Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1886-11-19
The Sinking of the Al >.4ssna.

From the account in the Century, by
John Mcintosh kell. the second officer in
command of the Confederate vessel Alabn-
ma, we take the following: "When the fir
ing ceased, Captain Semmes ordered me to
dispatch an officer to the k,arsarge to saw
that our ship was sinking, and to ask that
they send boats to save our wounded. az
our boats We're disabled. The dingey. our
| smallest boat, had escaped damage. I dis
patched Masters Mate Fullam with the re-
quest. No boats appearing, I had one of
our quarter boats lowered, which was
slightly injured. and ordered the wound-
ed placed in her. DIR. Gait, the surgeon
who was in charge Of the magazine and
! shell-room division, came on deck at this
moment, and was Mt once put in charge of
the boat. with orders to take the wouple,l
to the kearsarge.' They showed off lust in
time to save the poor fellows from going
down in the ship.
u now gave the order for every man to
Jump overheard with a spar and save him.
self from the sinking ship To enforce
the order, walked forward and urged the
men overheard. AS soon as the docks
We're cleared, save of the bodies of the
dead, / returned to the stern-polt, where
stood Captain Semmes, with one OF two of
the men and his faithful steward, who,
poor fellow, was doomed to watery grave,
as he could not swim. The Alabama s
tern-port was now almost to the waters
edge. Partly undressing, we plunged into
the sea and made an otting from the sink
ing ship, Captain Semmes Wi h o life pre-
server and on grating.
The Alabama settled stern foremost,
launching her bows high in the air. Grace
ful even i'll her death struggle, she in q
moment die Al.
waters. The sea now presented mass of
living heads, Striving for their lives. Many
poor fellows sank for the want of timely
| aid. Near me J. saw float of empty she'll
boxes, and called to one of the men, a
! good swimmer, to examine it; he did so
and replied, 1T is the doctor, sir, dead.
| Poor Llewellyn, he persisted almost in
! sight OF his home. The young NIidshipman
Maffit swan to me- and offered his life
preserver. My grating was not proving a
very buoyant float, and white caps break
ing over my head were tlstressingly nn-
comfortable, to say the least. Matfit said:
| MIR. kell, take my lie preseryer, sir; you
are almost exhausted The gallant boy
did not consider his own condition, but his
pallid face told me that his heroism was
superior to his bodily suffering, and re-
fused 1t. After twenty minutes or more
heard near me some one call out, There is
our first lieutenant, and the next moment ]
was pulled into boat, in which was Cap
tain Semnes, stretched out in the stern
sheets. as pallid as death. He had received
during the action slight confusion on the
hand, and the struggle in the water had oil
most exhausted him. There were also sew.
eral OF our crew in the boat, and in a few
moments we We're alongside u little steam
yacht, which had come among our floating
men, and by throwing them ropes saved
many lives. Upon reaching her deck,
ascertained for the first time that She was
the yacht Deerhound, owned by Mr.. John
Lancaster, of England. In looking round
1 saw two French pilot boats engaged in
saving our crew, and finally two boats from
| the kearsarge.