Category: History - American
In the decade preceding the Civil War in America the carrying trade of the United States had grown into a vast industry. The hardy seamen of New England had flung out the stars and stripes to every breeze, and cast anchor in the most remote regions where a paying cargo might b...
The next field of the Alabama's operations was to be the great highway of commerce off the coast of Brazil, and the mid-Atlantic to the northward. Hardly a day out from Port Roy...
7. CHAPTER VII.On October 21st, 1862, a large ship was seen carrying a cloud of canvas, and running with great speed before the wind. The reefs of the Alabama's topsails were shaken out and pr...
10. CHAPTER X.The next afternoon the Alabama ran down to the solitary little island of Blanquilla, near the coast of Venezuela, whither the Agrippina had preceded her. At the anchorage Captai...
17. CHAPTER XVII.The fame of the Alabama had preceded her, and her reception at the capital of the colony was an ovation. One of the Cape Town newspapers thus describes her arrival:
20. CHAPTER XX.On board the Kearsarge the long wait had bred doubts of the martial temper of Captain Semmes, and aside from the preparations already made affairs had largely dropped back into...
21. CHAPTER XXI.Although the deal covering of the chain armor on the Kearsarge was ripped off in many places and some of the links themselves broken, a close inspection showed that no shot whic...
6. CHAPTER VI.A week of tempestuous weather followed. The prisoners from the last two prizes occupied the open deck, with no other shelter than an improvised tent made from a sail. They were...
5. CHAPTER V.The Confederate flag was first hoisted on the Alabama, Sunday, August 24th, 1862. When once the shipping articles had been signed coaxing and persuasion were at an end, and the...
19. CHAPTER XIX.June 11th, 1864, the Alabama entered the port of Cherbourg, France, and Captain Semmes made application for leave to place his vessel in a dock for the purpose of replacing the...
4. CHAPTER IV.Captain Raphael Semmes was a typical representative of Southern chivalry. He was an ardent admirer of the South and a firm believer in her peculiar "institution." His memoirs, w...
18. CHAPTER XVIII.Running southward to the fortieth parallel, the Alabama availed herself of both a trade wind and a current setting eastward. The following month was spent in the eastward trip,...
11. CHAPTER XI.The Alabama coasted along the secluded north shore of Jamaica for the next forty-eight hours, while the engine was undergoing repair. It was now the 12th day of December, and Ca...
15. CHAPTER XV.As the Alabama left the anchorage of Fernando de Noronha four whale boats were successively cast adrift, and the islanders made a grand scramble for the possession of them. The...
16. CHAPTER XVI.The Alabama had now made some fifty captures, and American vessels were taking circuitous routes in order to avoid her. In some cases they had been sold to British owners, and d...
13. CHAPTER XIII.To get out of the gulf before the exits could be guarded was now the all-important thing for the Alabama. Had Captain Semmes known that the Sonoma was off the north shore of Yuc...
9. CHAPTER IX.To his surprise Captain Semmes found the whole town expecting him, although this was the first port he had entered since leaving Terceira two months previous. The Agrippina had...
3. CHAPTER III.Captain Bulloch had gone ashore with the pilot at the Giant's Causeway, in the north of Ireland, and the vessel was under the command of Captain Butcher. During the next nine da...
2. CHAPTER II.In March, 1862, a steamer just in from an ocean voyage ran up the Mersey, and as she passed the suspected craft the flag of the latter was dipped to her. The new comer was the A...
12. CHAPTER XII.On the 5th of January, 1863, the Alabama left the Arcas Keys for her cruise to the northward. Full descriptions of the Banks expedition and its destination had appeared in the n...
1. CHAPTER I.In the decade preceding the Civil War in America the carrying trade of the United States had grown into a vast industry. The hardy seamen of New England had flung out the stars...
8. CHAPTER VIII.When off duty the sailors amused themselves by spinning yarns and singing songs. Sometimes they got up a sparring match, and occasionally hazing of the duller or less active of...