CONCLUSION.
Although the deal covering of the chain armor on the Kearsarge was ripped
off in many places and some of the links themselves broken, a close
inspection showed that no shot which struck them would have been likely to
reach a vital part, had they been absent. The only really dangerous shot
which reached the Kearsarge was the shell in the stern-post. Captain
Semmes rails at his opponent for adopting unusual methods for the safety
of his vessel. He says:
Notwithstanding my enemy went out chivalrously armored to encounter a
ship whose wooden sides were entirely without protection, I should
have beaten him in the first thirty minutes of the engagement, but
for the defect of my ammunition, which had been two years on board,
and become much deteriorated by cruising in a variety of climates. I
had directed my men to fire low, telling them that it was better to
fire too low than too high, as the ricochet in the former case--the
water being smooth--would remedy the defect of their aim, whereas it
was of no importance to cripple the masts and spars of a steamer. By
Captain Winslow's own account, the Kearsarge was struck twenty-eight
times; but his ship being armored, of course my shot and shell,
except in so far as fragments of the latter may have damaged his
spars and rigging, fell harmless into the sea. The Alabama was not
mortally wounded, as the reader has seen, until after the Kearsarge
had been firing at her an hour and ten minutes. In the meantime, in
spite of the armor of the Kearsarge, I had mortally wounded that ship
in the first thirty minutes of the engagement. I say "mortally
wounded her," because the wound would have proved mortal, but for the
defect of my ammunition above spoken of. I lodged a rifled percussion
shell near her stern post--where there were no chains--which failed
to explode because of the defect of the cap. If the cap had performed
its duty, and exploded the shell, I should have been called upon to
save Captain Winslow's crew from drowning, instead of his being
called upon to save mine. On so slight an incident--the defect of a
percussion cap--did the battle hinge. The enemy were very proud of
this shell. It was the only trophy they ever got of the Alabama! We
fought her until she would no longer swim, and then we gave her to
the waves. This shell, thus imbedded in the hull of the ship, was
carefully cut out along with some of the timber, and sent to the Navy
Department in Washington, to be exhibited to admiring Yankees. It
should call up the blush of shame to the cheek of every northern man
who looks upon it. It should remind him of his ship going into action
with concealed armor; it should remind him that his ship fired into a
beaten antagonist five times, after her colors had been struck and
when she was sinking; and it should remind him of the drowning of
helpless men, struggling in the water for their lives! Perhaps this
latter spectacle was something for a Yankee to gloat upon. The
Alabama had been a scourge and a terror to them for two years. She
had seized their property! Yankee property! Curse upon the "pirates,"
let them drown!
There is scarcely a doubt that Captain Semmes owed his life to the
forbearance of Captain Winslow. Had he been captured during the heat of
the war, a military court would doubtless have ordered his execution. The
commander of the Kearsarge was several times warned by his officers that
Semmes and many of his people were on board the Deerhound and likely to
escape, but he said the yacht was "simply coming round," and took no steps
to prevent her departure.[3]
At 3:10 p. m. the Kearsarge again dropped anchor in Cherbourg harbor. The
wounded of both vessels were transferred to the French Marine hospital,
where the brave seaman, William Gowin, died. The prisoners, with the
exception of four officers, were paroled and sent on shore before sunset,
a proceeding which Secretary Welles promptly disavowed, as he was resolved
to commit no act which could be construed into an acknowledgement that
the Alabama was a regular vessel of war. Lieutenant Wilson was, however,
released on parole a few weeks later.
The news of the destruction of the Alabama was received with the greatest
demonstrations of delight throughout the North and among her friends
abroad. Captain Semmes was roundly denounced for making his escape after
his vessel had been surrendered. Mr. John Lancaster was likewise assailed
for his part in the affair, and stories told by the prisoners to the
effect that the Deerhound had been acting as a sort of tender to the
Alabama were readily believed in the United States. Other preposterous
inventions, one of which assumes to describe a visit of Captain Semmes to
the Kearsarge in disguise before the battle, have not even yet ceased to
circulate. The ready pen of Captain Semmes and those of his journalistic
friends in England were busily impaling Captain Winslow for two offenses:
First, he was guilty of armoring his ship and concealing the fact that he
had done so; and, secondly, he had fired upon the Alabama after her
colors had been struck.
On the first point it may be said that the existence of the chain armor on
the Kearsarge was pretty well known in ports where she had touched, and it
would be strange indeed if Captain Semmes should have allowed this fact to
escape his notice. Moreover, we have the direct statement of Lieutenant
Sinclair, of the Alabama, that Semmes knew all about the chain armor
before the battle.[4]
As to the second point, it was stated by prisoners from the Alabama that
the unauthorized firing by junior officers of the Alabama after her flag
had been hauled down had provoked the fire complained of. Lieutenant
Sinclair admits the clamorous protests of the gunners against surrender.
Taken with the positive testimony of the officers of the Kearsarge that
such firing actually took place, these statements would appear to be
tolerably conclusive.
Notwithstanding the loss of his ship, Captain Semmes was treated as a
hero. He was petted and feted by the London clubs, and the Junior United
Service Club presented him with a magnificent sword, artistically engraved
with naval and Confederate symbols, to take the place of the sword which
he had cast into the sea. Reports flew broadcast that he would very soon
be in command of a larger and more powerful "Alabama." English youths and
school boys wrote to him by the score, imploring permission to serve under
him in his new ship. But the Confederate government took a different view
of the matter. Moreover Captain Semmes' health had been impaired by his
three years of arduous service. Although at this time the Confederates had
strong hopes of getting to sea one or more iron clads, Semmes was not
named for the command, and received instructions to return to the southern
states.
Not caring to take the chances of running the blockade, which had by this
time become well nigh impenetrable, Captain Semmes took passage for Havana
and thence to the mouth of the Rio Grande, from which point he made his
way overland through Texas and Louisiana, and arrived in Richmond in
January, 1865. Here, in consideration of his services to the Confederate
cause, he was raised to the rank of rear admiral and ordered to take
command of the James River fleet. When General Lee evacuated Richmond
Admiral Semmes set fire to his fleet, seized a railroad train, and
transferred his command to Danville. His forces became a part of the army
of General Joseph E. Johnston, and were paroled with the rest when that
army surrendered to General Sherman.
December 15th, 1865, Semmes was arrested at his home in Mobile, Alabama,
and taken to Washington, where he was confined for several months, while
the propriety of trying him by court martial was undergoing consideration.
No name connected with the Rebellion was more thoroughly detested along
the seaboard than that of Raphael Semmes. He was accused of cruelty to his
prisoners, and many believed that he often sunk vessels with all on board.
His conduct at Cherbourg was considered to be contrary to the rules of
war, first in the alleged firing after the vessel had been surrendered,
and secondly in escaping and throwing his sword into the sea. Mr. John A.
Bolles, the solicitor general, made careful investigation of the charges
on behalf of the United States government, and came to the conclusion that
prosecution would not be warranted in time of peace, especially
considering the fact that greater offenders were escaping prosecution.
Captain Semmes' cruelty to prisoners seems to have consisted chiefly of
confining many of them in irons, an occasional display of his fiery
temper, and certain outbursts of profanity. What the prisoners complained
of most was the burning of their ships. But all southern ports being
closed by the blockade, this is manifestly the only disposition he could
make of them. Escaping after surrendering his ship was doubtless contrary
to the usages of war, but considering the fact that he was likely to be
treated as a pirate, rather than as a prisoner of war, he could hardly be
expected to act differently.
The question of the liability of the English government for the escape of
the Alabama, the Florida, the Shenandoah, the Sallie, the Boston, and six
other vessels which were converted into Confederate war vessels, was
referred to a Tribunal of Arbitration, which assembled at Geneva,
Switzerland, December 15th, 1871. One member of the Tribunal was appointed
by the president of the United States, one by the queen of England, and
one each by the king of Italy, the president of Switzerland, and the
emperor of Brazil. This court gave judgment against Great Britain for the
value of all the ships and cargoes destroyed by the five vessels named,
amounting in all with interest to $15,500,000. The losses inflicted by the
Alabama, according to claims presented by the losers amounted to
$6,547,609.86.
The Kearsarge was repaired at Cherbourg, and continued in the United
States service throughout the war. Long after other vessels would have
been broken up as too old for service she continued to receive repairs,
once amounting almost to rebuilding. January 30th, 1894, she sailed from
Port au Prince, Hayti, for Bluefields, Nicaragua. On the evening of
Friday, February 2d, she struck on Roncador Reef in the Carribean Sea.
The ship had to be lightened, and accordingly the guns were thrown
overboard. She held together during the night, however, and the crew
remained on board. The next morning a line was run ashore, and all hands
were safely landed on the island, from which place one of the boats was
sent to Colon for assistance. A steamer was dispatched to take off the
shipwrecked mariners. Every person having been rescued, officers and crew
watched the wave-lashed hulk slowly disappear from view, and the wreck of
the old Kearsarge was left to the mercy of the sea.
Footnotes:
[1] "Aid thyself and God will aid thee."
[2] Report of Consul Lawless to the British foreign office.
[3] In reviewing an autobiography of Sir George F. Bowen, at one time
governor of New Zealand, the London Spectator says (vol. 65, p. 20): "The
visit of the United States ship Kearsarge at this time brought to light a
bit of history which Sir George Bowen has done well to preserve. The
Captain informed his host that after the Alabama was sunk, its commander,
Semmes, was seen floating in the sea with the help of a life-belt. He
could easily have been captured, but it was thought better to let him be
saved by a passing British vessel, since, if taken to America, he would
probably have been hanged, and the officers of the Kearsarge wished to
save a gallant enemy from such a fate."
[4] Two years on the Alabama, p. 263.
Transcriber's Notes:
Passages in italics are indicated by _italics_.
Punctuation has been corrected without note.
The following misprints have been corrected:
"Republcan" corrected to "Republican" (page 7)
"tranferred" corrected to "transferred" (page 40)
"Ronckendorf" corrected to "Ronckendorff" (page 84)
"vesels" corrected to "vessels" (page 142)
"hiusband's" corrected to "husband's" (page 177)
Other than the corrections listed above, inconsistencies in spelling and
hyphenation have been retained from the original.