The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-02-25
RAPHAEL SEMMESS PORTRAIT
 IN DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY
Lfe-Sne Picture of Great Naval Captain, "Wizard of Seas," Presented by His Son, Raphael
 SemneS of Montgomery.

| A handsome lifesize portrait of Admi- ral Raphael Semmes. the great naval of ficer of the Confederacy. adorns the walls of the Historical Department. The DOT trait was presented by his son and name
 sake Raphael Semmes of Montgomery, General Manager of the Montgomery
 Street Railway System.
 The counterfeit presentation of the
 Wizard of the Seas" regarded as one
 of the greatest of the sons of Alabama,
 Is most highly appreciated by Director
 Owen. No man. perhaps. added more of
 fame and glory to the name Alabama"
 than the great sea captain.
 He was born in Charles County, Mary
 land. September 27. 1909. son of Richard
 Thompson and Catherine (Middleton)
 Semmes. and fifth in descent from the first American ancestor, Benedict Joseph
 Semmes, a native of Normandy. France.
 who came over with Lord Baltimore in
 164O. Having received an academic edu- cation. he was appointed a midshipman in the navy April l, 1926 and in the en- suing winter he made his first cruise in the sloop of war Lexington" Captain (afterwards Rear AdmiraD Shubrick.
 While waiting orders as past midshipman. he studied law with his brother, s. M. Semmes at Cumberland Md. and in 1884
 was admitted to the bar. After cruise as sailing master. and then as acting lieu tenant. he was commissioned iteuten- ant in 1887. He was employed in the usual routine of professional duty for several years, and made a number of cruises. In lS41 he was ordered on sur vey of Ship Island and the adjacent wa ters of Mississippi Sound. and in 1s42 took his family to reside near the mouth of the Perdido river, in Alabama. In the war with Mexico he was on duty as first lieutenant of the brig "Porpoise, |" but was soon afterwards transferred to the frigate Cumberland" and subse- quently to the "Raritan." the flagship of Commodore Conner. then commanding the Gulf squadron. In November he was assigned to the command of the brig "Somers' of ten guns. While pursuing suspected vessel in a heavy mortimer December 8, 1S46, the 'Somers'' capsized. sinking In ten minutes and losing half of her crew of a hundred men. Semmes despatched his only available boat with the non-combatants and boys, and when his vessel sank he leaped into the sea with the remainder of the crew. who had been clinging to the wreck and was res cued by an English war vessel in port.
 Retoining the "Raritan" as flag lieuten- ant, he assisted in planning and super intending the landing of General Scott's troops at Vera Cruz, March g. 1S47. Du- ring the siege of that city, March 2. he had charge, for a time, of the heavy guns placed on shore by the "Raritan," which rendered efficient service in preaching the walls and hastening the surrender. In the following April Semmes was ordered on a special mission to the city of Mex leo to effect the exchange of certain na- val prisoners who were held as suspected spies As volunteer aid to General Worth, he took an active part in all the battles of the valley of Mexico, and after the war he was for several years inspector of light houses on the Gulf coast, having in the meantime removed his residence to Mobile. In 1885, September 14, he was promoted to the rank of commander, and September A, 1858, he became Naval Sec retary of the Lighthouse Board at Wash ington. He was on this duty when ths civil war began.
 Alabama. his adopted State. having withdrawn from the Union, February l5. 1861 he resigned his commission, and shortly afterwards reported at Montgom- cry. Ala. He was immediately recommis- stoned with the same rank which he had in the Federal service and was sent to the North to purchase materials or war TOT the navy. AL the OuIDreak or the civil war the commerce of the United States was next to the largest in the world. and as most of 1t was tributary to the Northern States. the leaders of the Confederacy from the first exerted themselves to fit out commerce destroy CTS. After the attack upon Fort Sumter Semmes applied for and received orders to fit out a vessel for such service He purchased the ''Habana," a propeller packet of 800 tons. plying between New Orleans and Havana. Cuba. which was Sumter. and hastily equipped with four twenty-four- -pounder howitzers and a heavy eight-inch shell gun. On July 1, while the blookading steamer Brooklyn was chasing a vessel to lee- ward, the Sumter dashed boldly across [ the bar of the Mississippi delta and stood | out to sea. Passing through the Gulf of and cruising along the coast of | South America as far as Maranham, he |