KEARSARGE, The, a ship of the United States navy which played a conspicuous part in the only 'sea fight of the Civil War, when it destroyed the Alabama, a ship built in England at Birkenhead on the Mersey by the Lairds under contract with the Confederate States at a cost of $250,000, and sent to sea as a priva teer, in the spring of 1862. The vessel was known as u290." The name indicated only that the vessel was number 290 in order of launch from the builders' yards. Protest had gone to the British government from the American Minister at the Court of Saint James, Charles Francis Adams (q.v.), against the sailing of the ship. Meantime Capt. Raphael Semmes and 24 young naval officers from the Confed eracy arrived in Liverpool with commissions in their pockets to take command. For sake of prudence Captain Semmes ordered the to sail for the island of Terceira, one of the Azores, under command of Captain Butcher, a young officer of the British merchant marine. Semmes immediately followed as a passenger on an English ship. His armament had been already shipped to the same rendezvous. At Terceira the privateer ran up the Confederate colors, took her name as ordered by the Con federate government, and received on board as armament two pivot guns amidships and six 32-pounders, eight guns in all. The manning of the ship was 25 officers in all and about 120 men. Stores for a long cruise were taken aboard, and the vessel, equipped for both steam and sail, entered promptly upon her memorable career. On the night of 11 Jan. 1863, the United States steamer Hatteras engaged the Alabama off the coast of Texas and was sunk. The Alabama roved the seas for two years, seeking the commerce of the United States from both hemispheres. The privateer was supposed to have destroyed one-half the Amer ican merchant marine, then second in tonnage only to that of Great Britain among the nations. On the forenoon of 11 June 1864 the Alabama anchored in the port of Cherbourg, France. The intent of Captain Semmes was to dock his ship for much-needed repairs. While Semmes was awaiting the consent of the Emperor Napo leon III to the use of the government docks, the news of the arrival of the privateer spread over the land. Captain Winslow, command
ing the United States ship Kearsarge, lying at Flushing, was apprised of the fact by Dayton, United States Minister to France, and made for Cherbourg, sailed into the harbor and out without anchoring, but took position outside. Semmes rightly construed the conduct of the Kearsarge as the equivalent of a challenge to combat. The Alabama steamed out on Sunday morning in faultless weather. The Kearsarge's machinery was additionally protected by a chain-armor covered with one-inch deal boards. However, as that part of the ship was struck but twice, the •armor was of no material aid. The Kearsarge had 163 men and seven guns; the Alabama 149 men and eight guns. The metal carried by the Kearsarge guns was heav ier than the metal of the Alabama guns. The battle was fought in a circle and lasted one hour and two minutes, resulting in the sinking of the Alabama. In the first 30 minutes the Alabama lodged a rifled percussion shell near the sternpost of the Kearsarge, which from a faulty cap failed to explode. The shell is now to be seen, in the wood where it buried itself, in the ordnance museum of the navy yard at Washington. Captain Semmes remained on the deck of his ship until it went down. He and 41 others from the sunken vessel were res cued by the Deerhound, a pleasure yacht be longing to John Lancaster, an Englishman. Many persons had come from Paris to view the battle and the hills along the coast were lined with spectators as it progressed. After the close of the war the British government paid an indemnity to American shippers of $15,500, 000, representing losses inflicted by the Shenan doah (in part), the Florida (in full), and the Alabama (in full). Consult Semmes, 'The Cruise of the Alabama' (1864) ; Bullock, 'Se cret Service of the Confederate States' (1883) ; Sinclair, 'Two Years on the Alabama' (1895) ; 'Battles and Leaders of the Civil War' (1887 88) edited by Johnson and Buell; Edge, 'An Englishman's View of the Alabama-Kearsarge Battle' (1909).