 seamen, many of them British, signed on for service in the Confederate Navy. Confederate agent Bulloch and the remaining seamen then returned to their respective ships for their return voyage to England. Semmes still needed another 20 or so men for a full crew complement, but enough had signed on to at least handle the new commerce raider. The rest would be recruited from among captured crews of raided ships or from friendly ports-of-call. Of the original 83 crewmen that signed on that day, many completed the full voyage.
Under Captain Semmes, Alabama spent her first two months in the Eastern Atlantic, ranging southwest of the Azores and then redoubling east, capturing and burning northern merchant ships. After a difficult crossing, she then continued her path of destruction and devastation in the greater New England region. She then sailed south, arriving in the West Indies where she raised more havoc before finally cruising west into the Gulf of Mexico. There, in January 1863, Alabama
had her first military engagement. She came upon and quickly sankThe Action off Galveston Light was a short naval battle fought during the American Civil War in January 1863. Confederate raider CSS Alabama encountered and sank the United States Navy steamer USS Hatteras off Galveston Lighthouse in Texas....
the Union side-wheeler USS Hatteras
The first USS Hatteras was a heavy 1,126-ton steamer purchased by the Union Navy at the beginning of the American Civil War. She was outfitted as a gunboat and assigned to the Union blockade of the ports and waterways of the Confederate States of America...
just off the TexasTexas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
coast, near Galveston, capturing that warship's crew. She then continued further south, eventually crossing the equator, where she took the most prizes of her raiding career while cruising off the coast of Brazil. After a second Atlantic crossing, Alabama sailed down the southwestern African coast where she continued her war against northern commerce. After stopping in
Saldanha BaySaldanha Bay is a natural harbour on the south-western coast of South Africa, north west of Cape Town. The town that developed on the northern shore of the bay, also called Saldanha, was incorporated with five other towns into the Saldanha Bay Local Municipality in 2000. The current population of...
on 29 July 1863 in order to verify that no enemy ships were in
Table BayTable Bay is a natural bay on the Atlantic Ocean overlooked by Cape Town and is at the northern end of the Cape Peninsula, which stretches south to the Cape of Good Hope. It was named because it is dominated by the flat-topped Table Mountain.Bartolomeu Dias was the first European to explore this...
, she finally made a much-needed refitting and reprovisioning visit to
Cape TownCape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...
, South Africa. She then sailed for the
East IndiesEast Indies is a term used by Europeans from the 16th century onwards to identify what is now known as Indian subcontinent or South Asia, Southeastern Asia, and the islands of Oceania, including the Malay Archipelago and the Philippines...
, where she spent six months destroying seven more ships before finally redoubling the
Cape of Good HopeThe Cape of Good Hope is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula, South Africa.There is a misconception that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Africa, because it was once believed to be the dividing point between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. In fact, the...
en route to France. Union warships hunted frequently for the elusive and by now famous Confederate raider, but the few times Alabama
was spotted, she quickly outwitted her pursuers and vanished beyond the horizon.
All together, she burned 65 Union vessels of various types, most of them merchant ships. During all of Alabama
s raiding ventures, captured ships' crews and passengers were never harmed, only detained until they could be placed aboard a neutral ship or placed ashore in a friendly or neutral port.
Expeditionary raids of the CSS
Alabama
All together, Alabama conducted a total of seven
expeditionaryExpeditionary warfare is used to describe the organization of a state's military to fight abroad, especially when deployed to fight away from its established bases at home or abroad. Expeditionary forces were in part the antecedent of the modern concept of Rapid Deployment Forces...
raids, spanning the globe, before heading back to France for refit and repairs and a date with destiny:
- The CSS Alabama's Eastern Atlantic Expeditionary Raid
The CSS Alabamas Eastern Atlantic Expeditionary Raid commenced shortly after the ship left Liverpool and was commissioned as the CSS Alabama, a Confederate commerce raider, lasting from August 24, 1862 to about September 30, 1862...
(August–September, 1862) commenced immediately after she was commissioned. She immediately set sail for the shipping lanes southwest and then east of the Azores, where she captured and burned ten prizes, mostly whalers.
- The CSS Alabama's New England Expeditionary Raid
The CSS Alabama's New England Expeditionary Raid commenced shortly after the CSS Alabama left the Azores and cruised west toward the northeastern seaboard of Newfoundland and New England along the North American coastline...
(October–November, 1862) began after Captain Semmes and his crew departed for the northeastern seaboard of North America, along Newfoundland and New England, where she ranged as far south as BermudaBermuda is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, its nearest landmass is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. It is about south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and northeast of Miami, Florida...
and the coast of VirginiaThe Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
, burning ten prizes while capturing and releasing three others.
- The CSS Alabama's Gulf of Mexico Expeditionary Raid
The CSS Alabama's Gulf of Mexico Expeditionary Raid commenced shortly after the Alabama left Bermuda and the Atlantic coast and cruised south toward the island of Dominica in the Caribbean Sea near the Gulf of Mexico...
(December, 1862 – January, 1863) was centered around a needed rendezvous with her supply vessel, CSS Agrippina. After that, she rendered aid to Texas during Major General Banks' invasion near Galveston, Texas. There, she quickly sank the Union side-wheeler USS HatterasThe first USS Hatteras was a heavy 1,126-ton steamer purchased by the Union Navy at the beginning of the American Civil War. She was outfitted as a gunboat and assigned to the Union blockade of the ports and waterways of the Confederate States of America...
.
- The CSS Alabama's South Atlantic Expeditionary Raid
The CSS Alabama's South Atlantic Expeditionary Raid commenced shortly after the CSS Alabama left Haiti and the Caribbean Sea and cruised south toward Brazil in the south Atlantic Ocean...
(February–July, 1863) was her most successful raiding venture, taking 29 prizes while raiding off the coast of Brazil. Here she recommissioned the bark Conrad as the CSS TuscaloosaThe CSS Tuscaloosa was a ship captured by the Confederate States Navy, during the American Civil War, and was originally known as the American bark Conrad. While en route from Buenos Aires to New York with a cargo of wool and goat skins, she was captured by the CSS Alabama on June 20, 1863 during...
.
- The CSS Alabama's South African Expeditionary Raid
The CSS Alabama's South African Expeditionary Raid commenced shortly after the CSS Alabama left Brazil and the south Atlantic Ocean and cruised under Africa near the Cape of Good Hope...
(August–September, 1863) occurred primarily while ranging off the coast of South Africa, as she worked together with the CSS Tuscaloosa.
- The CSS Alabama's Indian Ocean Expeditionary Raid
The CSS Alabama's Indian Ocean Expeditionary Raid commenced shortly after the CSS Alabama left the Cape of Good Hope and cruised across the Indian Ocean ultimately exiting via the Sunda Strait into the Java Sea from where she proceeded through the Karimata Strait past the west coast of Borneo...
(September–November, 1863) was composed of a long trek across the Indian Ocean. The few prizes she gathered were in the East Indies.
- The CSS Alabama's South Pacific Expeditionary Raid
The CSS Alabama's South Pacific Expeditionary Raid commenced shortly after the CSS Alabama left the Karimata Strait between Borneo and Sumatra heading east into the south Pacific Ocean on the most easterly extent of her voyages...
(December, 1863) was her final raiding venture. She took a few prizes in the Strait of MalaccaThe Strait of Malacca is a narrow, stretch of water between the Malay Peninsula and the Indonesian island of Sumatra. It is named after the Malacca Sultanate that ruled over the archipelago between 1414 to 1511.-Extent:...
before finally turning back toward France for a much needed refit and long overdue repairs.
Upon the completion of her seven expeditionary raids, Alabama had been at sea for 534 days out of 657, never visiting a single Confederate port. She boarded nearly 450 vessels, captured or burned 65
UnionDuring the American Civil War, the Union was a name used to refer to the federal government of the United States, which was supported by the twenty free states and five border slave states. It was opposed by 11 southern slave states that had declared a secession to join together to form the...
merchant ships, and took more than 2,000 prisoners without a single loss of life from either prisoners or her own crew.
Final Cruise
On 11 June 1864, Alabama
arrived in port at Cherbourg, France. Captain Semmes soon requested permission to dry dock and overhaul his ship, much needed after so long a time at sea and so many naval actions. Pursuing the raider, the American sloop-of-warIn the 18th and most of the 19th centuries, a sloop-of-war was a warship with a single gun deck that carried up to eighteen guns. As the rating system covered all vessels with 20 guns and above, this meant that the term sloop-of-war actually encompassed all the unrated combat vessels including the...
, USS Kearsarge
USS Kearsarge, a Mohican-class sloop-of-war, is best known for her defeat of the Confederate commerce raider CSS Alabama during the American Civil War. The Kearsarge was the only ship of the United States Navy named for Mount Kearsarge in New Hampshire...
, under the command of Captain John Ancrum WinslowRear Admiral John Ancrum Winslow was an officer in the United States Navy during the Mexican-American War and the American Civil War...
, arrived three days later and took up station just outside the harbor. While at his previous port-of-call, Winslow had telegraphed Gibraltar to send the old man-o-war USS St. Louis
USS St. Louis was a sloop in the United States Navy through most of the 19th century.St. Louis was laid down on 12 February 1827 at the Washington Navy Yard; launched on 18 August 1828; and commissioned on 20 December 1828, Master Commandant John D. Sloat in command.On the day of her commissioning,...
with provisions and to provide blockading assistance. Kearsarge
now had Alabama boxed-in with no place left to run.
Having no desire to see his worn-out ship rot away at a French dock while quarantined by Union warships, and given his instinctive aggressiveness and a long-held desire once again to engage his enemy, Captain Semmes chose to fight. After preparing his ship and drilling the crew for the coming battle during the next several days, Semmes issued, through diplomatic channels, a bold challenge to the Kearsarge's commander,
"my intention is to fight the Kearsarge as soon as I can make the necessary arrangements.
I hope these will not detain me more than until to-morrow or the morrow morning at farthest.
I beg she will not depart until I am ready to go out. I have the honor to be
Your obedient servant,
R. Semmes,
Captain."
On 19 June, Alabama
sailed out to meet the Union cruiser. As Kearsarge
turned to meet her opponent, Alabama
opened fire. Kearsarge
waited patiently until the range had closed to less than 1,000 yards (900 m). According to survivors, the two ships steamed on opposite courses in seven spiraling circles, moving southwesterly with the 3-knot current, each commander trying to cross the bow of his opponent to deliver a heavy raking fire. The battle quickly turned against Alabama
due to the superior gunnery displayed by Kearsarge
and the deteriorated state of Alabama
s contaminated powder and fuses. Her most important shot, fired from the forward 7-inch (178 mm) Blakely pivot rifle, hit very near Kearsarge
s vulnerable stern post, the impact binding the ship's rudder badly. That rifled shell, however, failed to explode. If it had done so, it would have seriously disabled Kearsarge
s steering, possibly sinking the warship, and ending the contest. In addition, Alabama
s too rapid rate-of-fire resulted in frequent poor gunnery, with many of her shots going too high, thus sealing the fate of the Confederate raider. As a result, Kearsarge
benefited little that day from the protection of her outboard chain armor, whose presence Semmes later said was unknown to him at the time of his decision to issue the challenge to fight. In fact, in the years that followed, Semmes steadfastly claimed he would have never fought Kearsarge
if he had known she was armor-clad.
This hull armor had been installed in just three days, more than a year before, while Kearsarge was in port at the Azores. It was made using 120 fathoms (720 feet) of 1.7 inches (43.2 mm) single link iron chain and covered hull spaces 49 feet (14.9 m), six-inches (152 mm) long by 6-feet, 2-inches deep. It was stopped up and down to eye-bolts with marlines and secured by iron dogs. It was concealed behind 1-inch deal-boards painted black to match the upper hull's color. This chaincladding was placed along Kearsarge
s port and starboard midsection down to the waterline, for additional protection of her engines and boilers when the upper portion of her coal bunkers were empty. This armor belt was hit twice during the fight: First in the starboard gangway by one of Alabama
s 32-pounder shells that cut the chain armor, denting the hull planking underneath, then again by a second 32-pounder shell that exploded and broke a link of the chain armor, tearing away a portion of the deal-board covering. If those rounds had come from Alabama
s more powerful 100-pounder Blakely pivot rifle, the likely result would not have been too serious, as both struck the chain armor a little more than five feet above the waterline. Even if both shots had penetrated Kearsarge
s side, they would have completely missed her vital machinery.
A little more than an hour after the first shot was fired, Alabama
was reduced to a sinking wreck by Kearsarge
s powerful 11 inches (279.4 mm) Dahlgrens, forcing Captain Semmes to strike his colorsStriking the colors is the universally recognized indication of surrender, particularly for ships at sea. Surrender is dated from the time the ensign is struck.-In international law:# "Colors. A national flag . The colors . ....
and to send one of his two surviving boats to Kearsarge
to ask for assistance.
According to witnesses, Alabama
fired 370 rounds at her adversary, averaging one round per minute per gun, while Kearsarge
s gun crews fired less than half that many, taking more careful aim. During the confusion of battle, five more rounds were fired at Alabama
after her colors were struck. (Her gun ports had been left open and the broadside cannon were still run out, appearing to come to bear on Kearsarge
.) Then a hand-held white flag came fluttering from Alabama
s stern spanker boom, finally halting the engagement. Prior to this, she had her steering gear compromised by shell hits, but the fatal shot came later when one of Kearsarge
s 11 inches (279.4 mm) shells tore open a mid-section of Alabama
s starboard waterline. Water quickly rushed through the defeated cruiser, eventually drowning her boilers and forcing her down by the stern to the bottom. As Alabama sank, the injured Semmes threw his sword into the sea, depriving Kearsage's commander Captain John Ancrum Winslow of the traditional surrender ceremony of having it handed over to him as victor. Kearsarge
rescued the majority of the survivors, but 41 of Alabama
s officers and crew, including Semmes, were rescued by the Deerhound
, a private yacht, while the Kearsarge
stood off to recover her rescue boats while waiting for Alabama
to sink. Captain Winslow was forced to stand by helplessly and watch Deerhound
spirit away to England his much sought after adversary, Captain Semmes and his surviving shipmates.
The battle between the Alabama
and Kearsarge
is honored by the United States NavyThe United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
with a battle star on the Civil War campaign streamerCampaign streamers are decorations attached to military flags to recognize particular achievements or events of a military unit or service. Attached to the headpiece of the assigned flag, the streamer often is an inscribed ribbon with the name and date denoting participation in a particular battle,...
.
CSS
Alabamas officers and crew
| Officers and Crew |
| Officer |
Post |
List of Officers Of The Confederate States Steamer Alabama
As They Signed Themselves. |
| Raphael Semmes |
Commander |
| John Mclntosh Kell |
First Lieutenant And Executive Officer |
| Richard F. Armstrong |
Second Lieutenant |
| Joseph D. Wilson |
Third Lieutenant |
| John Low |
Fourth Lieutenant |
| Arthur Sinclair |
Fifth Lieutenant |
| Francis L. Galt |
Surgeon And Acting Paymaster |
| Miles J. Freeman |
Chief-Engineer |
| Wm. P. Brooks |
Assistant- Engineer |
| Mathew O Brien |
Assistant-Engineer |
| Simeon W. Cummings |
Assistant-Engineer |
| John M. Pundt |
Assistant-Engineer |
| Wm. Robertson |
Assistant-Engineer |
| Becket K. Howell |
Lieutenant Marines |
| Irvine S. Bulloch Irvine Stephens Bulloch was an officer in the Confederate Navy and the youngest officer on the famed warship CSS Alabama. He fired its last shot before it was sunk off the coast of France at the end of the American Civil War. He was the half-brother of James Bulloch and a full brother of Martha...
|
Sailing-Master |
| D. Herbert Llewellyn |
Assistant-Surgeon |
| Wm. H. Sinclair |
Midshipman |
| E. Anderson Maffitt |
Midshipman |
| E. Maffitt Anderson |
Midshipman |
| Benjamin P. Mecaskey |
Boatswain |
| Henry Alcott |
Sailmaker |
| Thomas C. Cuddy |
Gunner |
| Wm. Robinson |
Carpenter |
| Jas. Evans |
Master’s Mate |
| Geo. T. Fullam |
Master’s Mate |
| Julius Schroeder |
Master’s Mate |
| Baron Max. Von Meulnier |
Master’s Mate |
| W. Breedlove Smith |
Captain S Secretary |
- Died in Saldanha Bay
Saldanha Bay is a natural harbour on the south-western coast of South Africa, north west of Cape Town. The town that developed on the northern shore of the bay, also called Saldanha, was incorporated with five other towns into the Saldanha Bay Local Municipality in 2000. The current population of...
from accidental gunshot on 3 August 1863.
Medal and honor awarded for valor
Perhaps the most courageous and selfless act during the
Alabama's last moments involved the ship's assistant surgeon, Dr. David Herbert Llewellyn. Dr. Llewellyn, a Briton, was much loved and respected by the entire crew. During the battle, he steadfastly remained at his post in the wardroom tending the wounded until the order to abandon ship was finally given. As he helped wounded men into the
Alabama's only two functional lifeboats, an able bodied sailor attempted to enter one, which was already full. Llewellyn, understanding that the man risked capsizing the craft, grabbed and pulled him back, saying "See, I want to save my life as much as you do; but let the wounded men be saved first." An officer in the boat, seeing that Llewellyn was about to be left aboard the stricken
Alabama, shouted "Doctor, we can make room for you." Llewellyn shook his head and replied, "I will not peril the wounded." Unknown to the crew, Llewellyn had never learned to swim, and he drowned when the ship went down.
His sacrifice did not go unrecognized. The Confederacy awarded him posthumously the
Southern Cross of HonorThe Southern Cross of Honor is the name of two separate and distinct military honors presented to Confederate military personnel and veterans. The original wartime medal, aka Confederate Medal of Honor, was a military decoration meant to honor officers, noncommissioned officers, and privates for...
. In his native
WiltshireWiltshire is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. It contains the unitary authority of Swindon and covers...
, a memorial window and tablet were placed at
Easton RoyalEaston Royal is a village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England.The United Kingdom Census 2001 recorded a parish population of 283.-Local government:Easton Royal is a civil parish with an elected parish council...
Church. Another tablet was placed in
Charing Cross HospitalCharing Cross Hospital is a general, acute hospital located in London, United Kingdom and established in 1818. It is located several miles to the west of the city centre in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham....
, where he attended medical school.
Repercussions
During her two-year career as a
commerce raiderCommerce raiding or guerre de course is a form of naval warfare used to destroy or disrupt the logistics of an enemy on the open sea by attacking its merchant shipping, rather than engaging the combatants themselves or enforcing a blockade against them.Commerce raiding was heavily criticised by...
,
Alabama caused disorder and devastation across the globe for Union merchant shipping. The Confederate cruiser claimed 65 prizes valued at nearly $6,000,000 (approximately $123,000,000 in today's dollars). In an important development in international law, the U. S. Government pursued the "
Alabama ClaimsThe Alabama Claims were a series of claims for damages by the United States government against the government of Great Britain for the assistance given to the Confederate cause during the American Civil War. After international arbitration endorsed the American position in 1872, Britain settled...
" against the British Government for the devastation caused, and following a court of arbitration, won heavy damages.
Ironically, a decade before the beginning of the Civil War, Captain Semmes had observed:
"(Commerce raiders) are little better than licensed pirates; and it behooves all civilized nations [...] to suppress the practice altogether." --Raphael Semmes, 1851
The wreck
In November 1984, the
French NavyThe French Navy, officially the Marine nationale and often called La Royale is the maritime arm of the French military. It includes a full range of fighting vessels, from patrol boats to a nuclear powered aircraft carrier and 10 nuclear-powered submarines, four of which are capable of launching...
mine hunter
Circé discovered a wreck under nearly 60 m (200 ft) of water off Cherbourg at 49°45′9"N 1°41′42"W. Captain Max Guerout later confirmed the wreck to be the
Alabamas remains.
In 1988, a non-profit organization the Association CSS Alabama was founded to conduct scientific exploration of the shipwreck. Although the wreck resides within French
territorial watersTerritorial waters, or a territorial sea, as defined by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, is a belt of coastal waters extending at most from the baseline of a coastal state...
, the U. S. government, as the successor to the former
Confederate States of AmericaThe Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...
, is the owner. On October 3, 1989, the United States and France signed an agreement recognizing this wreck as an important heritage resource of both nations and establishing a Joint French-American Scientific Committee for archaeological exploration. This agreement established a precedent for international cooperation in archaeological research and in the protection of a unique historic shipwreck. This agreement will be in effect for five years and is renewable by mutual consent.
The Association CSS Alabama
and the U.S. NavyThe United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
/Naval Historical CenterThe Naval History & Heritage Command is the official history program of the United States Navy and is located at the historic Washington Navy Yard in the District of Columbia.-Mission :...
signed on March 23, 1995 an official agreement accrediting Association CSS Alabama
as operator of the archaeological investigation of the remains of the ship. Association CSS Alabama
, which is funded solely from private donations, is continuing to make this an international project through its fund raising in France and in the United States, thanks to its sister organization, the CSS Alabama Association, incorporated in the State of
DelawareDelaware is a U.S. state located on the Atlantic Coast in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It is bordered to the south and west by Maryland, and to the north by Pennsylvania...
.
In 2002, a diving expedition raised the ship's bell along with more than 300 other artifacts, including cannons, structural samples, tableware, ornate commodes, and numerous other items that reveal much about life aboard the Confederate warship. Many of the artifacts are now housed in the
Underwater Archaeology Branch, Naval History & Heritage CommandThe Underwater Archaeology Branch of the Naval History & Heritage Command is a unit of the United States Department of the Navy. It was formally founded in 1996 as a consequence of the emerging need to manage, study, conserve, and curate the U.S...
conservation lab.
"Roll Alabama, roll!"
The Alabama
is the subject of a sea shantyA shanty is a type of work song that was once commonly sung to accompany labor on board large merchant sailing vessels. Shanties became ubiquitous in the 19th century era of the wind-driven packet and clipper ships...
, '"Roll Alabama, roll'":
- When the Alabama's Keel was Laid, (Roll Alabama, roll!), 'Twas laid in the yard of Jonathan Laird (Roll, roll Alabama, roll!)
'Twas Laid in the yard of Jonathan Laird, 'twas laid in the town of Birkenhead.
Down the MerseyMersey may refer to:* River Mersey, in northwest England* Mersea Island, off the coast of Essex in England * Mersey River in the Australian state* Electoral division of Mersey in the state of Tasmania, Australian...
way she rolled then, and Liverpool fitted her with guns and men.
From the western isle she sailed forth, to destroy the commerce of the north.
To Cherbourg port she sailed one day, for to take her count of prize money.
Many a sailor laddie saw his doom, when the KearsargeUSS Kearsarge, a Mohican-class sloop-of-war, is best known for her defeat of the Confederate commerce raider CSS Alabama during the American Civil War. The Kearsarge was the only ship of the United States Navy named for Mount Kearsarge in New Hampshire...
it hove in view.
When a ball from the forward pivot that day, shot the Alabama's stern away.
Off the three-mile limitThe three-mile limit refers to a traditional and now largely obsolete conception of the international law of the seas which defined a country's territorial waters, for the purposes of trade regulation and exclusivity, as extending as far as the reach of cannons fired from land.In Mare clausum John...
in '64, the Alabama was seen no more.
"Daar kom die Alibama"
The Alabama's visit to Cape Town in 1863 has passed (with a slight spelling change) into South African folklore in the Afrikaans song, '"Daar Kom die Alibama'":
- There comes the Alabama,
- The Alabama, it comes o'er the sea,
- There comes the Alabama,
- The Alabama, it comes o'er the sea...
- Lass, lass, the reed bed calls,
- The reed bed it is made,
- The reed bed it is made for me,
- To sleep upon...
- Oh Alabama, the Alabama,
- Oh Alabama, it comes o'er the sea,
- Oh Alabama, the Alabama,
- Oh Alabama, it comes o'er the sea...
CSS Alabamas battle ensigns & other naval flags
The practice of using primary and secondary naval flags after the British tradition was common practice for the Confederacy, linked as she was by both heritage and economy to the British Isles. The fledgling Confederate Navy therefore adopted and used jacks, commissioning pennants, battle ensigns, small boat ensigns, designating flags, and signal flags aboard its warships during the Civil War.
Jacks and commissioning pennants
Alabamas original 7-star naval jack (first illustration, above) would have flown atop her foremast while she was in port, well forward of her battle ensign. At some point, it would have displayed the same asymmetrical, 8-star configuration as seen on one of her three still surviving battle ensigns (see "Surviving stars and bars" section below). A medium-blue color, early Confederate jacks duplicated the star arrangements seen on their ensigns' cantons. They were rectangular in shape, rather than square, because the Confederate Navy emulated the overall designs being used by their U. S. Navy counterparts. There is surviving evidence, the captured 7-star jack of the ironclad CSS
Atlanta, which strongly suggests all early Confederate naval jacks were actually a dark blue,
matching the color of their battle ensigns' cantons. Whatever its blue color, later versions of
Alabamas pre-1863 jack could have contained, like her ensign, 9, 11, 13, and up to 15 white, 5-pointed stars.
Alabamas naval jack design changed (second and third illustrations, above) when the Confederacy adopted the
Stainless Banner Second National Flag (see that section, below). While her specific jack's dimensions are unknown, the Confederate naval regulations adopted on 26/28 May 1863 required that all new jacks be a larger version of the battle ensign's new 13-star canton, the red, blue, and white
Southern Cross. Instead of being square, all jacks were required to be rectangular in shape, their width being one-and-a-half times their height, a ratio of 2:3. Their white-bordered diagonal saltires were a medium blue color rather than the dark blue seen on the
Stainless Banner. However, virtually all surviving Confederate jacks show their proportions and specific details varied, despite the Confederate Navy regulation's precise requirements. Differences among both state and regional contractors' manufacturing methods and frequent materials shortages as the war progressed, likely account for the variations seen. Following the Civil War and up through today, the rectangular
Southern Cross naval jack became the Confederate flag design most commonly associated with the post-war South, and racial controversy.
Both of
Alabamas pre-1863 commissioning pennants would have closely followed the pennant designs used by the U. S. Navy. They would have been long and narrow and one of five approved sizes, being anywhere from 25 feet (7.6 m) to 70 feet (21.3 m) in their overall lengths, and would have flown atop her main mast. Their medium or possibly dark blue cantons (hoists) would have been one-quarter of their overall flys (widths). Each could have carried from 7 to 15 white, 5-pointed stars, as the number of states in the Confederacy grew: 7 to 15 on
Alabamas daylight pennant but only 7 on her much smaller after-sunset pennant. Their star patterns could have been staggered either up and down or laid out in a single, horizonital row across their blue cantons (accounts vary). The remaining three-quarters of these very long, narrow streamers would have been divided equally with two stripes, red-over-white (some accounts say white-over-red), with both stripes termanating in twin-forked points. A slightly modified third pennant variant with
three long, horizontal red-over-white-over-red stripes, also terminating in twin-forked points, was in use before 1863 by the Confederate Navy.
The stars and bars
On 4 March 1861, the committee of the first Provisional Congress of the Confederate States of America established the general requirements for the First National Flag of the Confederacy. Many designs were submitted by the public, but the new flag's approved design came from
Marion, AlabamaMarion is the county seat of Perry County, Alabama. As of the 2000 census, the population of the city is 3,511. First called Muckle Ridge, the city was renamed after a hero of the American Revolution, Francis Marion.-Geography:...
, Prussian artist
Nicola MarschallNicola Marschall was a German-American artist who supported the Confederate cause during the American Civil War. He designed the original Confederate flag, the Stars and Bars, as well as the official grey uniform of the Confederate army....
, who had married into a
Montgomery, AlabamaMontgomery is the capital of the U.S. state of Alabama, and is the county seat of Montgomery County. It is located on the Alabama River southeast of the center of the state, in the Gulf Coastal Plain. As of the 2010 census, Montgomery had a population of 205,764 making it the second-largest city...
family. The new Confederate flag and naval ensign was loosely adapted from his homeland's Austrian flag (with a dark blue canton added), quickly becoming known in the South as the
Stars and Bars. Its hoist-to-fly (width-to-height) was later established by the committee with a ratio of 2:3. The flag's dark blue canton was to be in a 1:1 (square) ratio and contain seven white, 5-pointed stars arranged in a circular layout. The flag's three horizontal stripes were to be red over white over red and be of equal height. The newly adopted
Star and Bars made its first public appearance outside the Ben Johnson House in
Bardstown, KentuckyAs of the census of 2010, there were 11,700 people, 4,712 households, and 2,949 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 5,113 housing units at an average density of...
. It was then raised over the dome of the first Confederate capitol in Montgomery, Alabama and aboard all Condederate Navy ships, where it flew until 26 May 1863, when it was replaced with a new Second National Flag design.
During
Alabama 's long commerce raiding cruises, several revised versions of her
Stars and Bars could have flown aboard when the news of additional stars being added eventually reached the ship. Their dark blue cantons could have contained at various times 9, 11, 13 (as pictured, right) and up to 15 white stars.
In addition to her own,
Alabama is known to have carried both British Union Jack and U. S.
Stars and StripesThe national flag of the United States of America consists of thirteen equal horizontal stripes of red alternating with white, with a blue rectangle in the canton bearing fifty small, white, five-pointed stars arranged in nine offset horizontal rows of six stars alternating with rows...
ensigns in her flags locker. Both were flown at various times, along with the ensigns of other nations, to conceal
Alabamas true nationality as she overtook ships, looking for the North's commercial shipping.
Alabamas surviving stars and bars
At the beginning of
Alabamas raiding ventures, the newly commissioned cruiser may have been forced, out of necessity, to fly the only battle ensign available to Captain Semmes: an early 1861, 7-star First National Flag, possibly the same battle ensign flown aboard his previous command, the smaller commerce raider CSS
Sumter. Between 21 May and 28 November 1861, six more Southern states seceded and joined the Confederacy. Well before
Alabama was launched as
Enrica at Birkenhead, Merseyside in North West England, six more white, 5-pointed stars had been added to the
Stars and Bars far away across the Atlantic on the Confederate mainland.
One such early
Stars and Bars battle ensign was salvaged from
Alabamas floating debris, following her sinking by the
Kearsarge. It still survives and is held by the
Alabama Department of Archives and HistoryThe Alabama Department of Archives and History is the official repository of archival records for the U.S. state of Alabama. It was created by an act of the Alabama Legislature on February 27, 1901 with a primary mission of collecting and preserving artifacts relating to the history of the state...
. It is listed there as "Auxiliary Flag of the C.S.S. Alabama, Catalogue No. 86.3766.1." According to their provenence reconstruction, DeCost Smith, an American from New England, discovered this
Stars and Bars ensign in a Paris upholstery shop in 1884, where he purchased it for 15 francs. Smith's nephew, Clement Sawtell of Lincoln Square, Massachusetts, later inherited the ensign from his uncle. At the suggestion of retired Rear Admiral Beverly M. Coleman, Sawtell donated it to the State of Alabama on 3 June 1975.
This battle ensign's overall dimensions are different from the Confederate regulations' required 2:3 ratio. It is 64-inches high (hoist) by 112-inches long (fly), a proportion of 5:9, and its dark blue canton contains
eight white stars, 8-inches (203 mm) high, in an unusual arrangement: The stars are not organized in a circle but configured in three, centered, horizontal rows of two, then three, and finally two. The additional 8th star is tucked into the lower left corner (and in the lower right corner on the opposite side), giving the canton's layout a unique, asymmetrical appearance. It seems plausible this was
Alabamas original 7-star battle ensign, possibly flown aboard CSS
Sumter as noted earlier, and later altered at some point when the long-delayed news of an 8th state joining the Confederacy finally reached the far distant cruiser.
Two
Star and Bars battle ensigns, labeled as having belonged to
Alabama, also still exist. The first is a framed,
14-star ensign located at the museum of Fort Monroe in Virginia. (A small number of these unusual 14-star national flags have survived to today and are held in several Civil War archives.) From the single, side-angled color photo available on the Internet, it appears to have an approximate hoist-to-fly aspect ratio of 1:2. A second
Stars and Bars battle ensign is on display at the
PensacolaPensacola is a city in the western part of the U.S. state of Florida.Pensacola may also refer to:* Pensacola people, a group of Native Americans* A number of places in the Florida:** Pensacola Bay** Pensacola Regional Airport...
Historical Museum. It's canton contains a circle of 12 stars surrounding a 13th at its center. While the provenance and specific details of these two
Alabama ensigns are currently unavailable, such information will be added to this section when available.
The stainless banner
By late 1863, a new battle ensign, the Second National Flag of the Confederacy, also known as the
Stainless Banner, was flying aboard
Alabama. The specifications for this new ensign, established on 1 May 1863 by the Confederate Congress, gave it a hoist-to-fly proportion of 1:2, the white area being twice as wide as the height. A short time later, however, the Confederate Navy Department revised these regulations, changing the Navy's battle ensign proportions to a 2:3 ratio. Its square canton was the established thirteen-star red, blue, and white
Southern Cross, already in-use by the Southern army as the
Confederate Battle Flag. This design was originally proposed in 1861 by South Carolina Congressman William Porcher Miles to be used as the original First National Flag, but it was supposedly rejected as appearing too much like a pair of crossed pants' suspenders.
Whatever its proportion, the white expanse of the
Stainless Banner proved to have poor visibility at a distance, especially when viewed through the haze sometimes seen over water and or in contrast against soft gray skies. Both types of
Stainless Banner ensigns ultimately wound of being used aboard Confederate ships, their proportions and specific details varying a bit from both ship-to-ship and state-to-state.
Accounts state that the
Stainless Banner Second National Flag was flying high on a line attached to
Alabamas mizzen gaff until just before her sinking off Cherbourg, France, in 1864. At the close of her losing fight with the
Kearsarge,
Alabamas battle ensign was ordered struck for the last time. What happened to it following the battle is unknown. All other colors in her flags' locker, both old and new, foreign and Confederate, except for the ones noted, were lost with her destruction by the
Kearsarge.
It is unknown which versions of all the above flags were flown at specific intervals during
Alabamas seven raiding campaigns. Captain Semmes, while visiting friendly or neutral foreign ports-of-call, may have simply commissioned multiple new battle ensigns, naval jacks, and pennants, as needed, while refitting and reprovisioning his ship. Or he may have ordered them altered or new ones made aboard when captured newspaper articles or official dispatches containing the changes finally caught up to
Alabama.
Alabamas surviving stainless banners
Four of
Alabamas later-style ensigns have survived to the modern era. The first is a large, 67-inch x 114-inch (170-cm x 290-cm) battle ensign that is located in South Africa at the Cape Town Museum of History. Its
Southern Cross canton is oversize and rectangular, instead of square, in roughly a 1:2 aspect ratio. It is also made without the usual white stripe outlines found around the diagonal saltires' blue bars. The central white star, located where the two blue saltires' cross, is also larger than the other twelve. This ensign is believed to have been made aboard by her British crew between
Alabamas two visits to Cape Town. For reasons unknown, this
Stainless Banner was left ashore with a ship's chandler just before
Alabama made her fateful return voyage to Cherbourg, France.
A second
Stainless Banner ensign of South African origin was made in and then presented to
Alabama on one of her two port visits to Cape Town. It resides in the Tennessee State Museum according to their website. No further information on this ensign or how it survived is available at this time. Those details will be added here as they become available.
The third surviving
Stainless Banner is one of
Alabamas original small boat ensigns. This official-looking 25.5-inch x 41-inch ensign is marked in brown pigment on its hoist: "Alabama. 290. C.S.N. 1st Cutter." In 2007, it was offered for auction through Philip Weiss Auctions. This ensign was being sold by the grandson of its second owner, who had originally purchased it from the granddaughter of a USS
Kearsarge sailor. Multiple photos of both sides of this ensign are still available at Weiss' liveauctioneers.com website.
A fourth surviving ensign appears, from various clues seen in photos, to be approximately 36-inches x 54-inches. Because
Alabama was forced to replace several of her original small boats lost at different times during her lengthy cruise, this is likely a somewhat larger replacement boat ensign. While it could have been made aboard, its somewhat more accurate details suggest it might have been commissioned ashore during a port-of-call visit. This ensign was rescued from the sinking
Alabama by W. P. Brooks, the cruiser's assistant-engineer. It was last flown, along with other historic flags, during a ceremony held on the parade ground at Fort Pulaski, GA, sometime during 1937. This ensign has since been mounted and framed and today continues to reside with the Brooks family. Four photos of it can be found at the website for the "Alabama Crew," a British-based naval reinactor group. More detailed information on this Stainless Banner will be added here when it becomes available.
The Alabama Department of Archives and History also has in its collection one more important
Stainless Banner ensign listed as "Admiral Semmes' Flag, Catalogue No. 86.1893.1 (PN10149-10150)." Their provenance reconstruction shows that it was presented to Semmes after the sinking of the
Alabama by "Lady Dehogton and other English ladies." Such presentations of ceremonial colors were uncommon to ship's captains of the Confederate Navy, but a few are known to have received such honors. This Second National Flag is huge and made of pure silk, giving it an elegant appearance. Although this ensign is in a remarkable state of preservation, its very large size and delicate condition has precluded any up-close measurements, so its various details and dimensions are unavailable. When Semmes returned to the Confederacy from England, he brought this ceremonial
Stainless Banner with him. It was inherited by his grandchildren, Raphael Semmes III and Mrs. Eunice Semmes Thorington. After his sister's death, Raphael Semmes III donated the ensign to the state of Alabama on 19 September 1929.
See also
- List of ships of the Confederate States Navy
- James Dunwoody Bulloch
James Dunwody Bulloch was the Confederate States of America's chief foreign agent in Great Britain during the American Civil War. He was the half-brother of a distinguished Confederate naval officer, Irvine Bulloch and of Martha "Mittie" Bulloch Roosevelt. Mittie was the mother of future U.S...
Confederate agent and uncle of Theodore RooseveltTheodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...
who covertly bought the Alabama
- Irvine Bulloch
Irvine Stephens Bulloch was an officer in the Confederate Navy and the youngest officer on the famed warship CSS Alabama. He fired its last shot before it was sunk off the coast of France at the end of the American Civil War. He was the half-brother of James Bulloch and a full brother of Martha...
James' half-brother who was the youngest midshipman and officer on the ship
External links