JOHN M. BROWNE,
Surgeon U. S. Navy.
"Captain JOHN A. WINSLOW,
"Comd'g U. S. S. S. Kearsarge, Cherbourg."
All these men were wounded by the same shot, a 68-pounder, which passed
through the starboard bulwarks below main-rigging, narrowly escaping the
after 11-inch pivot-gun. The fuses employed by the Alabama were
villainously bad, several shells having lodged in the Kearsarge without
taking effect. Had the 7-inch rifle shot exploded which entered the vessel
at the starboard quarter, raising the deck by its concussion several
inches and lodging in the rudder-post, the action might have lasted some
time longer. It would not, however, have altered the result, for the
casualty occurred towards the close of the conflict. During my visit, I
witnessed the operation of cutting out a 32-pounder shell (time fuse) from
the rail close forward of the fore pivot 11-inch port; the officer in
charge of the piece informed me that the concussion actually raised the
gun and carriage, and, had it exploded, many of the crew would have been
injured by the fragments and splinters.
Among the incidents of the fight, some of our papers relate that a 11-inch
shell from the Kearsarge fell upon the deck of the Alabama, and was
immediately taken up and thrown overboard. Probably no fight ever occurred
in modern times in which somebody didn't pick up a live shell and throw it
out of harm's way; but we may be permitted to doubt in this case--5-second
fuses take effect somewhat rapidly; the shot weighs considerably more than
a hundred-weight, and is uncomfortably difficult to lay hold of. Worse
than all for the probabilities of the story, fifteen pounds of
powder--never more nor less--were used to every shot fired from the
11-inch pivots, the Kearsarge only opening fire from them when within
eight hundred yards of the Alabama. With 15 pounds of powder and fifteen
degrees of elevation, I have myself seen these 11-inch Dahlgrens throw
three and a half miles; and yet we are asked to credit that, with the same
charge at less than half a mile, one of the shells _fell_ upon the deck of
the privateer. There are eleven marines in the crew of the Kearsarge:
probably the story was made for them.