Divers recover cannon from CSS Alabama in English Channel

Columbus Ledger-Enquirer ^ | Tue, Jul. 12, 2005

[nickcarraway]

MOBILE, Ala. - The 7,000-pound main battery pivot gun of the Confederate sea raider CSS Alabama has been recovered from the bottom of the English Channel, where the vessel was sunk 141 years ago by a Union warship, a project spokesman said.

The cannon was brought to the surface by the French naval vessel Elan, said Gordon Watts, an underwater archaeologist from North Carolina who is overseeing the project. Watts told the Mobile Register in a story Tuesday that French divers and American archaeologists recovered the cannon Saturday about 7 miles off the coast of Cherbourg, France, in 200 feet of water.

He said the cannon will be placed in a specially constructed container and shipped to the U.S. for conservation. A project supporter in Mobile said it will be taken to the underwater archaeology lab at Texas A&M University.

The CSS Alabama attacked Union merchant ships around the world during the U.S. Civil War. It was sunk in a battle with the USS Kearsarge off the French coast.

[nickcarraway]

ping

[ex-Texan]

CSS Alabama history and images may be accessed.

[Hard Way]

I want one!

(oh, sorry.. I thought this was a new firearms thread)

[Cold Heart]

Merchant ship ping

[MBB1984]

The CSS Alabama was quite a ship. Great to see her remembered. Thanks for the post and refreshing my history memory.

[bmwcyle]

[sonofatpatcher2]

Cheers to the CSS Alabama & Captain Raphael Semmes!

Sink them Yankees!!!!

];^b)

[GrandEagle]

We live in a town named after the Captain's (Raphael Semmes) namesake: Semmes, AL

[GrandEagle]

We live in a town named after the Captain's (Raphael Semmes) namesake: Semmes, AL

[GrandEagle]

Sorry, the dreaded "double post" boogie man got me.....

[Constitution Day]

Semmes and Kell stand forward of the Alabama's wheel and next to the 8-inch aft pivot gun.

[gridlock]

Sounds like a great subject for the FReeper Foxhole.

[AnAmericanMother]

It was Kearsage, not "Kearsarge".

The error is in the original story. (Maybe the Columbus paper got it wrong on purpose? < g > )

[Andyman]

. . . CSS Alabama . . .

Those Confederate ships had style, didn't they? html humor OFF!

[Travis McGee]

Rather scruffy lookin' raspcallions!

[SpringheelJack]

It was Kearsage, not "Kearsarge".

You sure about that? I've always seen it spelled "Kearsarge," from the old 1880s "Battles and Leaders of the Civil War" book to the present day.

[sgtbono2002]

They will be allright as long as they dont bring up an old Confederate flag and try to fly it.

[Tanniker Smith]

By the way, this thread gives me a chance to once again plug Harry Harrison's "Star & Stripes" trilogy. If you like alternate history, this ones a doozy. If you only read the first book, you'll be quite satisfied. You don't have to hunt down the second and third books (although you'll be happy if you do).

The gist of it: Price Albert passes away sooner than he did and as a result is unable to prevent the British from going to war with the Union. Now, that in itself would make for a very short book as the Union would collapse being attacked from both ends. However, let's just say that something goes wrong with the British's surprise attack.

TS

[ken5050]

One of the lesser known stories of the Civil War is the letter that Seward drafted to send to France and England at the start of the war, just about threatening war with the US if either country interceded, via arms shipments, or trade, with the CSA. The leter was personally rewritten by Lincon, to tone it down. Seward's idea was to provoke a war with a European country, with the ideaa that the Confederacy would rejoin the Union to fight against the common enemy.