St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1886-05-22
THE STORY OF A BoAT.
huiit for tho Purpose Of Becoming
Confederate Cruiser.


Phiiadelphia Times.
The ship Andromeda, Capt Henry Kron,
cleared from Philadelphia OH the S0th ult.,
bound for Geestermnnde, Germany. This
fact is not likely to awaken an interest in
the mind of the average reader, for arrivals
ana departures, known and unknown,
"tramps" and "liners" are noted every day.
But the Andromeda has history. almost q
romance. AT one time she was probable
factor and instrument in the hands OF the
Confederacy; she might have become OF
national interest; now she carries Kerosene
to our German cousins-in-t trade, and carries
1t in bulk. The novelty may be some COM
pensation for the loss of the romance.
In the early part of 1864 some English
men, having watched with evident salts
faction the numerous profitable captures OF
the Alabama, conceived the happy thought
that there was room for one more such
craft on the water. They laid the keel to
what was to be larger, and in every way
better vessel, and hurried her forward to
completion.
They did good work and made staunch
ship. while they no doubt looked forward
with intense satisfaction to the time when,
sailing under commission from The Con-
against the Yankee merchant marine and
bring gold and silver galore to the pockets
of her enterprising owners. The ship was
launched, christened in the usual way, her
machinery made ready for placing and
everything was being rushed forward with
all possible haste, when news came that the
Kearsage had followed the Alabama into
Cherbourg and that battle was probable.
Probability became a fact OH Sunday, June
10, and the Alabama'S sun went down, not
in sea of glory, but'Stern first and full of
holes.
Rear Admiral Raphael Semmes COM
pleted one more variation to his career as
farmer, preacher, lawyer, d-well-naval
commander, dropped his sword in the
water, jumped i'll after it, and was soon
picked up by the English Deerhound and
carried with others of the rescued, to
Southampton.
1t is said that Admiral Semmes sought a
conference with the owners of the new
ship. 1t is not doubted that he was able
to present excellent credentials and to give
numerous instances of past success as in
| dicative of future possibilities, but the
news from Cherbourg had dampened the
| Englishmen's ardor, and Semmes was not
welcomed with any excessive degree of
cOTulaIlty. Inc owners would nOC replace
the Alabama with their new ship. They
would wait awhile. Confederate bonds
were losing their golden hue, and
cotton's crown was getting very
shaky. With their usual caution
they considered guinea in the
pocket worth several on the ar-troubled
and Kearsarge-infested waters. and so, in
| railroad parlance, they sidestracked the one
time intended ally of the Confederacy.
Their decision was wisely made. The
march through Georgia made eventful the
closing month of 1864, while April, 1865
found Grant at AppomattoX, and the NORTH
was up and the South was down. No in
depreciation of international law could make
of second Alabama anything else than /:
| pirate, so the owners of the new shiE
stopped her embryonic romance in the frs
chapter, and changed 1t into freighter
| and a tramp at that. The machinery wa!
sold. and as full-rigged ship, with iror
| masts, she became the Andromeda. Fol
nineteen years she sailed the ocean blue
| She changed hands and now halls from
Geestermunde, ON the river Weser, fifty ODD
| miles from Bremen.