The Sun.
London, England, 1864-06-21 00:00:00

(Front the Times Correspondent.)
SOUTHAMPTON (Monday).
The English steam-yacht Deerhound, belonging
to Mr. John Lancaster, of Hindley-hall, Wigan,
Lancashire, arrived here last night and landed Cap.
tain Semmes (commander of the late Confederate
steamer Alabama), 13 officers, and 26 men, whom
she rescued from drowning after the action off Cher-
bourg yesterday, which resulted in the destruction
of the world-renowned Alabama. From interviews
held this morning with Mr. Lancaster, with Capt.
Jones (master of the Deerhound), and with some of
the Alabama's officers; and from information gleaned
in other quarters, I am enabled to furnish you with
some interesting particulars connected with the
fight between the Alabama and the Kearsage.
The Deerhound is a yacht of 190 tons and 70-
horse power, and her owner is a member of the Royal
Yacht Squadron at Cowes and of the Royal Mersey
Yacht Ciub. By a somewhat singular coincidence
she was built by Messrs. Laird and Son, of Birkene
head, and proof of her fleetness is furnished by the
fact that she steamed home from the scene of action
yesterday at the rate of 13 knots an hour. On
arriving at Cherbourg at 10 o'clock on Saturday
night, by railway from Caen, Mr Lancaster was
informed by the captain of his yacht, which was
lying in harbour awaiting his arrival, that it was
reported that the Alabama and the Kearsage were
going out to fight each other in the morning. Mr
Lancaster, whose wife, niece, and family were also
on board his yacht, at once determined to go out in
the morning and see the combat.
The Alabama left Cherbourg harbour about 10
o'clock oa Sunday morning, and the Rearsage was
then several miles out to seaward, with her steam
up ready for action. The French plated ship of
war Couronne followed the Alabama out of harbour
and stopped when the vessels were a league off the
coast, her object being to see that there was no vio-
lation of the law of nations by any fight taking
place within the legal distance from land. The
combat took place about nine miles from Cherbourg,
and as there are some slight differences (as might
naturally be expected under the circumstances) in
relation to the period over which it lasted, and other
matters, it may be well here to reproduce from Mr
Lancaster's letter in the limes of this morning the
subjoined extract from the log kept on board the
Deerhound :
Sunday, June 10, 9 aan,—Got up steam and prcceeded
out of Cherbourg harbour. 10.30.—Observed the Alabama
steaming out of the harbour towards the Federal steamer
Kearsage. 11.10.—The Alabama commenced firing with
her starboard battery, the distance between the contending
vessels being about one mile. The Kearsage immediately
replied with her starboard guns; a very sharp, spirited
firing was then kept up, shot sometimes being varied by
shells. In manoeuvring both vessels made seven com-
plete circles at a distance of from a quarter to half
a mile. At 12 a slight intermission was observed in
the Alabama's firing, the Alabama making head sail, and
shaping her course for the land, distant about nine miles.
At 12 30 observed the Alabama to be disabled and in a
sinking state. We immediately made towards her, and on
passing the Kearsage were requested to assist in saving the
Alabama's crew. At 12 50, when within a distance of 200
yards, the Alabama sank. We then lowered our two boats
and, with the assistance 'of the Alabama's whale boat and
dingy, succeeded in saving about 40 men, including Cap-
tain Semmes and 13 officers. At 1 p.m. we steered for
S,,,athampton.
One of the officers of the Alabama names the
same hour—viz., 11 10, as the commencement of
the action, and 12 40 as the period of its ce3sation,
making its duration an hour and a half; while the
time observed on board the Deerhound, which is
most likely to be accurate, that vessel being free
from the excitement and confusion necessarily exists
ing on board the Alabama, limited the action to an
hour, the last shot being fired at 12 10. The dis-
tance between the two contending vessels when the
Alabama opened fire was estimated on board the
Deerhound at about a mile, while the Alabama's
officer tells me she was a mile and a half away from
the Kearsage when she fired the first shot. Be this
as it may it is certain that the Alabama commenced
the firing, and as it is known that her guns were
pointed for a range of 2,000 yards, and that the
second shot she firsd, in about half a minute after
the first, went right into the Kearsage, that may
be taken as the real distance between the two ships.
The firing became general from both vessels at the
ilistance of a little under a mile, and was well
sustained on both sides, Mr. Lancaater's Isnpresslon
being that at no time during the action were they
less than a quarter of a mile from each other.
Seven complete circles were made in the period
over which the fight lasted. It was estimated
on board the Deerhound that the Alabama
fired in all about 150 rounds, some single guns,
and some in broadsides of three or four, and the
Kearsage about 100, the majority of which were
11-inch shells. Ttie Alabama's were principally
Blakeley's pivot guns, In the early part of the
action the relative firing was about three from the
Alabama to one from the Kearsage, bat as it pro.
greased the latter gained the advantage, having
apparently a much greater power of steam. She
appeared to have an advantage over the A labama of
about three knots an hour, and steam was seen
rushing out of her blowpipe all through the action,
while the Alabama seemed to have very little
steam on,
At length the Alabama's rudder was disabled by
one of her opponent's heavy shells, and they hoisted
sails; but it was soon reported to Captain Semmes
by one of his officers that his ship was sinking.
With great bravery the guns were kept ported till
the muzzles were actually under water, and the last
shot from the doomed ship was fired as she was
settling down. When her stern was completely under
water Captain Semmes gave orders for the men to
!eve themselves as best they could, and every one
Jumped into the sea and swam to the boats which
bed put off' to their rescue. Those of them who
were wounded were ordered by Captain Semmes to
be placed in the Alabama's boats and taken on board
the Kearsage, which was as far as possible obeyed.
Captain Semmes and those above-mentioned
Were
saved in the.Deerhound's boats, and when itwasascertained that the water was clear of every one
that had life left, and that no more help could be
rendered, the yacht steamed away for Cowes, and
thence to this port.
The Kearsage, it is known, has for some
time
past been in hot pursuit of the Alabama, Which
vessel Captain Winslow was determined to follow
everywhere till he overtook his enemy. Very
recently she chased and came up with one of
the vessels of the Chinese expeditionary force re.
turning to England, and ran alongside with her guns
pointed and crew at quarters before she could be
convinced of her mistake, for the expeditionary
vessel was very like the celebrated Confederate
cruiser. The Kearsage was then described as likely
to prove a formidable overmatch for tho Alabama,
having higher steam power and ra':e of speed, a
crew " nearly double " that under Captain Semmes,
and, unlike her sister ship the Tuscarora, carrying
10, instead of eight, very heavy 11-inch shell guns
—the so-called Columbiads of the American navy.
The Alabama, on the contrary, is stated to have had
only two heavy rifled guns and six broadside 32-
pounders. The Confederate, too, after her long
cruise, was sorely in need of a refit. Part of her
copper, it is said, was off, and her bottom was co-
vered with long weeds.
The crew of the Alabama comprised in all about
150 when she left Cherbourg. Of these 10 or 12
were killed during the action, and a number were
known to be drowned, the difference between these
and the number brought home by the Deerhound
i
being, its hoped,
saved by the boats of the Kear-
sage, or some French pilot boats which were in the
'f:;e Frenca War vessel Couronne did not
come out beyond three miles. The surgeon of the
Alabama was an Engli.9'Jman, and, as nothing h,B
been heard of him eine° he went below to dress the
wounds of some of the sufferers, it is feared Chat he
Went down with the ship.

The Presidential Contest in America.

BALTIMORE, June 6,
An Englishman in New York, unless he be a lord
or a Dissenting minister, with Republican " procli-
vities," and strong opinions on the subject of negro
slavery, finds few friends. He is an alien, an enemy,
a person ignorant of everything but the unimpor-
tant concerns of his own little island ; and one who
is supposed on the stage, in the newspapers, and in
such cultivated society as the pace affords to inva-
riably misplace his aspirates, and to call himself a
" Hinglishman." It is very different in Baltimore.
To be an Englishman is to be furnished with a
perpetual passport to the good will and favour of
everybody of any note in the place—except the
military governor and his subordinates—who hold
the city by the strong hand, and repress in every
possible way the opinions and feelings of the inha-
bitants. The Baltimoreans are proud of their Eng-
lish descent, their English manners, their English
hospitality, and their English sympathies. If ever
they have an ill word to say against England, it is
because they are angry with the British Govern-
merit for not having recognised the independence of
the South, and so expedited their own deliverance
from the Northern Union. They take care, however,
to distinguish between the people and the Govern,
ment in the blame which they cast npon Lord Rus-
sell and Lord Palmerston, and look forward to the
day, long though it may he in coming, when the
mother country and her Southern children—more
truly hers than the mixed breed of Europe that have
peopled and overrun the 'North—shall be united,
B
net alone in sympathy, but in commercial and poli-
alNnleswhoYttOaltimore loves the Eng-
rk hates them, and hopes,
when free trade with England shall follow the s much as
re-
cognition of the South, to become one of the first
commercial cities of the American continent, and to
rival New York in influence and
i hospitality. Bal-
timore is as inimical to all that s Yankee as Rich-
mond or Charleston, and were it n
not for the presence
of a large military force, which is in possession
of
Fort M'Heury, and could reduce the city to ashes
in an hour, if it threatened to revolt against the
depotism which it abhors, it would hoist the Con.
federate flag, and invite the Southern army to enter
and hold it. Maryland, of which it is the pride
and the emporium, has at this moment no less than
20,000 of her sons in the Southern army, fighting,
without the inducement of bounty money or any,
.
merzenery consideration whatever, for the cause of
Southern Independence ; about double the number
that she has raised for the Northern armies, not-
withstanding ail the bounties offt.red by the Federal
Government and the manicipaliries, and the sums
contributed by the rich to avoid the risk of a con-
scription. The 20,000 are for the most part natives
of Maryland; the 8,000 or 10,000 in the Federal
army are mainly Irish or Germans, with whom the
bounty is everything and the cause nothing
togeth„er with negroes and the freed slaves of ‘4 dis-
h-Tat. owners. The ladies of Baltimore, renowned
as being the handsomest in America, a tradition of
olden time, which the passing glanco of the stranger

The wounded men on board the Deerhound were
carefully attended to until her arrival here, When
they were taken to the Sailors' lime, in the
Canute-road. Several of the men are more or less
scarred, but they are all out about the town to-day,
and the only noticeable case is that of a man who
was wounded in the groin, and that but slightly.
Captain Snarnes, and his first.lieurenant, Mr. J.
Kill, are staffing at lc,iwrifs Hote!, in Queen's-

THE NAVAL ACTION BETWEEN THE terrace, where the gallant commander is under the
ALABAMA AND THE KEARSAGE, care of Dr. Ware, a medical gentleman of this town,
his right hand being slightly splintered by a shell.
When the men came on board the Deerhound they
had nothing on but their drawers and shirty, having
been stripped to fight, and one of the men, with a
sailor's devotedness, insisted on seeing his captain,
who was then lying in Mr. Lancaster's cabin in a
very exhausted state, as he had been intrusted by
Captain Semmes with the ship's papers, and to no
one else would he give them up. The men were all
very anxious about their captain, and were rejoiced
to find that he had been saved: They appeared to
be a set of first-rate fellows, and to act well together
in perfect union under the most trying circum.
stances.

The captain of the forecastle on board the Ala-
bama, a Norwegian, says that when he was in the
water he was hailed by a boat from the Kearsage,
" Come here, old man, and we'll save you ;" to which
he replied, " Never mind me, I can keep up half an
hour yet ; look after some who are nearer drowning
than I am." He then made away for the Deerhound,
thanking God that he was under English colours.
Throughout the action the Deerhound kept about
a mile to windward of the combatants, and was en-
abled to witness the whole of it, The Kearsage was
burning Newcastle coals, and the Alabama Welsh
coals, the difference in the smoke (the north country
coal yielding so much more) enabling the moves
ments of each ship to be distinctly traced. Mr.
Lancaster is clearly of opinion that it was the Kear-
sage's 11-inch shells which gave her the advan-
tage, and that, after what he has witnessed on this
occasion, wooden ships stand no chance whatever
against shells. Both vessels fired well into each
other's hull, and the yards and masts were not
much damaged. The mainmast of the Alabama
had been sruck by shot, and as the vessel was sink-
ing broke off and fell into the sea, throwing some
men who were in the maintop into the water. Some
tremendous gaps were visible in the bulwarks of
the Kearsage, and it was believed that some of her
boats were disabled. She appeared to be temporarily
plated with iron chains, &c. As far as could he ssen
everything appeared to be well planned and ready
on board the Kearsage for the action. It was appae
rent that Captain Semmes intended to fight at a
long range, and the fact that the Kearsage did not
reply till the two vessels got nearer together showed
that they preferred the short range, and the supe-
rior steaming power of the latter enabled this to be
accomplished. It is remarkable that no attempt
was made by the Kearsage to close and board the
Alabama, and when the Alabama hoisted sails and
made as if for the shore the Kearsage moved away
in another direction, as though her rudder or screw
was damaged and out of control. Great pluck was
shown on both sides during the action. On board
the Alabama all the hammocks were let loose, and
arrangements had been made for sinking her rather
than she should be captured.
As far as is known, not a relic of the Alabama is
in the possession of her successful rival, When she
was sinking Capt. Semmes dropped la's own sword
into the sea to prevent the possibility of its getting
into their hands, and the gunner made a hole in one
of the Alabama's boats and sank her for the same
reason.

Before leaving the Deerhound Capt. Semmes pre.
sented to MrLancaster's son one of his officer's s words
and a pistol in remembrance of the occurrence and
the kind treatment he and his men had received on
board the yacht. The men stated that the best
practice generally on board the Alabama during the
action was shown by the gunners who had been
trained on board the Excellent in Portsmouth har-
bour.

The spectacle presented during the combat is de-
scribed by those who witnessed it from the Deer-
hound as magnificent, and thus the extraordinary
career of the Alabama has come to a grand and
appropriate termination.
The presence of the Deerhound on the scene was
a providential circumstance, as in all probability
the men saved by her would otherwise have been
drowned, and a lamentable addition would thus
have been made. to the number of lives lost on the
occasion.
Nothing is known here respecting the Kearsage
or her subsequent movements. She was in command
of Captain John Winslow, and had about the came
nuuner of officers and es the A 1.1-arna_ Tha
navy list describes her its
1,031 tons register, and carrying eight guns, being
two guns less than the To:c irora mounts, to which
in ail other respects the Kearsage is a sister ship,
The Tuscarora will be romem Dere I as the Federal
ships of war that some two years and a half ago lay
at this port watching the Nashville. Several of the
Alabama's officers row here were attached to the
Nashville on that occasion.
The Alabama's chronometers, specie, and all the
bills of ransomed vessels are saved, having been
handed over to a gentleman at Cherbourg before
she left that port.
Mr. Mason , the Confederate agent, Capt. Bullock,
and the Rev. Mr. frcmlett arrived by the four
o'clock train this afternoon from London, and pro-
ceeded to Kelway's Hotel to meet Capt. Semmes.
Captain Semmes and all the men are now placed
under the care of Mr. J. Wiblin for such medical
attendance as may be required.