majority old men-of-war's men. She was temporarily commanded by Captain Bullock, who had under him the proper complement of commissioned and petty officers. Captain Bullock having learned that the Tuscarora, a United States war vessel, lay in wait for him in St. George's channel, took his departure by what is known as the north channel, thus eluding pursuit; though, even had he been intercepted, the Tuscarora would have found herself in a dilemma, as the escaped vessel had a set of English papers, and other presumptive proofs of her neutrality, in the face of which, interference might have been difficult. At this time, she carried no guns, nor any warlike stores, but consisted

this way, in their bay, and accordingly the excuse furnished them was that her engines had broken down. This plea was accepted as valid, and, during the week that intervened betwixt the arrival at Tarissa of the privateer and the bark, the crew of the former vessel were engaged ostensibly in repairing her engines, but really in preparing her to receive her guns, etc. About the lapse of a week from the arrival of the 290, the bark above mentioned sailed in and anchored, her captain alleging as a reason to the Portuguese officials that his vessel had sprung a leak, which would require to be repaired ere she could resume her voyage; and on this understanding, the Portuguese at once

placed her in quarantine, which in the Azores lasts three days.

On the day after the bark's arrival, Captain Bullock, being anxious to get his guns on board, hauled alongside of the bark, and erected a pair of large shears to effect the transfer of her cargo from the bark's hold to the privateer's deck. This brought off the Portuguese in a fury, that their rules should have been broken by the 290 having dared to communicate with a vessel that had still quarantine time to run, and they angrily de

their regulations had been infringed.

sufficient coal and other requisites to enable her to reach her destination, which was Tarissa, one of the Azores, or Western Islands, belonging to Portugal. This destination the vessel duly reached, after a favorable run of eight days, nothing of any moment having occurred to break the usual monotony of a sea voyage.

Some time before her departure from the Mersey, a large bark left the Thames, -clearing for Demerara, West Indies,to meet the privateer at Tarissa, and there transfer to the latter vessel the guns and stores destined for her, and which formed the cargo of the bark. Some reason required to be assigned to the Portuguese authorities for the 290 having anchored in

sinking state, and the erection of the shears was accounted for by urging the necessity of an immediate transfer, temporarily, of her cargo, that the leak might be reached and stopped; and Captain Bullock finally succeeded in bearing down all opposition by feigning to get into a passion, saying that he was doing no more for the bark than any Englishman would do for another in distress. The Portuguese were content to leave the vessel, and the transhipment proceeded without further hindrance from those on shore.

About the afternoon of the second day, and when the transfer was nearly complete, the British screw-steamer Bahama came in, having on board Captain Semmes and

other late officers of the privateer Sumter (cut short in her career), besides the remainder of the 290's armament, and an addition of twenty or more men to her crew. On the Bahama's arrival and anchorage, on a somewhat similar pretext to those given by her two predecessors, the Portuguese apparently lost all patience, and peremptorily insisted on the instant departure of all three vessels. The Bahama at once communicated with the 290, and having handed over to the latter everything destined for her, got up steam and left, followed by the 290, towing the now empty bark.

All three went, not to sea, as they had been ordered to do, but to Angra Bay-a bay in the same island, and only a few leagues distant from Tarissa Roads. Here they remained unmolested until noon of the following day, Sunday, when, for the second time, all three vessels were ordered out of Portuguese waters. All the 290's guns being now mounted, and the vessel otherwise ready for a cruise, the order was obeyed, and all took their departure, the bark as before in tow of the 290, which, having convoyed her well out to sea, cast her off, and, with a favoring breeze, she steered for Cardiff, to bring out a further supply of coal for the 290's future use.

The privateer and the Bahama now steamed around the island, and Captain Semmes, coming out of his cabin, ordered his first lieutenant to muster the crew aft. This having been done, and all the officers assembled on the poop in their full uniform, namely, the confederate gray frockcoat and trousers, Captain Semmes enjoined silence, and read his commission as post-captain in the confederate navy. It was a document duly attested at Richmond, and bore the signature of "Jeff Davis, President Confederate States of America." He then opened and read his sealed orders from Mr. Davis, directing him to assume command of the confederate sloop-of-war Alabama, hitherto known as the 290, in which, having been duly commissioned, he was to hoist the confederate ensign and pennant, and "sink, burn, and

The next step was formally to engage the crew to serve and fight under the southern flag, which having been done, the men were addressed by their captain in a stirring speech, in the course of which he said there were only four vessels in the United States navy that were more than a match for the Alabama; but, he added, in an English-built heart of oak as the Alabama was, and surrounded as he then saw himself by British hearts of oak, he wouldn't strike his newly-hoisted flag for any one of the four. This elicited a hearty burst of applause for Davis, the confederacy, and Semmes, and, when it had subsided, the captain said that the Bahama was on the point of leaving for England, and intimated that if any of his crew repented of the step they had taken, they were free to return in her. This alternative none would accept, and Captain Bullock and a few of the other officers who had taken the 290 from England to the Azores finding their occupation gone, through the arrival of those who had held similar appointments in the Sumter, having gone on board the Bahama, that vessel and the Alabama, amid hearty cheering from the crews of both, parted company, the former pursuing her course back to England, and the latter making chase for an American whaler, which she soon captured and burned.

This was the first prize taken by Semmes, in that long and successful career in the South Atlantic and Indian oceans, during which he inflicted almost untold damage upon the merchant marine service of the United States, and successfully

Nor is it possible to conjecture how much longer this prosperous career of the Alabama would have continued, but for the fortuitous circumstance which suddenly arose, and which as suddenly terminated in her complete destruction.

Making good her escape from the United States naval vessels at the Cape of Good Hope and Straits of Sunda, and after committing sundry devastations, the Alabama returned westward, in June, 1864, and took refuge under the guns of Fort Du Romet, off Cherbourg, a French port. At the same time, the United States gun-boat Kearsarge, Captain Winslow, was lying at

In & Winslown

Flushing, Holland, when a telegram came from Mr. Dayton, the American ambassador at Paris, stating that the Alabama was at Cherbourg. The Kearsarge immediately put to sea, and arrived at Cherbourg in quick time, taking the Alabama quite by surprise by so sudden an appearance on her track. Through the consular agent, a sort of challenge was received by Captain Winslow from Captain Semmes, the latter stating that he would like to measure the strength of his vessel with that of the Kearsarge, that if the latter remained off the port he would come out and fight her, and that he would not detain the vessel long.

After cruising off the port for five

half-past ten o'clock, in the forenoon, Captain Winslow descried the starry ensign of the Alabama floating in the breeze, as she came boldly out of the western entrance, accompanied by the French ironclad steamer Couronne and the English yacht Deerhound, the latter having on board its owner, Mr. Lancaster-a member of the Royal Yacht Club-together with his wife and family. The Couronne retired into port, after seeing the combatants outside of French waters. Captain Winslow had previously had an interview with. the admiral of Cherbourg, assuring him that, in the event of an action occurring with the Alabama, the position of the vessels should be so far off shore that no question would be advanced about the line of jurisdiction. When the Alabama was first descried, the Kearsarge was about three miles from the entrance of the harbor, and, to make certain that none of the maneuvers of battle took place within the French waters, as well as to draw the Alabama so far off that, if disabled, she could not flee in to the shore for protection from her French allies or sympathizers, the Kearsarge stood to seaward until she had attained the distance of about seven miles from the shore.

At ten minutes before eleven, the Kearsarge came quick about and approached the Alabama. When within about threequarters of a mile, the Alabama opened her guns with her starboard broadside. The Kearsarge made no reply for some minutes, but ranged up nearer, and then opened her starboard battery, fighting six guns, and leaving only one thirty-two pounder idle. The Alabama fought seven guns, working them with the greatest rapidity, sending shot and shell in a constant stream over her adversary. Both vessels used their starboard batteries, the two being maneuvered in a circle about each other at a distance of from five hundred to one thousand yards. Seven complete circles were made during the action, which lasted a little over one hour. At the last of the action, when the Alabama

would have made off, she was near five miles from the shore; and, had the action continued from the first in parallel lines, with her head in shore, the line of jurisdiction would, no doubt, have been reached.

From the first, the firing of the Alabama was rapid and wild; toward the close of the action, the firing became better. The Kearsarge gunners, who had been cautioned against firing rapidly, without direct aim, were much more deliberate; and the instructions given to point the heavy guns below rather than above the water-line, and clear the deck with lighter ones, was fully observed.

Captain Winslow had endeavored, with a port helm, to close in with the Alabama; but it was not until just before the close of the action, that he was in position to use grape. This was avoided, however, by the Alabama's surrender. The effect of the training of the Kearsarge's men was evident; nearly every shot from their guns told fearfully on the Alabama, and on the seventh rotation in the circular track, she winded, setting fore-trysail and two jibs, with head in shore. Her speed was now retarded, and by winding her port broadside was presented to the Kearsarge, with only two guns bearing, not having been able to shift over but one. Captain Winslow now saw that she was at his mercy, and a few more guns brought down her flag, though it was difficult to ascertain whether it had been hauled down or shot away; but a white flag having been displayed over the stern, the fire of the Kearsarge was reserved.

Two minutes had not more than elapsed before the Alabama again opened fire on the Kearsarge, with the two guns on the port side. This drew Captain Winslow's fire again, and the Kearsarge was immediately steamed ahead and laid across her bows for raking. The white flag was still flying, and the Kearsarge's fire was again reserved. Shortly after this, her boats were to be seen lowering, and an officer in one of them came alongside and stated that the ship had surrendered, and was fast sinking. In twenty minutes from this

time the Alabama went down, her mainmast, which had been shot, breaking near the head as she sank, and her bow rising high out of the water, as her stern rapidly settled.

At precisely twenty-four minutes past twelve, twenty minutes after her furnace fires went out, the Alabama being on the point of making her final plunge, the word went forth for every man to take care of himself, which they did by jumping overboard, Semmes throwing his sword into the ocean and then taking a swim himself, making for the Deerhound, which rescued him and thirteen other officers. None of the men who had been killed were left to sink; of the twenty-one wounded, some were in the quarter-boats with the boys, and others on board the Kearsarge; the rest of the crew were all afloat, and some of them drowning. Every available boat of both vessels was now employed in their rescue; and besides these, the Deerhound. and a French pilot-boat shared in this humane service. In this way, one hundred and nineteen were saved, the greater number by the boats of the Kearsarge. Semmes's three waist-boats had been torn to shreds in the fight, and he had left only two quarter-boats; these were filled with the wounded and with boys unable to swim.

The chances of this conflict, estimated from the relative strength and speed of the two vessels, were nearly equally balanced. Thus, the length over all, of the Alabama, was two hundred and twenty feet, and of the Kearsarge, two hundred and fourteen; the Alabama's length on water-line, two hundred and ten feet, and of the Kearsarge, one hundred and ninetyeight; the Alabama's beam was thirty-two feet, being one less than the Kearsarge's; depth of the Alabama, seventeen feet, or one more than the Kearsarge; the two engines of the Alabama were of three hundred horse-power each, while the horsepower of the Kearsarge was four hundred. Tonnage of the Alabama, eleven hundred and fifty; of the Kearsarge, one thousand and thirty.

For five days the Alabama had been in preparation. She had taken in three hundred and fifty tons of coal, which brought her down in the water. The Kearsarge had only one hundred and twenty tons in; but, as an offset to this, her sheet-chains were stowed outside, stopped up and down, as an additional preventive and protection to her more empty bunkers. Two shots

een of the Alabama's men, and disabled one of her guns.

On board the Kearsarge, three men were badly wounded, one of them-William Gowin, of Michigan-mortally. Though struck quite early in the action, by a fragment of a shell, which badly shattered his leg, near the knee-pan, Gowin refused assistance, concealed the extent of his injury, and dragged himself from the