The Sun.
London, England, 1863-02-16 00:00:00

A VISIT TO THE ALABAMA.

The following extract of a letter from a gentle-
man resident in Jamaica will be read with inte-

rest :

Kingston, Jamaica, Jan. 23.

I have just been down to Post Royal, in com-
pany with Captain Nixon, to visit the Confederate
steamship Alabama, or 290, which came in here on
Tuesday evening last to refit and land her prisoners
(101 men and 17 officers) taken from the Federal
gunboat Hatteras, which she fought and sunk off
Galveston Harbour, on Sunday night the 11th inst.
Her arrival at this part has caused the greatest ex-
citement, and hundreds have been down to look at a
vessel which has made such unprecedented havoc in
the ranks of her enemies. She has only been in
commission five months, and has already destroyed
30 Federal ships. We were very courteously re-
ceived on board by the officers, who took us over the
vessel, and pointed out all her arrangements, and
described in detail the late successful action. It
appears that the Alabama was cruising off Galves-
ton, at which port several of the Federal ships of
war were lying, and Captain Semmes intended to
run in at night, do what damage he could, and
then sheer off; but they caught sight of him during
the day and gave chase, one of them, the unfortu-
nate Hatteras, continuing it until night. Captain
Semmes gave them leg bail, until it was quite dark,
when he suddenly hauled round, and stood in for
the harbour, which manoeuvre soon brought him
alongside his opponent, who appears not to have
recognised him, but hailed, " What ship's that ?"
To which Capt. Semmes replied, " This is her
Britannic Majesty's gunboat Petrel ;" and hailed
in return, " What ship's that ?" The answer was,
" This is the United States gunboat Hatteras, in
search of the Alabama." " Well, said Captain
Semmes, " here we are ; this is the Confederate
steamer Alabama ;" and as the guns were all loaded
and manned, and the order given to fire the mo-
ment the men heard the word Alabama, he had no
sooner spoken than crash went the whole of her
starboard guns right into the Hatteras at a dis-
tance of forty yards. a large shell exploding in her
engine-room and completely disabling her. She re-
turned their fire, of course ; but it was all up with
her, and she struck by firing a gun to leeward
thirteen minutes after the action commenced, and
went down in fty-four minutes, head foremost,
barely giving Captain Semmes time to save the
officers and crew. Ido not know how many men
were killed on board, as the Confederate officers
had no means of judging except by the statements
of their enemies, which they did not seem to be-
lieve. The Alabama had not one killed and but
one wounded, and that very slightly.
The Alabama carries eight guns, all of large
calibre. One of them they told us would throw a
1201 b. shot. She appears to be somewhat damaged
by the encounter, one shot having gone right
through her bows; another, apparently aimed at
her rudder, struck her under the counter, and shat-
tered several of her planks ; altogether she received
five shots. The Hatteras carried nine guns.
It is not known how long the Alabama will stay
here, but, as there are a whole fleet of the Federal
cruisers on the look-out for her, I suppose she will
not stop more than a few days. Her officers are all
young men, with the exception of the first lieute-
nant; most of them I should say between 18 and
25 years, and fine gentlemanly fellows they are.
She has a crew of about 150. The officers spoke
very warmly of the sympathy invariably shown to
them in English ports. They told us that the
Southern people did not expect or wish England to
interfere on their behalf, but thought they had fairly
won their title to be recognised as a nation; stat-
ing, moreover, that but one feeling existed in
the South, and pervaded all ranks, down even
to their children, which was the determination
to achieve their freedom at any cost. They spoke
with pardonable pride of what they had already
done, and with sorrow of the sufferings caused by
this unhappy struggle, which they hoped might
soon be ended; in the meantime they intended to
do their part towards damaging their enemies.
The prisoners were all in irons when we went
on board, with the exception of the officers, who
were on their parole, but they were all liberated
and sent ashore during the day, and are now in
charge of the United States vice-consul, who in-
tends sending them to Key West by the first op-
portunity.

There is but one feeling here, which is a hearty
sympathy with the Southern cause. Some of the
officers told us that they were E 0 kindly received
in Kingston that they almost thought they were at
home again. One of them took out of his pocket
a copy of a daily London journal of Manchester
" proclivities," and pointed out some articles which
he charact erised as gross misrepresentations of their
cause. I was glad to be able to set him right as to
the wholly exceptional character of the paper in
question, which appeared to afford him considerable
satisfaction. We shook hands at parting, wished
them all success, and left them very much gratified
by our visit. I could not, of course, learn what is
the Alabama's destination after leaving here, but,
from what the officers told me, I think it will not
be long before we hear of the Alabama again.

PLYMOUTH, Saturday.—The iron screw steamship
Harriet Pinckney, 571 tons, Captain H. C. Halpon,
belonging to Mr. Begbie, of and for London, with 300 bales
of cotton, from Bermuda, put into the Sound this afternoon
for fuel. She left at the island on January 29, in St.
George's harbour, the iron paddlewheel steamship Merri-
mac, about 600 tons, which had been five months in port,
and the iron screw steamship Phoebe, about 400 tons, which
was preparing to depart for Australia, where she will be
employed in the conveyance of the intercolonial mails. The
iron paddlewheel steamship Cornubia left Bermuda on the
27th of January with a mixed cargo for the southward.
The Harriet Pinckney brings some cases of clothing for the
distressed weavers in Lancashire. Rear-Admiral Sir Alex-
ander Milne, K.C.8., in the screw steamship Nile, 78, Cap-
tain Edward K. Barnard, with a squadron of five or six
ships, was in Hamilton harbour, where he would probably
continue. The paddlewheel steamvessel Spitfire, 5, Charles
Bawden master, had towed from a reef of rocks the merch-
ant schooner S, T. Territt into Hamilton. The screw
and
January
h e sye
steam gunvessel Nimble, 5, Lieutenant John D'Arcy, three
days from New York, arrived at Bermuda on the 21st of
n ;
;the paddlewheel steam sloop Vesuvius, 6, Capt.
Richard
eHwasmteialm stonioforpompeHspaevraantec
n,aho,manirraivnedderoTn.tThehr2u4pthp:
on the 28th, from Halifax, with the English mail of the 10th.
The screw steam sloop Rinaldo, 17, Commander A. R. Dun-
lop, from New Orleans; the screw steam frigate Orlando,
46, Captain George S. Randolph, from Matamoras ; and
the screw steam corvette Pylades, 21, Captain Arthur W.
A. Hood, were daily expected at Bermuda. The screw steam
frigate Melpomene, 51, Captain Charles J. F. Ewart, left
on the 23d for Barbadoes and the West Coast of Africa,
and the paddlewheel steam sloop Styx, 6, Commander the
lion. William T. Ward, on the 26th for Havannah and New
Orleans. The merchant ship Visurgis, of San Francisco,
Captain Baker, 156 days from Callao, with a cargo of guano
for London, put into Plymouth Sound this afternoon, wind-
bound.

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