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uiugi apiuuo tuiiijJiitu uj uit vuuAlabama Association. The Kearsarge had only one fatality.Powered by steam and sail, the Alabama was built in Liverpool, England, as the Enrica and many of its crew were British. Years later, Britain paid reparations for ships lost to the Alabama.It marauded in the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico, but never made port in the Confederate States, then sailed to the South China Sea and back to the Atlantic, putting into Cherbourg for repairs.That’s where the Kearsarge found it, but neither could fire in a neutral port. Semmes sent a message to the Union captain, John A. Winslow, offering to meet in international waters.As thousands watched from the coast, they exchanged fire for an hour. The Kearsarge survived what could have been a fatal blow when an explosive shell failed to go off after striking its sternpost.Union officers described the Alabama’s fire as erratic. Some shots also were deflected by anchor chains strung across the Kearsarge’s wooden hull and hidden behind planking. Raphael Semmes later blamed defective gunpowder and insisted he had not realized the Kearsarge was an “ironclad.”There also were controversies over the role of a British yacht that rescued the Confederate captain and some crew, allowing them to avoid capture, and shots fired by both sides after the Alabama struck its colors.The yacht took Raphael Semmes to Britain, where he was presented with a sword inscribed from “officers of the Royal Navy and other friends in England.” It now is a treasured possession of his great-great grandson.Federal authorities charged the Confederate admiral with violating rules of war after the South surrendered, but he was released when former captives testified they received humane treatment.“Raphael Semmes was very much maligned by some,” Oliver Semmes said. “Certainly he was praised by more. He always sought the truth.”Semmes said he has tried to do the same through his role in recovery of pieces of his forebearer’s ship.“I’m interested,” he said, “in the preservation of an accurate history, especially about him.”
Newspaper Details
Northwest Florida Daily News
Fort Walton Beach, Florida, US
Mon, Sep 10, 2001
Page 21
Full Page
Clipped by
Dorothy B.
PA, USA 28 Jun 2020
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