On the 19th June, 1864, a buzz of expectancy gripped the Normandy port of Cherbourg. The many hotels, and inns were full to bursting and the private yachts, bobbed about in the harbour,all keenly awaiting the extraordinary, and inevitable event of a pitched battle between two rival ships, involved in the two sides of the American Civil war.
After a tour of duty cruising the Atlantic for the past two years, and causing considerable damage to United States shipping, The CSS Alabama, commanded by Captain Raphael Semmes, known as “ Old Beeswax” on account of his highly distinguishable pointed beard, put in at Cherbourg for a well needed refit on the 11th June. This highly successful ship of war had become a major thorn in the United States side, having held to ransom, captured, or destroyed over 80 US merchant vessels, resulting in the loss of lives, important revenues and supplies.
Upon hearing that the Alabama was at Cherbourg ,the union warship USS Kearsage promptly set sail from Amsterdam in hot pursuit, arriving at the port on the 19th June. Captain John A.Winslow of the Kearsage could afford to sit anchored offshore, watching and waiting to see what would unfold.
On paper both ships were very evenly matched in both speed and fire power, but unbeknown to Captain Semmes, the Kearsage was lined with iron chains below the plimsoll line, which greatly strengthened the hull against shell fire and other damaging forms of attack.
Old Beeswax sent forth a challenge for a ship to ship duel to his adversary, which was duly accepted, and thus escorted by the French ironclad Couronne out into international water, the Alabama ploughed forward at full steam at 10.50 in the morning of that sunny June day.
At a distance of about a mile the Alabama opened fire, a continuing barrage as the gap closed. The Kearsage held her fire until the distance had lessened to about half a mile and then retaliated, sending out a round of shells. Circling the two ships battled on, but a bewildered Captain Semmes noticed that the shells kept practically bouncing off the Kearsage’s hull, those iron chains were proving their worth, and causing him great consternation.
For an hour the vessels fought on but eventually the Alabama became stricken and she tried to flee the confrontation by returning to Cherbourg, only to be pursued and her escape blocked. Semmes himself was injured and several of his crew killed, so all that could be done was to lower the confederate flag and capitulate. Captain and crew were picked up by the yacht The Deerhound, belonging to an English tourist who had very much enjoyed the entertainment, from which the defeated confederate seaman flung his sword into the waters after his beloved ship.
Captain Winslow aboard the Kearsage, sailed the conquering hero into Cherbourg, where the locals celebrated his victory, their former sympathies forgotten, before he made his way on to Paris to be received into the houses of the great and the good.
Writen by Steve Hawkes
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