CSS Alabama Sinking the USS Hatteras off Galveston, Texas.
Source: U.S. Navy Photographic Center
Caption: "THE CAPTURE OF THE U.S. MAIL STEAMER ARIEL, CAPT. JONES, OFF THE EAST END OF CUBA, BY THE PIRATE ALABAMA (290), CAPT. SEMMES, DECEMBER 7.--FROM A SCETCH BY MR. R.C. THOMAS, FIRST OFFICER OF THE ARIEL.
Source: Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, Jan. 10, 1863.
Three days after the commerce raider CSS Alabama, much in need of repairs after her 75,000-mile maiden voyage, anchored in the English Channel port of Cherbourg, France, the USS Kearsarge arrived and took up station just outside the harbor, an unmistakable challenge for battle to the Rebel ship's crew. Although the Alabama was in very poor condition, her captain, Raphael Semmes, immediately decided to accept the challenge and began preparing his ship and crew for battle. He sent the captain of the Kearsarge, John A. Winslow, the following message: "... My intention is to fight the Kearsarge as soon as I can make the necessary arrangements. I beg she will not depart before I am ready to go out."
Sunday morning, June 19, 1864, the Alabama steamed out of the harbor escorted by a French warship whose job it was to ensure the two ships did not battle inside France's three-mile-limit. Winslow turned the Kearsarge seaward and steamed, with the Alabama following, another three or four miles past the limit to be sure neither ship could break off the fight and escape to neutral waters. Then he turned and came straight toward the Alabama. The two ships began circling clockwise in ever-smaller circles, raking each other with broadsides from their starboard guns. The Kearsarge's 11-inch guns wreaked havoc on the Alabama, whose decks were soon covered with dead and wounded men. The Alabama's guns were smaller than her foe's, and her ammunition had become defective during her 22-month voyage; consequently, little damage was caused to the Kearsarge. By the seventh circle the Alabama was hurt badly: water poured into her hold from holes punched in the hull, and she listed to starboard. Semmes struck his colors and at 12:24pm, after 90 minutes of battle, the Alabama disappeared beneath the waves. The Kearsarge had three casualties. Half of the Alabama's 43 casualties were killed or drowned.
Fascinating Fact: Semmes, 14 officers, and 24 crew were saved from Union prisons by the Deerhound, an English yacht that sailed out to watch the battle. The owner of the yacht plucked the Confederates from the water and delivered them safely to England.