The Washington herald., 1914-06-19

/ TIE frst act OF the Alxbama's oG1cers
after hauling down their dae WIS 70
save the wounded. Only Two % the
ships boats were At for use. In one. .
sarge to ask for help. The other. : cut
Ter, was loaded with wounded and dis
patched to the KearsargA
No boat had come from the KeArs4rEe.
i which lay forty yards away. This stem-
ed inhumane to the Confederates. The
cause was simple. At arst Capt. Wins
low was not sure the action had ended.
He feared some ruse Of Capt Semmss
4 to get inside the marine league. On See
ing the Alabama was sinking he ordered
out his boats. Only two were service-
able. BY the time these were over swim
mers from the Alabama engaged their
attention.
Rescues were also being made by boats
from an English steam yacht. the Deer
hound, which had run near the Kear-
sarge and asked IL the ship needed help.
Gods sake do what you can to save
i them" The yacht forthwith steamed
among the swimmers and sent out her
boats.
Heroism of surGeon.
When the wounded had all been sent
away from the Alabama the survivors
still on the sinking ship prepared to leave
her The officers were the last to leave.
Among them was one heroic young
man. the assistant surgeon, David H.
Llewllyn. an Englishman of good fam
! lily, who had done valiant service car
ing for the wounded. An ofiicer who
had gone below toward the end Of the
fight had found him at his operating
table and had said to him: you had
better save yourself" He had replied:
II must wait for orders. you know" He
had worked until the water was near
his knees-and he could not swim. At
last he came UP. Sailors lashed two
| empty boxes under his arms and he
jumped from the ship. He perished, for
the boxes changed position. putting his
head under water.
Give swords to the Sea.
| When nearly all the ships company
had gone overheard, Capt Semmes and
Lieut.. Kell stood at the stern port, which
was now nearly down to the water. Sea-
men helped them on with their boots
and outer clothing. The Alabama's COM
mander recalled that his papers and
diary were in his cabin. His steward,
an Italian named Bertilli. was sent for
them. He waded into the cabin, and
retured with the papers, with tears in
! his eyes, for the wreckage he had seen
in Capt. Semmes' quarters.
The papers were hastily bound into
| two packets, between bits of board, end
two seamen each took one and struck
out. Thus the greatest sea journal Of
modern time was saved, for both men
were picked up.
As Capt. Semmes and Lieut.. Kell stood
ready to jump from tho sinking Ala
hama they picked up their swords and.
as IL performing a general rite, dropped
them into the sea. Then they sprang
| into the water and struck out for pieces
OF wreckage that might keep them afoat
The faithful Bertilh stood at the port
and watched them. He could not swim.
but had not revealed the fact. He was
! in the last few minutes of his life.
At this time few of the younger ON
GERS were still on the Alabama. One of
| these was Lieut.. Arthur Sinclair. who
| made farewell visit below decks. He
thus describes the ships condition:
THE scene was one Of complete wreck.
The shot and shell of the enemy had
knocked all the compartments into one:
and a flush view could be had fore and
bles rising and breaking with a mournful
gurgle at the surface. 1t was a picture
| TO be dwelt upon IN memory. but not too
long In the reality.
"I returned hastily to the spar deck.
! By this time most Of the officers and
men had left for the water. The bat
terry was disarranged, some guns run out
and secured. some not The spars were
wounded woefully, some Of them topping.
and others held by the wire rigging. The
smokestack was full Of holes, the decks
torn up by the bursting OF shell. and
numbered with the wreckage OF wood
work and rigging and empty shell boxes
Some sail was set: and the vessel slowly
forged ahead. leaving a line Of wreckage
astern, with the heads of swimmers bob
bing up and down amongst II.
AIabama's Final Plunge.
The Alabama floated about twenty-four
minutes after her flag was hauled down,
sinking at l2:2I While still swimming
Capt Semmes and other officers saw her
take her last plunge. Lieut.. Sinclair, one
of the last to leave her, has thus de-
scribed It:
I'VE had hardly cleared her when her
bow made a wild leap into the air. and
she plunged down on an inclined plane
to her grave beneath the waves. AS she
leaped upward there was crash. her
main topmast going by the board; and
the fore gave way in turn as she took
her downwsrd slide. The suction where
We were was terribly strong, carrying
us all down to a very uncomfortable
depth: so deep. indeed. that with my
eyes open in perfectly clear water. /
found myself In the darkness Of mid
night. But our struggles soon popped
us to the surface We kept there very
contentedly. swimming in an easy, take
your-time style until picked up
The older officers and less strong
swimmers found no such ease in keeping
afioat. Capt. Semmes was about twenty
minutes in the water. He was picked up
by boat from the Deerhound. Lieut..
Kell was taken unconscious into the same
boat Reviving. he saw his commander
lying, white in death, in the stern. Both
were well cared for, and as Semmes lay
in a berth, weak and exhausted, the
seaman Michael Mars assisted on plac-
ing in his hands the priceless diary Of
the Alabama's cruises, that he had
saved.
The losses in the fight show how un-
equal 1t had been. The Kearsarge had
only three men wounded, one mortally.
The Alabama lost twenty-siN killed or
drowned and had twenty-one wounded.
OF her ships company Of 1l3, forty-two
were picked up by the Deerhound.
seventy-one by the Kearsarge and nine
by French pilot boat.
The length of the battle is given In the
kearsarge's log as one hour and. five
minutes. The Kearsarge fired 173 rounds,
eleven-inch guns. She was struck twenty
She was probably hit double as many
times as her antagonist.
The Kearsarge steamed back to Cher
bourg and was acclaimed by excited
throngs- The Deerhound steamed forl
E1ol nd