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THE ALABAMA SUNK BY THE KEARSARGE.

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counter; as he dispatched" to Capt. | ners had been trained on board Her

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Majesty's ship Excellent in Portsmouth harbor. Several had recently come on board, as if on purpose to take part in the expected fight.

Firing and steaming on, the combatants described seven circles; the Kearsarge steadily closing, and having diminished, by fully half, the distance at which the Alabama opened fire; when, after a mutual cannonade of an hour, the Kearsarge, at 124 р. м., was just in position to fire grape, and her adversary, having received several 11-inch shells, one of which disabled a gun and killed or wounded 18 men, as another, entering her coal-bunkers, and exploding, had completely blocked up the engineroom, compelling her to resort to sails, while large holes were torn in her sides, at length attempted to make for the protection of the neutral shore; but she was too far gone to reach it, being badly crippled and rapidly filling with water. Semmes and his crew appear to have had an understanding that she should beat the Kearsarge or sink with all on board; but, when she began to sink in good earnest, he hauled down his flag, and sent a boat to the Kearsarge to accelerate their rescue from the wreck as prisoners.

Having made all imaginable preparations in a friendly port, where he was surrounded by British as well as French sympathizers, Semmeshaving first providently deposited on shore his chest of coin, his 62 captured chronometers, the relics of so many burned merchantmen-at his own chosen time, * steamed out of the harbor, followed by his British friend Lancaster in his steam-yacht Deerhound, and made for the Kearsarge, which was quietly expecting but not hurrying him, seven miles outside. When still more than a mile distant, the Alabama gave tongue; firing three broadsides before the Kearsarge opened in reply. Winslow endeavored to close and board: but his cautious adversary sheered off and steamed ahead, firing rapidly and wildly; while the Kearsarge, moving parallel with her, fired slowly and with deliberate aim. The badness of the Alabama's practice was notable from the fact that her British gun- | down her flag. I was unable to ascertain 14 Sunday, June 19, 104 A. M.

Semmes, in his letter to envoy J. M. Mason, adds :

"Although we were now but 400 yards

from each other, the enemy fired upon me five times after my colors had been struck. It is charitable to suppose that a ship of war of a Christian nation could not have done

this intentionally."

Capt. Winslow does not "suppose," but states, as follows:

13 June 15, 1864.

"I saw now that she was at our mercy; and a few more guns, well directed, brought "At 12:50, when within a distance of 200 yards, the Alabama sunk. We then lowered our two boats, and, with the assistance of the Alabama's whale-boat and dingy, succeeded in saving about 40 men, including Capt. Semmes and 13 officers. At 1 P. M., we steered for Southampton."

whether it had been hauled down or shot

away; but, a white flag having been disTwo minutes had not more than elapsed before she again opened on us with the two guns ont he port side. This drew our fire again; and the Kearsarge was immediately steamed ahead and laid across her bows for raking. The white flag was still flying, and our fire was again reserved. Shortly after this, her boats were seen to be lowering, and an offieer in one of them came alongside, and informed us that the ship had surrendered and was fast sinking. In twenty minutes from this time, the Alabama went down: her mainmast, which had been shot, breaking near the head as she sunk, and her rising high out of the water as her stern rapidly settled."

Lancaster-a virtual ally and swift witness for Semmes-who was close at hand, watching every motion with intense interest, in his log of the fight, dispatched to The Times that evening, when he arrived in his yacht at Cowes, with Semmes and such of his crew as he had snatched from the water and their captors-clearly refutes Semmes's charge. He says:

"At 12, a slight intermission was observed in the Alabama's firing; the Alabama making head-sail, and shaping her course for the land, distant about nine miles.

"At 12:30, observed the Alabama to be disabled and in a sinking state. We immediately made toward her, and, in passing the Kearsarge, were requested to assist in saving the Alabama's crew.

The Alabama had 9 killed and 21

wounded, including Semmes himself, slightly. Two of the wounded were drowned before they could be rescued.

15

The Kearsarge had three men badly wounded, one of them mortally; but neither would go below to be treated till the victory was won.

The triumph of the Kearsarge is doubtless in part due to the superior effectiveness of her two 11-inch guns, but in good part also to the cool deliberation and excellent aim of her gunners. As to her being iron-clad, this is Semmes's story :

"At the end of the engagement, it was discovered, by those of our officers who wounded, that her midship section on both went alongside the enemy's ship, with the sides was thoroughly iron-coated; this having been done with chain constructed for the purpose, placed perpendicularly from the rail to the water's edge, the whole covered over by a thin outer planking, which gave no indication of the armor beneath.

"This planking had been ripped off in every direction by our shot and shell, the chain broken and indented in many places, and forced partly into the ship's side. She was most effectually guarded, however, in this section, from penetration."

Now let us hear Capt. Winslow on this point:

"The Alabama had been five days in preparation. She had taken in 350 tons of coal, which brought her down in the water. The Kearsarge had only 120 tons in; but, as an offset to this, her sheet-chains were stowed outside, stopped up and down, as an additional preventive and protection to her more empty bunkers."

15 This hero, William Gowin, of Michigan, must not fade from his country's memory. Surgeon J. M. Browne reports that, being struck | quite early in the action, by a fragment of shell, which badly shattered his leg near the kneejoint, Gowin refused assistance, concealed the extent of his injury, and dragged himself from the after pivot-gun to the fore-hatch, unwilling to take any one from his station. During the progress of the action, he comforted his suffering comrades by assuring them that "Victory is ours!" Whenever the guns' crews cheered at | try owes a monument to William Gowin.

the successful effect of their shot, Gowin waved his hand over his head and joined in the shout. When brought at length to the Surgeon, he appeared with a smile on his face, though suffering acutely from his injury. He said, "It is all right, and I am satisfied; for we are whipping the Alabama;" adding, "I willingly will lose my leg or life, if it is necessary" In the hospital, he was calmly resigned to his fate, repeating again and again his willingness to die, since his ship had won a glorious victory. His coun

THE OUTER DEFENSES OF MOBILE BAY.

The London Daily News says: "The Kearsarge is spoken of as being iron-clad; she was no more iron-clad than the Alabama might have been, had they taken the precaution. She simply had a double row of chains hanging over her sides to protect her machinery. Two shots from the Alabama struck these chains, and fell harmlessly into the water."

Of the crew of the Alabama, 65 were picked up by the Kearsarge as prisoners; while Capt. Semmes and his officers and men who were picked up and carried off by Lancaster, with a few picked up by a French vessel in attendance, were also claimed as rightful prisoners of war; but they denied the justice of the claim, and

were not surrendered.

The steady increase of our naval force, and our successful combined operations in Pamlico and Albemarle sounds; before Charleston, Savannah, and among the Sea Islands; up the mouths of the Mississippi; along the coasts of Florida; and at the mouth of the Rio Grande, had gradually closed up the harbors of the Confedcracy, until, by the Spring of 1864, their blockade-runners were substantially restricted to a choice of two ports-Wilmington, N. C., and Mobile-where the character of the approaches and the formidable forts that still forbade access by our blockaders to the entrance of their respective harbors, still enabled skillfullypiloted steamers, carefully built in British yards expressly for this service, to steal in and out on moonless, clouded, or foggy nights; not without risk and occasional loss, but with reasonable impunity. To close these eyes of the Rebellion was now the care of the Navy Department; and it was resolved to commence with

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Mobile-the double entrance to whose spacious bay was defended by Forts Morgan and Powell on either hand, and by Fort Gaines on Dauphine island, which separates Grant's pass from the main channel. Beside the heavy guns and large garrisons of these forts, there was a considerable fleet, commanded by Franklin Buchanan, sole Rebel Admiral, and formerly a captain in our Navy, whose iron-clad Tennessee, 209 feet long, 48 feet beam, with timber sides 8 feet thick, doubly plated with 2-inch iron, fitted with tower, beak and overhang, and mounting two 7-inch and four 6-inch rifled guns, throwing projectiles respectively of 110 and 95 pounds, propelled by two engines and four boilers, was probably as effective a craft for harbor defense as fleet ever yet encountered. Her three consorts were ordinary gunboats of no particular force; but when to these forts and vessels are added the vague terrors and real dangers of torpedoes, carefully constructed and planted in a channel where it is scarcely possible for attacking vessels to avoid them, it must be felt that the fleet, however strong, which defies and assails them, can only hope to succeed by the rarest exhibitions alike of skill and courage. Ten years had not elapsed since the immense naval power of Great Britain, wielded by a Napier, recoiled before the defenses of Cronstadt; while no attempt was made on the fortifications of Odessa.

The fleet which Rear-Admiral Farragut led to force its way into the bay of Mobile was composed of 4 iron-clads and 14 wooden ships-ofwar or gunboats, as follows:

16 Aug. 5, 1864.

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FARRAGUT ASSAILS FORTS MORGAN AND GAINES. 651

Hartford (flag-ship), Capt. P. Drayton; | der the guns of the fort-which, dis

Brooklyn, Capt. James Alden;
Metacomet, Lt.-Com'r J. E. Jouett;
Octorara, Lt.-Com'r C. H. Green;
Richmond, Capt. T. A. Jenkins;
Lackawanna, Capt. J. B. Marchand;
Monongahela, Com'r J. H. Strong;
Ossipee, Com'r W. E. Leroy;
Oneida, Com'r J. R. M. Mullany;
Port Royal, Lt.-Com'r B. Gherardi;
Seminole, Com'r E. Donaldson ;
Kennebec, Lt.-Com'r W. P. McCann;
Itasca, Lt.-Com'r George Brown;
Galena, Lt.-Com'r C. H. Wells;

* Tecumseh, Com'r T. A. M. Craven;

*

regarding the iron-clads, were trained especially on the Hartford and her, while their progress was retarded by the slowness of the monitors-had just opened on the fort with grape, driving its gunners from its more exposed batteries, when the Tecumseh, then 300 yards ahead of her, struck a torpedo which, exploding directly under her turret, tore a chasm in her

Manhattan, Com'r J. W. A. Nicholson; bottom, through which the water

* Winnebago, Com'r T. H. Stevens; * Chickasaw, Lt.-Com'r T. II. Perkins.

* Iron-clads.

Gen. Canby had sent from New Orleans Gen. Gordon Granger, with a cöoperating land force, perhaps 5,000 strong, which had debarked on Dauphine island, but which could be of no service for the present; and did not attempt to be. Pollard says that our fleet carried 200 guns with 2,800

men.

Thursday, August 4, had been fixed on for the perilous undertaking; but, though the troops were on hand, the Tecumseh had not arrived; and-in contempt for the nautical superstition touching Friday-the attack was postponed to next morning; when, at 5 o'clock, the wooden ships steamed up, lashed together in couples; the Brooklyn and Octorara leading, followed by the Hartford and Metacomet; the iron-clads having already passed the bar, and now advancing in line on the right, or between the fleet and Fort Morgan. The Tecumseh, leading, at 6:47, opened fire on Fort Morgan, still a mile distant, which responded at 7:06; and forthwith, every gun that could be brought to bear on either side awoke the echoes of the startled bay.

The Brooklyn, when directly un

poured in a flood, sinking her almost instantly, and carrying down Com'r Craven and nearly all his officers and crew. Out of 130, but 17 were saved; part in one of her own boats and part by a boat sent, by Farragut's order, from the Metacomet, under a terrible fire.

Farragut had reluctantly consented to let the Brooklyn lead the wooden fleet, because of her four chaseguns specially adapted to the work in hand, and because she had a peculiarly ingenious contrivance for picking up torpedoes. “Exposure is one of the penalties of rank in the navy," is his characteristic observation; in accordance with which, he had stationed himself in the Hartford's main-top, as the point whence every thing that transpired could best be observed; and the strong presumption that the Rebel fire would be concentrated on the flag-ship rendered him specially anxious that she should be accorded the post of preeminent peril and honor. Overruled at the outset, Farragut, when the Brooklyn very naturally recoiled at the spectacle of the Tecumseh's destruction, directed Drayton to go ahead, followed by the rest, in the full belief that several must pay the penalty of heroism just exacted of

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