Confederate privateer: a British vessel, manned chiefly by British subjects at a British port; armed with British cannon, and provided with coal and other supplies from British soil.
She had no acknowledged flag, nor recognized nationality, nor any accessible port to which she might send her prizes, nor any legal tribunal to adjudge her captures.
She was commanded by
Raphael Semmes, a native of
Maryland, and roamed the seas, plundering and destroying vessels belonging to American citizens.
Her commander avoided contact with American armed vessels, but finally encountered the
Kearsarge,
 |
|
The Alabama. |
Capt. John A. Winslow, off
Cherbourg.
France, in the summer of 1864.
On June 19
Semmes went out of the harbor of
Cherbourg to fight the
Kearsarge.
The
Alabama was accompanied by a French frigate to a point beyond the territorial waters of
France.
At a distance of 7 miles from the Cherbourg breakwater, the
Kearsarge turned and made for the Confederate cruiser, when, within 1,200 yards of her, the latter opened fire.
After receiving two or three broadsides, the
Kearsarge responded with telling effect.
They fought for an hour, the steamers moving in a circle.
At the end of the hour the
Alabama was at the merey of her antagonist, and a white flag was displayed over her stern.
Respecting this,
Winslow ceased firing.
Two minutes afterwards the
Alabama treacherously fired two guns at the
Kearsarge, and attempted to run to the protection of the
French neutral waters, not more than 3 miles distant.
Winslow opened fire again, and very soon a boat came to his vessel from the
Alabama, saying she had surrendered and was fast sinking.
Just then the
Deerhound passed by, when
Winslow humanely asked her owner to assist him in saving the crew of the
Alabama, which, in twenty minutes, went to the bottom of the sea. the
Kearsarge rescued sixty-five of the crew; the
Deerhound picked up
Semmes, his officers, and a few mariners, and carried them away from the lawful custody of
Winslow, to
England.
There
Semmes was received with great honor.
the
Kearsarge had three men badly wounded--one of them mortally.
the
Alabama had nine men killed and twenty-one wounded. See
arbitration, tribunal of;
joint high commission. 
