A NEW ADVERSARY.
June 11th, 1864, the Alabama entered the port of Cherbourg, France, and
Captain Semmes made application for leave to place his vessel in a dock
for the purpose of replacing the copper sheathing, which was working loose
and retarding the speed of the vessel. The boilers also required to be
replaced or repaired. But the only docks at Cherbourg were those belonging
to the government, and as the port admiral felt some reluctance in regard
to admitting a belligerant vessel to a government dock, the matter was
referred to the emperor (Napoleon III).
* * * * *
Sunday, June 12th, was a quiet day in the Netherlands. The shipping in the
Scheldt was lying quietly at anchor, and Sabbath stillness had settled
down upon the docks and the town. The idlers of Flushing, who were gazing
with some curiosity at the United States screw sloop Kearsarge, suddenly
became aware of some unusual stir upon her decks. Presently a signal flag
appeared at the fore, and the boom of a gun waked the river echoes. This
was notice to absent officers and seamen that work was at hand, and that
there was to be no more loitering in Holland.
[Illustration: UNITED STATES STEAMER KEARSARGE.]
The absentees hurried on board, and as soon as there was a sufficient head
of steam the vessel turned her prow toward the North Sea. The crew were
assembled, and Captain Winslow told them of a telegram from Mr. Dayton,
the United States minister at Paris, containing the information that the
Alabama had run into Cherbourg, and requesting him to run down to that
place immediately. The announcement was received with cheers, and every
one was in high spirits at the prospect of a battle with the famous
cruiser.
Captain Semmes was warned of the approach of the Kearsarge in ample time
to enable him to get away, but he made no attempt to do so, and it soon
became evident that he intended to fight. Commodore Barron, of the
Confederate navy, was in France at this time, impatiently awaiting the
completion of the two iron clads then building at Bordeaux, of which he
expected to have the command. Captain Semmes communicated to him his
desire to engage the Kearsarge, and was advised that he might use his own
judgment in the matter.
European partisans of the South could paint the career of the Alabama in
the most glowing colors. Captain Semmes was the "gallant," "noble,"
"chivalrous," "heroic" commander, and officers and crew shared in the
honors heaped upon him. But there were not wanting, either in Great
Britain or in France, those who were disposed to echo the cry of "pirate!"
which went up from the press of New York and Boston. The claim was made
that the Alabama waged warfare exclusively upon defenceless merchantmen,
and therefore was not entitled to be considered as a vessel of war. Her
defenders could only point to that solitary thirteen-minute fight with
the Hatteras. A Scotch paper called attention to the fact that although
Captain Semmes had "destroyed property to the value of between L3,000,000
and L4,000,000, he has never once attacked or come in the way of a vessel
of his own calibre, except under false colors, and with a lie in the mouth
of his officials."
There is no doubt that the Confederate captain chafed under criticisms of
this character. On the other hand, American shipping had been all but
driven from the ocean, and if the Alabama was to refrain from battles with
armed vessels, her usefulness, except as a mere patrol, was at an end.
And, again, if the Alabama waited to refit she might have to fight a whole
fleet in order to get to sea.
June 14th the Kearsarge steamed into Cherbourg through the east entrance
and sent a boat on shore, but kept on and went out at the west entrance
without anchoring. This was construed by some as an act of defiance, but
the real reason was to avoid coming within the provisions of the
twenty-four hour rule. Captain Semmes changed his request for a dock
permit to an order for coal, and sent the following note to Mr. Bonfils,
the Confederate commercial agent at Cherbourg:
C. S. S. Alabama, Cherbourg, June 14, 1864.
To A. Bonfils, Esq., Cherbourg.
Sir: I hear that you were informed by the U. S. consul that the
Kearsarge was to come to this port solely for the prisoners landed by
me, and that she was to depart in twenty-four hours. I desire you to
say to the U. S. consul that 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 tomorrow evening, or after the morrow
morning at furthest. I beg she will not depart before I am ready to
go out. I have the honor to be very respectfully, your obedient
servant,
R. SEMMES,
Captain.
This is the "challenge," in regard to which there was so much subsequent
discussion. A copy thereof having been transmitted to Captain Winslow, he
replied through the U. S. consul that he came to Cherbourg to fight, and
had no intention of leaving.
The Kearsarge was built in Maine in the early part of the war, and cost
about $275,000. The two vessels were very evenly matched in size and
armament. The following table shows the measurements:
_Kearsarge._ _Alabama._
Length of keel 198-1/2 210
Length over all 232 220
Beam 33 32
Depth 16-1/2 17
Engines (two in each) horse power 400 300
Tonnage 1031 1040
The Alabama carried eight guns: the hundred-pounder rifled Blakely pivoted
forward; the eight-inch gun pivoted abaft the mainmast, and six
32-pounders in broadside. The Kearsarge carried seven guns: two
eleven-inch smooth bore pivoted guns; one 28-pounder rifle, and four
32-pounders. The officers and men on the Kearsarge numbered one hundred
and sixty-three; those on the Alabama about one hundred and fifty.
On Monday the Kearsarge ran into Dover for dispatches, and on Tuesday
appeared off Cherbourg. Permission was obtained for boats to visit the
shore, but the ship did not anchor in the harbor. The officers of the
Kearsarge were very skeptical as to the desire of Captain Semmes for a
battle, and a strict watch was kept at both entrances of the harbor, lest
he should give them the slip, as he had the San Jacinto. The possibility
of a night attack was also discussed, and preparations made for repelling
it in case it should be suddenly thrust upon them.
More than a year previous while at the Azores the spare chain cable had
been hung up and down upon the sides of the vessel as an additional
protection to the engines when the coal bunkers were not full, and the
whole enclosed by a covering of inch deal boards. This was done upon the
suggestion of the executive officer, James S. Thornton, who had seen this
device used by Admiral Farragut when running past the forts on the
Mississippi to reach New Orleans. Captain Semmes says he knew nothing
about this chain armor. If he did know about it, he evidently underrated
its effectiveness.
The ports of the Kearsarge were let down, guns pivoted to starboard, and
the entire battery loaded and made ready for instant service. Thursday,
Friday and Saturday passed, but the Alabama failed to show herself outside
the breakwater. Communication with the shore had been forbidden, and the
only intelligence of events in the harbor other than what could be made
out with the glass, came through the French pilots, who reported that the
Alabama was taking in a large supply of coal, sending chronometers, specie
and other valuables on shore, and that swords, boarding pikes and
cutlasses were being sharpened.
A message from Minister Dayton was brought off by his son, who with
difficulty obtained permission from the French admiral of the district to
visit the Kearsarge. He told Captain Winslow that it was his opinion that
Captain Semmes would not fight, but admitted that the general opinion in
Cherbourg was contrary to his own. On returning to the shore, Mr. Dayton
was informed by the admiral that Captain Semmes would go out to the attack
the next morning, and he spent a considerable part of the night
endeavoring to communicate this intelligence to Captain Winslow, but the
vigilance of the Cherbourg police prevented him from accomplishing his
object. He stayed in Cherbourg the next day, witnessed the battle from a
convenient height, and telegraphed the result to his father in Paris.
Meanwhile the coaling of the Alabama was completed. Some of the officers
were given a banquet by admiring friends in the town on Saturday night,
and the party broke up with a promise to meet again in a similar way to
celebrate the victory which none seemed to doubt would soon be theirs.
Sunday morning came. The weather was fine, the air slightly hazy and a
light westerly breeze rippled the harbor. Sunday was esteemed the
Alabama's lucky day. On Sunday Captain Semmes had assumed the command of
her and the Confederate ensign first appeared at her mast head. On Sunday
many of her most important captures had been made. On Sunday she halted
the mighty Ariel, and on Sunday she sunk the Hatteras. It was inevitable
that there should grow up between decks a belief that any important
enterprise begun on Sunday had the best chance of success. As a factor in
the coming contest, a feeling in the minds of the men who were to do the
fighting that a lucky day had been pitched upon for the battle, was not to
be despised. And so on Sunday, June 19th, 1864, the Alabama sallied forth
to meet the Kearsarge. The French iron clad frigate Couronne accompanied
her to the three-mile limit in order to make sure that no fighting should
take place in French waters. A private English steam yacht, the Deerhound,
followed in the wake of the Couronne and took a position affording a good
view of the battle, and several French pilot boats did likewise. The
taller buildings, the rigging of vessels, the fortifications, and the
heights above the town, were lined with people, many of whom had come from
the interior and even from Paris to view the extraordinary spectacle. It
is said that more than fifteen thousand people had gathered for this
purpose. The great majority sympathised with the Alabama, but there was
quite a contingent of Union adherents, among whom were the captains of the
Tycoon and the Rockingham, with their families and crews, eager that
vengeance at last might fall upon the destroyer.