By Huw Carnaby Wright
Approval
expected for Railway extensions:
In
my role as Transport correspondent, I have been following the progress through
Parliament of the ‘Lancashire Union Railway Act’. This legislation,
which is expected to be enacted sometime in July, will authorise a line from
the Blackbrook branch of the St Helens Railway
to Adlington
on the Bolton-to-Preston line of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway
(LYR) near Chorley.
 |
| John Lancaster |
In
the course of this process I have interviewed on several
occasions,
John Lancaster, Chairman of the Lancashire Union Railway (LUR).
Scourge
of American Shipping:
You
may recall my articles last year investigating the mysterious disappearance of
the ‘Herald’ and the false claims by her owners of piracy by the United
States. You can imagine my interest when news reached London that the Confederate
Commerce Raider ‘CSS Alabama’ under Capt. Raphael Semmes had docked for
repairs in Cherbourg on 11th June.
The
CSS Alabama, built in 1862 by John Laird, Sons & Co. of Birkenhead for the
Confederate States Navy, has made seven expeditionary raids, spanning the
globe, before heading to France for refit and repairs. At sea for 534 days out
of 637, she has captured and burned 65 United States mainly merchant vessels.
In all this time, CSS Alabama has never entered a Confederate
Port.
On
14th June the USS Kearsarge under Capt. John Winslow had
arrived off Cherbourg, and was awaited Capt. Raphael Semmes’ next move. Our
Gibraltar office confirmed that the USS St. Louis, an old Sloop of War,
had been summoned via telegraph to hurry north, both to bring provisions and to
assist in the blockade, however it arrived too late to impact events.
I
got permission to travel to France to witness these events unfold and with the
hope of interviewing Capt. Raphael Semmes himself.
An
unexpected arrival:
When
I reached Cherbourg, I found the CSS Alabama docked and undergoing hurried
repairs and her crew being drilled. Capt. Semmes, although civil, was not
willing to acquiesce to my request for an interview, or to permit me onboard. I
noted two British owned yachts, the ‘Hornet’ and the ‘Greyhound’,
were moored nearby.
 |
| Capt. Evan Parry Jones |
I
spoke several times with Capt. Hewitt of the Hornet and Capt. Evan Parry Jones
of the Greyhound, who both confirmed that, aside from the usual pleasantries,
there was no communication between them and the CSS Alabama.
The
yacht Deerhound was built in 1858 for the Duke of Leeds at the ‘then’
John Laird & Son shipyard in Birkenhead. She is a three-masted vessel,
built of steel, with a screw-propeller, with a tonnage of about 190, and
engines of a nominal power of seventy horses. When in her usual trim, she
steamed twenty knots, being about two knots beyond the speed of the CSS Alabama,
currently docked nearby. Shortly after construction, Greyhound was
bought by a wealthy Lancashire businessman and now cruised with his family
under the Royal Mersey Yacht Club banner.
On
Saturday 18th Captain Jones returned from the Railway Station with
the family of the owner of the ‘Greyhound’, who turned out to be none other than Mr. John
Lancaster of the LUR. Mr. Lancaster was very pleased to see me and generously
invited me to join them on board his yacht.
The
CSS Alabama seemed to be preparing for an oncoming battle and
refused the Lancaster’s a courtesy visit. Recognising the imminent departure of
the Alabama, the family held a meeting and discussed whether to sail
after her to get the best view of the expected battle as possible. It was put
to a vote and Miss. Catherine Lancaster, aged 9, gave the casting vote for
sailing out. I must point out that the choice put to Miss. Lancaster was that
they could either attend Church that Sunday or watch the naval battle!
Gauntlet
thrown down:
Having no
desire to see his worn-out ship rot away at a French dock while quarantined by
Union warships and given his instinctive aggressiveness and a long-held desire
once again to engage his enemy, Capt. Semmes chose to fight. After preparing
his ship and drilling the crew for the coming battle over several days, Semmes
issued, through diplomatic channels, a bold challenge (or hoped-for
intimidation) to the USS Kearsarge's commander,
"my
intention is to fight the Kearsarge as soon as I can make the necessary
arrangements. I hope these will not detain me more than until to-morrow or the
morrow morning at farthest. I beg she will not depart until I am ready to go
out. I have the honor to be Your obedient servant, R. Semmes, Captain."
Battle
is joined:
On
June 19, CSS Alabama, with nowhere else to go, ran up the Stars and Bars
and exited the harbour to attack Kearsarge. She was escorted by the French Navy
ironclad Couronne, whose mission was to
ensure that the ensuing battle occurred outside the French harbour. Behind
the warships sailed the Deerhound and the Hornet.
As Kearsarge
turned to meet her opponent, Alabama opened fire. Kearsarge
waited patiently until the range had closed to less than 1,000 yards. The two
ships steamed on opposite courses in seven spiralling circles, moving south-westerly
with the 3-knot current, each commander trying to cross the bow of his opponent
to deliver a heavy raking fire (to "cross the T"). The battle quickly turned against Alabama
due to the superior gunnery displayed by Kearsarge and the deteriorated
state of Alabama's contaminated powder and fuses. I learned later that her
most telling shot, fired from the forward 7-inch (178 mm) Blakely pivot
rifle, hit very near Kearsarge's vulnerable stern post, the impact binding the ship's rudder badly. That rifled shell, however, failed to explode. If
it had done so, it would have seriously disabled Kearsarge's steering,
possibly sinking the warship, and ending the contest. In addition, Alabama's
too rapid rate-of-fire resulted in frequent poor gunnery, with many of her
shots going too high, and as a result Kearsarge benefited little that
day from the protection of her outboard chain armour. Semmes later said that
the armour on Kearsarge was unknown to him at the time of his decision
to issue the challenge to fight, saying he would have never fought Kearsarge
if he had known she was armour-clad.
Not quite
a Full Metal Jacket:
USS Kearsarge's hull armour had been installed
in just three days, more than a year before, while she was in port at the
Azores. It was made using 120 fathoms (720 ft) of 1.7-inch single link
iron chain and covered hull spaces 49 feet 6 inches long by
6 feet 2 inches deep. It was stopped up and down to eye-bolts with
marlines and secured by iron dogs. Her chain armour was concealed behind 1-inch
deal-boards painted black to match the upper hull's colour. This "chain-cladding"
was placed along Kearsarge's port and starboard midsection down to the
waterline, for additional protection of her engine and boilers when the upper
portion of her coal bunkers were empty (coal bunkers play an important part in
the protection of modern steam vessels, such as protected cruisers).
However,
a hit to her engine or boilers could easily leave Kearsarge dead in the
water and vulnerable, or even cause a boiler explosion or fire that could
destroy the cruiser. Her armour belt was hit twice during the fight: First in
the starboard gangway by one of Alabama's 32-pounder shells that cut the
chain armour, denting the hull planking underneath, then again by a second
32-pounder shell that exploded and broke a link of the chain armour, tearing
away a portion of the deal-board covering. Had those rounds come from Alabama's
more powerful 100-pounder Blakely pivot rifle, they would have easily
penetrated, but the likely result would not have been very serious, as both
shots struck the hull a little more than five feet above the waterline. Even if
both shots had penetrated Kearsarge's side, they would have completely
missed her vital machinery. However, a 100-pound shell could have done a great
deal of damage to her interior and nearby crewmen; hot fragments could have
easily set fire to the cruiser, one of the greatest risks aboard a wooden
vessel.
According
to my calculations and those of over witnesses, Alabama fired 370 rounds
at her adversary, averaging one round per minute per gun, a very fast rate of
fire, while Kearsarge's gun crews fired less than half that number,
taking more careful aim. A little more than an hour after the first shot was
fired, Alabama was reduced to a sinking wreck by Kearsarge's
powerful 11-inch (280 mm) Dahlgrens, forcing Captain Semmes to strike his colours and to send one of his two
surviving boats to Kearsarge to ask for assistance.
I later
learnt from her officers that, prior to this, she had her steering gear
compromised by shell hits, but the fatal shot came later when one of Kearsarge's
11-inch (280 mm) shells tore open a midsection of Alabama's
starboard waterline. Water quickly rushed through the defeated cruiser,
eventually drowning her boilers and forcing her down by the stern to the
bottom. As Alabama sank, the injured Semmes threw his sword into the
sea, depriving Kearsarge's commander Captain John Ancrum Winslow of the
traditional surrender ceremony of having it handed over to him as victor.
During
the confusion of battle, five more rounds were fired at Alabama after
her colours were struck. (Her gun ports had been left open and the broadside
cannon were still run out, appearing to come to bear on Kearsarge.) Then
a hand-held white flag came fluttering from Alabama's stern spanker
boom, finally halting the engagement.
Counting
the Cost:
Immediately
after USS Kearsarge ceased firing on the stricken cruiser, the Deerhound
sailed to offer assistance and Capt. Jones reports that Capt. Winslow signalled
him, asking him to render all assistance possible to the drowning crew.
Three
men were wounded aboard the USS Kearsarge, one of whom died the
following day. Of her 170 crew, the CSS Alabama suffered 40 fatalities,
(9 killed in action and 10 drowned) and 21 wounded. Another seventy or so were
picked up by USS Kearsarge. 42 were rescued by Deerhound, including
Capt. Semmes and fourteen of his officers, while others were rescued by three
French Pilot-boats.
Instead
of delivering the captured Confederates to USS Kearsarge, Mr. Lancaster
had Deerhound set a course for Southampton, thus enabling Capt.
Semmes to escape. This act severely angered USS Kearsarge's crew, who
begged their captain to allow them to open fire on the British yacht. Happily, Capt.
Winslow would not allow this, so the Confederates got away and avoided
imprisonment, whilst I survived to write this report. In fact, as they had been
rescued under a neutral ship, there was no obligation to hand them over. That
evening, the Deerhound landed at Cowes, and after a short interlude of
harbour formalities, the Alabama crew was landed at Southampton. James Mason
the unofficial Confederate representative to Great Britain and France, (who,
you may recall, had been seized but then released by the US Navy in the ‘Trent
Affair’), later came to visit and personally thanked Mr. Lancaster and his
family for his kindness and humanity.
Time
on their hands:
The yacht
Hornet, owned by Mr. James Bryant of the Royal Western Yacht Club, was
also in close proximity to the naval action and had managed to secure the
seventy or so chronometers of the Alabama. Lt. Arthur Sinclair describes that
just before leaving Cherbourg Capt. Semmes ordered the chronometers to be
transferred to Capt. Hewitt.
We
do know that on Monday 28th June 1864 there were 68 chronometers forwarded to
Mr. Benjamin Nicholson of Messrs Camper and Nicholson in Portsmouth from the
Hornet. Each one of them was engraved with the name of the ship from which they
were taken. Where they went from there needs to be investigated.
Lt.
Sinclair informed me that Capt. Semmes had wanted to sell them in Cherbourg,
but was forbidden to do so by the French authorities.
Crew
members of the Deerhound and Lancaster family:
Mr. John
Lancaster, Mrs. Euphemia Lancaster (wife), Catherine Lancaster (daughter), John
Lancaster Jr. (son), Robert Lancaster (son) G.G. Lancaster (son), Miss. Wilson
(niece).
Robert
Durham (Cook), William Roberts (Steward), Miss. Brown (Maid).
Evan
P. Jones (Captain), Robert Hughes (Mate), William Bell (Engineer), William
Jones (Fireman), Harry Adams (ABS), J Page (ABS) John Roe (ABS), Robert
Broderick (ABS), Robert Ferris (ABS).
Huw
Carnaby Wright (journalist & guest)
