The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1894-02-15
AN old SEA HERO SINKS
THE VETERAN wARsHIP KTAR.
SARGE GOES TO THE BOTTOM
She Strikes the Roncsdor Reef and 4,
Lost. Thes 'p That Sunk the Rebel
War vesse. Alabama During the
Rebellion.

The mos, famous ship Of the naval s,,.
vice, the old corvette Kearssrge. has eoB,
TO the bottom. Secretary Herbert has "a
c.ived a brief cable message from Lieu,
Frederick Brainard, Of the vessel, ds,.5
Colon as follows:
'kearsarge sailed from Port Au Prince
| Hayti. January 20, for Bluetelds, Ncsra
| qua, and was wrecked on Roncador fe,f
February 2 The officers and crew are
| safe
The Kearsarge was ordered on January y
to Bluefelds TO protect American in,efe,f,
that were alleged To be endangered by tue
troubles between Honduras and Nicatacua
Roncador reef is situated about 200 mile,
of the coast of Nicaragua, and is one I'D,
most dangerous menaces to navigation In
the world.
The kearsarge was one of the historical
vessels OF the American havy. She Was
built at the Portsmouth navy yard, Nev
Hampshire, in 1861. The event that mnj,
her household word was the sinking 9th,
Confederate steamer Alabama otl the mort
OF Cherbourg. France, on June ~, 1865. Ih,
Alabama, after playing havoc with Amer
can merchant vessels in two hemisphere
entered the English channel aud put into
the friendly port Of Cherbourg for rest aud
repairs Captain Winslow was ON her trail
however. and in few days the kearsarre
appeared off Cherbourg and hung about the
entrance 10 the harbor, but keeping on the
high seas. Seinmes saw he would either
have TO have to go out and fight or abandon
his ship in port The English and French
visitors were immensely interested in tLt
impending battle and when on Sunday
morning, June ~. 1864, the Alabama
stean ed out to sea every high spot in the
neighborhood was occupied by eager watch
ers, The kearsarge was in waiting and did
not keep them long in suspence. Captain
Winslow opened o. the Alabama as Sue was
maneuyering, apparently TO get out Of
range and by superior seamnnship outsailed
ard overmatched his adversary at every
point In an hour the Alabama was in o
sinking condition and Captain Semme,
struck his flag. The boats of the kearsarge
put out TO receive the surrendered officer.
and crew, but many of them jumped into
the water and were picked up by English
toas CaptBin Semmes was taken OF, by
the English yacht Deerhound after h.s
surrenGer.
This was probably the last sea fight that
will ever be fought in the old style. Neither
OF the vessels were armor-plated, aud the
guns were OF ordinary Caliber Captain
Winsiow was promoted to commodore and
in 1870 was made a rear admiral.
The navigation Of a vessel rests entirely
with her commander and his assistants aud
the admiral never interjeres. He directs
the general movements OF the flagship from
pace To place but leaves the details and
routes aud management entirely to the
commanding officer. Therefore. il wouiJ
appear as ihoug hCommander Heyerman wall
be held responsible for the loss OF the YES
sci and or him will devohe the task of
showing hat the accident was unavoidable
Exactly who was at fault will not be known
here until further details have been reach.
ed.
The Kearsarge has been continuously in
service for 80 years. She hal bee II practi.
cally rebuilt.