Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1864-07-14

)mpelleu her 10 MOIST SAL, ny WIS
me- however, after about an hours
.ork, the Alabama was sinking, ana
,uld only make the best OF her way ID !
ne direction Of Cherbourg. i
To all appearances the superiority OF
he Kearsarge lay partly in her guns,
nd of course somewhat in her more nu-
lerous crew, but not less in her more
owerful machinery, which enabled her
0 move quicker and manGuyre more
asily.
There appears to have been q very re
pectable allowance of killed, wounded
nd missing, and among the latter is an
English surgeon, who Is supposed 10
AVE gone to the bottom in the midst OF
lis bleeding patients
Exactly an hour elapsed from the nrst
,hot to the moment when it became OBJ
vious that the vessel was sinking, when,
indeed the rudder was broken ana the !
fires were put out That Is the pace AT |
which our naval engagements VIII De
fought for the future. In this instance
the pace was all the quicker because the
guns had start of the ships, the guns be-
ing the new artillery-the ships wooden
The Kearsarge carries ten very heavy
ll.inch shell guns-the so-called Co
lumbiads of the American navy. The
Alabama on the contrary is stated to
have had only two heavy rihed guns and
six broadsiders (32-pounders.
The New York Times correspondent
says ........
"According to Mr.. Dayton, Jr.'s ac-
count, the action lasted about an hour
and a half The Kearsarge, although
hit in several places, received no vital
shot. The Kearsarge had but three men
touched and these not MORALLY. 1t is
not true that at any part of the fight
the Alabama had the advantage; the
manauvring and firing of the hearsarge
were both superior to the Alabama.-
| There is no evidence that Capt Semmes
tried to board the Kearsarge, as the Sc
cession prints say. Towards the end Of
the fight Capt. Winslow succeeded in
plauting a shot in the machinery Of the
| Alabama, which disabled her; he then
had things all his own way, and run
| ming close to her he poured into her a
| destructive converging br0adslde, which
| tore through whole section of the Ala
bama's side at the waterline and let the
water through in cascades. Both ships
then stopped firing, and the Alabama
without striking her flag started tow
ards Cherbourg, but Capt. Winslow,
hosting his flag of victory, started to
head her off. He saw, however that the
Alabama was filing, and at once lowered
two boats to 90 to her aid, and in effect,
the vessel sunk before she had proceeded
a dozen lengths toward the harbor. The
Kearsarge's boats picked up sixtyeight
persons of whom fourteen were wounded
and of whom three died. The Others
were picked up by the English yacht,
| Capt. Lancaster and landed at South
| ampton. The Kearsarge steamed at
once into the port of Cherbourg with
| her prisoners"
Captain Semmes escaped, it seems,
throughIa trick of English sympathisers.
The Southampton correspondent of the
London Daily News, says:
"Mr. Lancaster of the English yacht
Deerhound, being requested by the com
mander of the Kearsarge to save from
drowning the Alabamas men in the wa
| ter, he proceeded to do SO. Passing
near one of the men nearly exhausted,
one man in the boat cried out that's
Semmes,' and the drowning man re-
sponded, i am the Captain-save me, /
cannot keep up any longer
He was dragged in, when he said:
For Gods sake don't put me on lard
the Kearsarge, but put me o. ,rd rorr
| yacht This wac III ooal" a.,
! nee - -" proinlseu, any -
WIS slowed away in the bottom OF
the boat and covered in sail to conceal
him from those in the Kearsarge's boats,
who were evidently anxiously searching
for him. He was then taken TO the
Yacht and placed below. Mr.. Lancaster
soon afterward fastened away, fearful
that he might be overhauled and his yes
sci searched. Thus was Semmes saved
from the gallows by the contemplate
trick played by friendly Enghshman''
And the Paris correspondent of tn
New York Times says:
"In regard to Capt. Semmes and tn
other prisoners carried into Southamp
! ton. Capt. Winslow claims them as hi
: prisoners, and Mr.. Dayton has advise
= | MIR. ADAMS 10 uGtudHI hllSlI lShNi'ASA
, Can't. Wiuslow had ample time an
: means to pick up all the officers and me
. of the Alabama, but the boats OF tn
/ English yacht ran in and actually stol
d them away, as if acting upon preal
e ranged plan, thus constituting it clea
3 case of Intervention. Capt. Semmes an
3 party did not therefore escape. The
were stolen away by party who wa
9 Indirectly interfering in the fight. Ihei
n was no wish on the part of Capt Win'
: low to see Capt. Semmes drowned. o
!. the contrary he would have soon take
a up Semmes' boat load himself.
a Here let me place reflection. Is
If not strange that at her birth and NJ
n death, and all through the course OF HI
q short existence, whenever the Alaban
+ needed help there was always an EN-
+ lishman there to render it She Wa
It constructed by Englishmen in an Englis
IS port she was taken to sea, arme
! equipped and started on her career
~ pillage and devastation by EnglishmeI
,e She was fed, harbored, petted and pr
4, .actad in English norris and finall