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��THE GRANITE MONTHLY.
��A REMINISCENCE OF THE ALABAMA.
��BY WILLIAM H. HACKETT.
��The rebel steam gunboat, known at the time of her launch from the yards of Messrs. Laird & Co., at Birkenhead, Liverpool, May 15, 1862, as " The 290," was subsequently called the "Alabama," and at one time the " Eureka." While she was fitting for sea, the purpose of her owner was well understood, and despite the re- monstrances and formal protests of our consul at Liverpool, up to the time the vessel left that port, on the 29th of July, no actual steps were taken by the British authorities to pre- vent the piratical vessel from proceed- ing! toward her intended devastation upon our commerce.
The Alabama captured upon the high seas seventy vessels belonging to citizens of the United States.
Among these were two fine ships belonging to the same owners in Portsmouth. The Rockingham was a superior ship, of a thousand tons burthen, five years old, and was, while on a voyage from Chincha Islands to Europe, under command of Capt. Edwin A. Gerrish, captured and burn- ed. Capt. Gerrish and his wife, who were on board, were sent to Cher- bourg. While waiting to return home the engagement between the Kear- sarge and the Alabama took place, and the late commander of the Rock- ingham, which was one of the last ships destroyed by Semmes, had the satisfaction of watching the decisive naval battle from an eminence at Cherbourg, and witnessing the desired end of this scourge of the seas.
The Rockingham was owned by Messrs. William Jones & Son, with Mark H. Wentworth and Jones & Men- dum, and was one of the best ships destroyed by these pirates.
Another famous Portsmouth ship was the " Emily Farnum," which meas- ured over eleven hundred tons. She
��was owned by Messrs. Jones & Son, with the exception of one eighth part, owned by Capt. William Parker, her former commander. The ship was named for a sister of Mr. Jones, now the wife of a distinguished New England clergyman, and was Ports- mouth built, and in every respect a fine vessel. She sailed from the port of New York on the 21st day of Sep- tember, 1862, under the command of Capt. Nathan Parker Simes, of Ports- mouth, laden with an assorted cargo, bound to Liverpool. On the 3d of October, in latitude forty degrees north, longitude fifty degrees thirty minutes west, in the morning, the cap- tain discovered a vessel ahead stand- ing toward him. The stranger set the St. George cross at his peak, and on seeing the Emily Farnum's colors, ran up the rebel flag, and fired across the bows of the Portsmouth ship as a sig- nal for her to heave to. The captain, seeing no chance of escape, hove his ship to, and the steamer sent the second lieutenant on board, who hauled down the United States flag (Capt. Simes having declined to do this when re- quested), and told the captain that his ship was a prize to the Confederate States steamer Alabama, Captain Sem- mes. His captor, the Portsmouth captain found to be a steam-propeller, bark-rigged, English build, with six broadside and two pivot guns, and a fast sailer.
In the meantime the rebel steamer went after another ship to the leeward, which in turn was obliged to surrender. This was the ship Brilliant, of New York. Soon Capt. Simes was directed to take the ship's papers and go on board the Alabama. Here he found a large number of prisoners on deck confined in irons. The captain was told to stand between two guns, and after a long waiting on deck was ordered
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