The Washington herald., 1914-03-20

Fifty years ago today the commerce
destroyer Alabama arrived at Cape
Town, South Africa. after a cruise Of
six months to the Far East
The Alabama was much worn with
service and was bound for a European
port for repairs. She had been more
than eighteen months at sea and in
that time had never been in dry-dock.
The copper sheathing that protected
her bottom planking from worms had
come on in sheets; her top sides were
rusty and in want OF calking and
paint; her rigging was slack and
much worn. and her sails, except such
as mad been taken from prizes, were
too old TO do service much longer and
quite unit for use in a gale.
In her voyage to the Far East the
ship had encountered a variety OF eli
mons Bay at the cape of Good Hope on
September "a, 1858. she had met with
severe gales and head winds. In the
Indian Ocean her decks had been
warped by the fierce heat as she
drifted In calms- In the China Seas
she had passed through fogs and drip
ping mists. On the return voyage she
had gone through a similar scale of
weather conditions.
Her prizes had been few-onIy six
having been taken in the Far East and
one iE the Indian Ocean. The ships
last port OF call had been the Comcro
Islands. at the north entrance Of the
Mozambique Channel. Thence she had
proceeded down that channel toward
the Cape OF Good Hope.
Rescue of q sailor.
The weather in the last half of the
N-n haA
southwest end of the Island of MAZDA
gsscar the ship had passed through
several gales. and on particular
night through a thunderstorm so stu
pendous as to warrant Commander Sem
mes in describing it in the ships log.
BLACK rain clouds mustered from
every quarter OF the compass" he
wrote: and the heavens were soon so
darkly and densely overcast that II
deck.
Sometimes the most terrific squalls Of
wind accompanied these storms and We
furled most Of the sails and awaited the
denouement
THE thunder lied and crashed as IL
the sky were falling to pieces: and the
lightning-sheet lightning-stresked light
ning-forked Iightning-kept the frma-
ment almost constantly ablaze. And the
But for an hour Madagascar beat the
Ghaut Mountains ION the coast of Mala-
bari. Ii came down literally by the
bucketful Almost a continuous stream
of lightning ran down our conductors
and hissed as IT leaped into the sea"
On February IS a sailor fell overheard in
a rough sea. He was a poor swimmer
and would have drowned had not an
other seaman. Michael Mars, jumped TO
n al Saafp1 the rnan'9 nr0dtCa mont
Mars had thrown over a hatch-grating
ard, following It. had thrust IT under
the drowning man.
When both had been rescued Com
mander Semmes called the crew aft and.
mounting the "horse-block." delivered
an eulogy on the bravery Of Mars The
sailor thus praised. a giant Irishman.
stood through II twisting his cap in his
hands and blushing like a girl. As he
went forward with the others they heard
him say that the old man has made
bloody fuss about nothing
Acro.. AEuIhas Bank.
The Alabama's course had taken her
across the famous Agulhas Bank. On
March :. in latitude 3 degrees 10 seconds
and longitude 2s degrees S seconds. the |
lead was cast. and soundings obtained.
stout ships are literally swamped
here by huge wall-like seas. wrote
Commander Semmes. And the frames
OF others are so much shaken and loos-
ened in every knee and joint as TO rem
der them unseaworthy. The cause Of
these terrible short racking seas is the
meeting Of the winds and the currents.
While the awful wintry gale is howl
ing from the west and northwest. the
or Agulhas current as IL
Is now called. is setting in its teeth. |
sometimes at the rate of two or three
knots an hour"
Arriving of the Cape of Good Hope. |
where she had cruised for several weeks
IN the preceding summer. the Alabama |
overhauled several ships Commander |
found. however. that American ]
commerce had fed from this beaten track |
of shipping and had not returned
No United States cruisers being in the |
the Confederate ship had |
clear field: but no prizes were taken
Ind after a week of the cape the Ala
,ama put in at Table Bay.
Although warmly greeted AT Cape Town
" the public. and by individual officials.
Semmes found a great change
lad come over the spirit OF the English
In his absence in the Far
East. His ship was no longer a welcome
.uest in a British port.
Pleads for the Tuscaloosa.
tender to the Alabama, the bark
,onrad OF Philadelphia. which he had
aptured and commissioned on the high
eas under the name Of Tuscaloosa, had
,een seized on December D. 1883. at
'imons Bay and was then laid up there
n charge Of British keeper. Her Con-
crew had protested against the
eizure and after some weeks had left
he Cape for London.
Commander Semmes devoted himself
o preparing a brief on the case. srgu-
ng that the Tuscaloosa was a bona fide
cruiser, entitled to the
ourtesies Of British ports. This he pre-