SEMMES AND HIS OFFICERS.
Captain Raphael Semmes was a typical representative of Southern chivalry.
He was an ardent admirer of the South and a firm believer in her peculiar
"institution." His memoirs, written after the war, breathe secession in
every line. He was born in Charles county, Maryland, Sept. 27, 1809. At
the age of seventeen he received an appointment as midshipman, but did not
enter active service until six years later, meanwhile adding the study of
law to his naval studies. In 1834, at the end of his first cruise, he was
admitted to the bar. In 1837 he was made a lieutenant, and commanded the
United States brig Somers, which assisted in blockading the Mexican coast
during the war with that country. While in chase of another vessel a
terrific gale arose. The Somers was foundered and most of her crew were
drowned. A court martial acquitted Semmes of any fault in this matter, and
in 1855 was promoted to the rank of commander. In February, 1861, he was a
member of the Lighthouse Board, of which body he had been secretary for
several years.
The provisional government of the Confederacy was not yet a fortnight old
when he was summoned to Montgomery. Hastily resigning his Federal
commission, he met Jefferson Davis in that city, and was soon speeding
northward on an important mission. Mr. Davis had not yet fully made up his
cabinet, had not even a private secretary apparently, for Semmes'
instructions were in Davis' own handwriting. The funds for the trip were
borrowed from a private banker. Semmes visited the arsenals at Richmond
and Washington, and the principal workshops in New York, Connecticut and
Massachusetts, in search of information and supplies. In New York he
procured a large quantity of percussion caps, and shipped them to
Montgomery. Thousands of pounds of gunpowder were also shipped southward
by him before any hindrance was placed in the way of such operations.
Semmes entered the Confederate navy with the rank of commander, the same
which he had held in the Federal service. He was promoted to captain about
the time he took command of the Alabama, and near the close of the war was
again promoted to rear admiral. April 18th, 1861, he was ordered to take
command of the steamer Sumter, at New Orleans. More than a month was spent
in converting the innocent packet steamer into a war vessel, and before he
could get to sea the mouths of the Mississippi were blockaded by a Federal
fleet. The propeller of the Sumter could not be raised, and when she was
under sail alone, the propeller dragged through the water, greatly
retarding her speed.
On the 30th of June Semmes succeeded in running the blockade, and within a
week he had captured eight merchant vessels, six of which he took into the
port of Cienfuegos, Cuba. The captain general of Cuba ordered the prizes
to be detained until the subject of their disposition could be referred to
the Spanish government. Ultimately most governments refused to permit war
vessels with prizes of either the United States or the Confederate States
to enter their ports. The vessels which were taken into Cienfuegos were
turned over to their former owners.
As it was impossible to get into a Confederate port with his prizes,
Captain Semmes was forced either to destroy or to release those which he
took. After capturing ten more vessels, most of which were burned, the
boilers of the Sumter gave out, and she was blockaded by Federal cruisers
in the port of Gibraltar. In March, 1862, further efforts to utilize her
as a war vessel were abandoned, and her officers made their way to
England, where many of them were subsequently assigned to positions in the
Alabama. Captain Semmes proceeded to Nassau, where he found a
communication from Stephen R. Mallory, the Confederate secretary of the
navy, directing him to assume command of the Alabama. In reply he wrote a
letter, of which the following is an extract:
Upon my arrival in London I found that the Oreto had been dispatched
some weeks before to this place; and Commander Bulloch having
informed me that he had your order assigning him to the command of
the second ship he was building [the Alabama]. I had no alternative
but to return to the Confederate States for orders. It is due to
Commander Bulloch to say, however, that he offered to place himself
entirely under my instructions, and even to relinquish to me the
command of the new ship; but I did not feel at liberty to interfere
with your orders.
While in London I ascertained that a number of steamers were being
prepared to run the blockade, with arms and other supplies for the
Confederate States, and, instead of dispatching my officers at once
for these states, I left them to take charge of the ships mentioned,
as they should be gotten ready for sea, and run them in to their
several destinations--deeming this the best service they could render
the government, under the circumstances. I came hither myself,
accompanied by my first lieutenant and surgeon--Kell and Gait--a
passenger in the British steamer Melita, whose cargo of arms and
supplies is also destined for the Confederate States. It is fortunate
that I made this arrangement, as many of my officers still remain in
London, and I shall return thither in time to take most of them with
me to the Alabama.
In obedience to your order assigning me to the command of this ship,
I will return by the first conveyance to England, where the joint
efforts of Commander Bulloch and myself will be directed to the
preparation of the ship for sea. I will take with me Lieutenant Kell,
Surgeon Gait and First Lieutenant of Marines Howell--Mr. Howell and
Lieutenant Stribling [Stribling had been second lieutenant of the
Sumter] having reached Nassau a few days before me, in the British
steamer Bahama, laden with arms, clothing and stores for the
Confederacy. At the earnest entreaty of Lieutenant-Commanding Maffit,
I have consented to permit Lieutenant Stribling to remain with him,
as his first lieutenant on board the Oreto (Florida),--the officers
detailed for that vessel not yet having arrived. Mr. Stribling's
place on board the Alabama will be supplied by Midshipman Armstrong,
promoted, whom I will recall from Gibralter, where I left him in
charge of the Sumter. It will, doubtless, be a matter of some
delicacy and tact to get the Alabama safely out of British waters
without suspicion, as Mr. Adams, the Northern envoy, and his numerous
satellites in the shape of consuls and paid agents, are exceedingly
vigilant in their espionage.
We cannot, of course, think of arming her in a British port, this
must be done at some concerted rendezvous, to which her battery, and
a large portion of her crew must be sent in a neutral merchant
vessel. The Alabama will be a fine ship, quite equal to encounter any
of the enemy's steam sloops, of the class of the Iroquois, Tuscarora
and Dakotah, and I shall feel much more independent in her upon the
high seas than I did in the little Sumter.
I think well of your suggestion of the East Indies as a cruising
ground, and I hope to be in the track of the enemy's commerce in
those seas as early as October or November next: when I shall,
doubtless, be able to lay other rich "burnt offerings" upon the altar
of our country's liberties.
John McIntosh Kell, the first lieutenant of the Alabama, had occupied the
same position in the Sumter. He had served twenty years in the United
States navy, had been in the war with Mexico, and had seen a great deal of
active service. The second lieutenant, R. F. Armstrong, and the third
lieutenant, Joseph D. Wilson, also came from the Sumter, and were fresh
from the instructions of the United States naval academy at Annapolis. The
fourth lieutenant was John Low, an Englishman, and a master of seamanship.
The fifth lieutenant, Arthur Sinclair, came of a family which had
furnished two captains to the United States navy. The acting master, I. D.
Bulloch, was a younger brother of Commander Bulloch. Dr. E. L. Gait, from
the Sumter, and the ill-fated Dr. D. H. Llewelyn, of Wiltshire, England,
occupied the positions of surgeon and assistant surgeon respectively.
Lieutenant of Marines B. K. Howell was a brother-in-law of Jefferson
Davis, and Midshipman E. A. Maffit was a son of the commander of the
Oreto, soon to be known as the Florida. Other officers were Chief Engineer
Miles J. Freeman and three assistants, who were excellent machinists and
able to make any repairs which could be made with the appliances on board,
Midshipman E. M. Anderson and Master's Mates G. T. Fullam and James Evans.
[Illustration: FIRST LIEUTENANT J. MCINTOSH KELL.]
The Alabama was 220 feet long, 32 feet in breadth of beam, and 18 feet
from deck to keel. She carried two horizontal engines of 300 horse power
each, and had bunkers for 350 tons of coal, sufficient for eighteen days'
continuous steaming. Captain Semmes was, however, very economical with his
coal supply and only used the engines for emergencies. The Alabama proved
to be a good sailor under canvas, and the greater number of her prizes
were taken simply under sail. This enabled the vessel to keep at sea
three or four months at a time, and to strike Northern commerce at the
most unexpected places, while only once did a Federal war vessel succeed
in getting a glimpse of her against the will of her commander.
The engines were provided with a condensing apparatus, which supplied the
crew with water. The Alabama was barkentine rigged, her standing gear
being entirely of wire rope. Her propeller was so built as to be readily
detached from the shaft, and in fifteen minutes could be lifted out of the
water in a well constructed for the purpose, and so would not impede the
speed of the vessel when under sail. On the main deck the vessel was
pierced for twelve guns, but carried only eight; one Blakely
hundred-pounder rifled gun, pivoted forward, one eight-inch solid-shot
gun, pivoted abaft the mainmast, and three thirty-two pounders on each
side.
The semicircular cabin at the stern, with its horse-hair sofa and
horse-shoe shaped table, was appropriated to the use of Captain Semmes,
and became the center of attraction for hero-worshippers when the vessel
was in port. A little forward of the mizzen mast was the steering
apparatus, a double wheel inscribed with the French motto:
"Aide-toi et Dieu t'aidera."[1]