Sinking of the Alabama
The Alabama was a Confederate raider built in Birkenhead, England, on the river Mersey. In the Azores, she was quietly fitted with guns. For two years, she roamed the seas sinking and burning unarmed American merchant ships.
In the summer of 1864, late in the American Civil War, Captain Semmes docked The Alabama at Cherbourg, France for repairs. The American minister in Paris reported her arrival and the U.S. Sloop of War Kearsarge under Captain Winslow came to meet her outside the neutral French harbor. Crowds from Paris came to the cliffs and Southampton sportsmen brought their pleasure-yachts to witness the battle, which took place on the morning of Sunday, June 19, 1864. For forty minutes, the ships exchanged broadsides seven miles off the harbor. The Alabama sunk, and the British yacht Deerhound rescued Captain Semmes and forty-one of his crew before the Northerners could get to them. Despite his treason and failure, Captain Semmes enjoyed a hero’s welcome and military promotions upon arrival in England and his eventual return to the Confederate capital.