A salute's called for here, for brave men from a day of wooden ships and iron men. Long may they be remembered!
Posted on 07/14/2005 10:35:41 AM PDT by 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.
Photo #: NH 65736
USS Kearsarge vs. CSS Alabama, 19 June 1864
Someone tell the US Naval Historical Center! :)
Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on, off, or alter the "Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list --
Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
The GGG Digest -- Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)
And this:
And this:
Since my family's from Alabama, this sea battle has always been well known amongst us, and we've always spelled it "Kearsage" (and so have a lot of other people). But, upon further research, it looks like the ship was named after Mt. Kearsarge in New Hampshire. Of course, a lot of people spell that mountain "Kearsage" too -- so it may be one of those fuzzy orthography things.
Not because of what it accomplished, but because it was the center of a major diplomatic dispute between the U.S. and Britain. The ship was financed by James Dunwoody Bulloch , who was from a wealthy family of Savanna, Georgia. Bulloch was acting as a high profile spy for the Confederacy when he hired a Liverpool ship building company. He was one of the most famous spies of the Civil War and was, by all accounts, a very brave man. After the war ended, Bulloch was informed he could never return to the U.S. which explain why he died in England.
James Bulloch's sister, "Mittie" Bulloch, married young Theodore Roosevelt's father Theodore Roosevelt, Sr of New York. As everybody knows, Teddie Roosevelt became one of the greatest Presidents of the United States. I learned about this history by reading Theodore Rex by Edmund Morris. A delightful book that focuses on young Teddie's life.
James Bulloch was a major influence on young Theodore. The Roosevelt family spent many months touring Europe and the lad was entranced with the stories of his Uncles secret exploits. Which may explain one reason why "TR" grew up to be a larger than life hero himself.
Very interesting reading:
That is interesting. The European powers divided up to support either the rapidly growing Northern industrial powers or the Southern agricultural basis through commerce depending on their interest. The South had a terrible time with the blockades affecting trade. It might be that the War resulted from the aggressiveness of the corporate industrialization and the Southern blocking of that industrialization.
Please see my Post # 24.
Please take care,
e-T
Oh, that's funny, then -- Teddy and I are cousins by marriage. Some of my cousins married into the Bullochs of Savannah.
I really don't care one way or the other, but it was nice of the French to hand it over.
Ping for the CSS ALABAMA!
From your top link:
http://www.ibiblio.org/maritime/photolibrary/displayimage.php?album=950&pos=5
Also, the writing *on* all of the other photos from that link include a letter "R".
Savannah
I have visited HMS Warrior on several occasions and, although she never fired a shot in anger, I have often wondered how she would have fared. To my shame, I must admit that I previously knew nothing of the Alabama or her history.
From: Dictionary of American Fighting Ships, Vol. III, 1968, Navy Department, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, Naval History Division, Washington, D.C.
KEARSARGE
ScSlp:
dp. 1,550 t.;
l. 201' 4";
b. 33' 10";
dr. 14' 3";
s. 11 k.;
cpl. 163;
a. 2 11", 4 32-pdr., 1 30-pdr.
The first KEARSARGE was launched 11 September 1861 by the Portsmouth Navy Yard, Portsmouth, N.H.; sponsored by Mrs. McFarland, wife of the editor of the Concord Statement; and commissioned 24 January 1862, Captain Charles W. Pickering in command.
KEARSARGE departed Portsmouth 5 February 1862 for the coast of Spain; thence sailed to Gibraltar to join the blockade of Confederate raider SUMTER, forcing her abandonment in December. But her commanding captain, Raphael Semmes, soon commissioned Confederate raider ALABAMA on the high seas off the Azores.
KEARSARGE prepared for her fight with ALABAMA at Cadiz (November 1862-March 1863), then searched for the raider from along the coast of Northern Europe to the Canaries, Madeira, and the Western Islands.
Arriving at Cherbourg, France, 14 June 1864, she found ALABAMA in port and took up patrol at the harbor's entrance to await Semmes' next move.
On 19 June, ALABAMA stood out of Cherbourg Harbor for her last action. Careful of French neutrality, KEARSARGE's new commanding officer, Captain John A. Winslow. took the sloop-of-war well clear of territorial waters, then turned to meet the Confederate cruiser.
ALABAMA opened fire first while KEARSARGE held her reply until she had closed to less than 1,000 yards. Steaming on opposite courses, the ships moved around a circle as each commander tried to cross his opponent's bow to deliver deadly raking fire. The battle quickly turned against ALABAMA, for the quality of her long-stored powder and shell had deteriorated. KEARSARGE, on the other hand, had been given added protection by chain cable triced in tiers along her sides abreast vital paces. One hour after she fired her first salvo, ALABAMA had been reduced to a sinking wreck. Semmes struck his colors and sent a boat to KEARSARGE with a message of surrender and an appeal for help. KEARSARGE rescued the majority of ALABAMA's survivors; but Semmes and 41 others were picked up by British yacht DEERHOUND and escaped in her to England.
KEARSARGE steamed along the French coast in an unsuccessful search for CSS FLORIDA, thence proceeded to the Caribbean before turning northward for Boston where she decommissioned 26 November 1864 for repairs. She recommissioned 1 April 1865 and sailed on the 14th for the coast Or Spain in an attempt to intercept STONEWALL; but the Confederate ram eluded Federal ships and surrendered to Spanish authorities at Havana, Cuba, 19 May. After cruising the Mediterranean and the English Channel south to Monrovia, Liberia, KEARSARGE decommissioned 14 August 1886 in the Boston Navy Yard.
KEARSARGE recommisioned 16 January 1868 and sailed 12 February to serve in the South Pacific operating out of Valparaiso, Chile. On 22 August she landed provisions for destitute earthquake victims at Africa, Peru. She continued to watch over American commercial interests along the coast of South America until 17 April 1869. Then she sailed to watch over American interests among the Marquesas, Society, Navigators (Samoa), and Fiji Islands. She also called at the ports of New South Wales and New Zealand before returning to Calao, Peru, 31 October 1869.
She resumed duties on the South Pacific Station until 21 July 1870, then cruised to the Hawaiian Islands before decommissioning in the Mare Island Navy Yard, Calif., 11 October 1870.
KEARSARGE recommissioned 8 December 1873 and departed 4 March 1874 for Yokohama, Japan, arriving 11 May. She cruised on Asiatic Station for 3 years, protecting American citizens and commerce in China, Japan, and the Philippines. From 4 September to 13 December 1874 she carried Professor Hall's scientific party from Nagasaki, Japan, to Vladivostok, Russia, to observe the transit of Venus. She departed Nagasaki 3 September 1877 and returned to Boston 30 December via the Suez Canal and Mediterranean ports. She decommissioned at Portsmouth, N.H., 15 January 1878.
KEARSARGE recommissioned 15 May 1879 for 4 years of duty in the North Atlantic ranging from Newfoundland to the Caribbean Sea and the coast of Panama. She departed New York 21 August 1883 to cruise for 3 years in Mediterranean, Northern European waters, and along the coast of Africa.
She returned to Portsmouth, N.H., 12 November and decommissioned in the Portsmouth Navy Yard 1 December 1886.
KEARSARGE recommissioned 2 November 1888 and largely spent her remaining years protecting American interests in the West Indies, off Venezuela, and along the Central Americas. She departed Haiti 30 January 1884 for Bluefields, Nicaragua, but was wrecked on Roncador Reef off Central America 2 February 1884. Her officers and crew safely made it ashore.
Congress appropriated $45,000 to raise KEARSARGE and tow her home; but a salvage team of the Boston Towboat Co. found that she could not be raised.
The name of KEARSARGE was struck from the Navy List in 1884.
BLICKSEMS! DIE ALIBAMA!
This is a traditional Afrikaans song, especially popular among the Cape Malays in Cape Town. It is translated into English as "There comes the Alabama, the Alabama comes over the sea. Girl, girl, the reed bed is made, the reed bed is made for me to sleep on."There are two stories about its origin: one is that the song was composed about the US Confederate raiding ship Alabama which called in Cape Town during the American Civil War in 1863 after capturing the Federal ship Sea Bride in Table Bay, leading to a huge party on the beach where the captain, Admiral Semmes, handed out provisions seized during raids. Another theory is that there was a local boat called Alabama that brought thatching reads to Cape Town from St Helena Bay on the West Coast of South Africa.
Daar kom die Alibama,
Die Alibama die kom oor die see
Daar kom die Alibama,
Die Alibama die kom oor die see.
Nooi, nooi, die rietkooi, nooi,
Die rietkooi is gemaak,
Die rietkooi is vir my gemaak
Om daarop te slaap.
Nooi, nooi, die rietkooi, nooi,
Die rietkooi is gemaak,
Die rietkooi is vir my gemaak
Om daarop te slaap.
Die Alibama, die Alibama,
Die Alibama kom oor die see.
Die Alibama, die Alibama,
Die Alibama kom oor die see.
Interesting!
I have actually never seen it spelled 'Kearsage'.
After Googling the mountain you mentioned, I think you're correct on the 'fuzzy orthography'.
Looks fascinating! I will check it out this evening.
ALABAMA
ScSlp:
t. 1,050;
l. 220';
b. 31'8";
dph. 17'8";
dr. 14';
s. 13 k.;
cpl. 145;
a. 6 32-pdrs., 1 110-pdr., 1 68-pdr.
CSS ALABAMA was a screw sloop-of-war built at Lairds dockyard,
Liverpool, England, in 1862 for the Confederacy. The famous Hull "290"
was launched under the name ENRICA, put to sea from Liverpool on 29 July
1862 and proceeded to Porto Praya in the Azores where Captain R. Semmes,
CSN, and her other officers boarded and fitted her out as a cruiser. She
was commissioned at sea off Terceira, Azores on 24 August as the
Confederate cruiser ALABAMA.
Semmes spent the next 2 months in the North Atlantic where he captured
and burned some 20 ships, including a dozen whalers. From there he
departed for the Newfoundland Banks to intercept American grain ships
bound for Europe, and thence to the West Indies and the coast of Texas
where he sank HATTERAS and captured her crew. Cruising along the coast
of Brazil, he used the desolate island of Fernando de Noronha as a base.
Shrewdly calculating the length of time necessary for word of his deeds
to reach the United States Government, Semmes next put in at Cape Town
and sailed for the East Indies where he spent 6 months and destroyed 7
ships before redoubling the Cape en route to Europe. Arriving at
Cherbourg, France, on 11 June 1864, he hoped to be allowed to dock and
overhaul his ship.
As Semmes awaited permission from French authorities, KEARSARGE, Capt.
J. A. Winslow commanding, arrived at Cherbourg, brought there by word of
ALABAMA's presence. KEARSARGE took up a patrol at the harbor's entrance
awaiting Semmes' next move. ALABAMA's log for 15 June 1864 tells
succinctly of her skipper's decision:
"The admiral sent off his aid-de-camp to say to me that he considered my
application for repairs withdrawn upon making application for coal, to
which I assented. We commenced coaling this afternoon. The KEARSARGE is
still in the offing. She has not been permitted to receive on board the
prisoners landed by me, to which I had objected in a letter to the
admiral. Mailed a note yesterday afternoon for Flag-Officer Barron,
informing him of my intention to go out to engage the enemy as soon as I
could make my preparations, and sent a written notice to the U.S.
consul, through Mr. Bonfils, to the same effect. My crew seem to be in
the right spirit, a quiet spirit of determination pervading both
officers and men. The combat will no doubt be contested and obstinate,
but the two ships are so equally matched that I do not feel at liberty
to decline it. God defend the right, and have mercy upon the souls of
those who fall, as many of us must. Barometer low, and weather unusually
cold and blustering for the middle of June."
On 19 June 1864, ALABAMA stood out of Cherbourg Harbor for her last
action. Careful of French neutrality, Winslow took KEARSARGE well clear
of territorial waters, then turned to meet the Confederate cruiser.
ALABAMA opened fire first while KEARSARGE held her reply until the range
had closed to less than 1,000 yards. Steaming on opposite courses the
ships moved around a circle as each commander tried to cross the bows of
his opponent to deliver deadly raking fire. The battle quickly turned
against ALABAMA, for the quality of her long stored powder and shells
had deteriorated while KEARSARGE had been given added protection by
chain cable triced in tiers along her sides abreast vital spaces. One
hour after she loosed her first salvo ALABAMA had been reduced to a
sinking wreck. Semmes struck his colors and sent a boat to KEARSARGE
with a message of surrender and an appeal for help. KEARSARGE rescued
the majority of ALABAMAs survivors, but Semmes and 41 others were
picked up by the British yacht DEERHOUND and escaped in her to England.
In her 21-month cruise to the four corners of the globe, ALABAMA wrought
havoc among United States merchant shipping, taking more than 60 prizes
valued at nearly $6,000,000. The most famous of the Confederate
cruisers, her capture caused the Federal Navy Department to divert
warships from the blockade to intercepting positions at focal points on
the world's trade routes. Northern shipowners were compelled to delay
sailings to pay increased maritime insurance premiums and in many cases,
to transfer ships to foreign registry. ALABAMAs exploits buoyed the
morale of the South during some of its darkest days, and wrote a chapter
of daring in the brief history of the Confederate States Navy.
No shame in that, mate. But now you do know, and that's grounds for real pride of a small accomplishment, which can be compounded by further research and gained knowledge, or if the subject strays from your beaten path can be reserved as a treat when more interesting pursuits have been exhausted.
But I suspect you'd find quite a bit of more than arcane knowledge worthy of the subject's study. And the tangental related material to be of at least some interest as well.
A salute's called for here, for brave men from a day of wooden ships and iron men. Long may they be remembered!
I don't think that is correct. I've posted the stats for the Alabama, and it appears to be a far smaller ship than the Warrior.
Warrior:
Length: 418 feet
Beam: 58 feet
Displacement: 9,210 tons
Draft: 26 feet
Guns: 26 muzzle-loading 68 pounders (31 kgs)
10 breech-loading 110 pounders (50 kgs)
Complement: 705 men
Source: http://www.hmswarrior.org/facts.htm
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