A NAVAL DUEL.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume XLIX, Issue 12635, 24 October 1905, Page 7

A NAVAL DUEL.

Among the great naval duels with which the pages of history are starred,

tho memorable battle between the Alabama, flying the flag of the Confederate States of America, and the "United States gunboat Kearsage stands out as one of the- most picturesque ever fought. It took place in the British channel, off Cherbourg, and witli.n sight of the two greatest maritime Powers of the world. Tho Alabama, under Captain Semmes, had been commissioned by Jefferson Davis, with orders to "sink, burn, and destroy everything which flew the ensign of the socalled United States of America." How well the gallant privateer performed that mission America remembers to this clay. Harassing the sea-borne commerce of the nation, the Alabama rapidly earned for herself the, title of "The Scourge of the Seas." The most diligent pursuit and the best laid plans of capture wen? consistently avoided, and it was only at last, made bold with success, and in a true spirit ot sportsmanship, that Captain Semmes accepted a sort of challenge from Captain Winslow, of the Kearsage, to come cut from under the guns of tho forts of Cherbourg and engage in a naval duel. Tho battle took place seven miles from the shore, and lasted an hour, during which the two vessels completed seven circles. The firing of tho Alabama was wild from tho first, although it improved later on, but the gunners of tho Kearsage, obeying orders, directed their heavy guns below tho Alabama's water-line, and cleared her decks with tho lighter metal. Tho cfi'ecb of this procedure was to so riddle tho Alabama that within the hour sho was within an ace of sinking, and recognising the desperate nature of hci plight, she struck. Almost at once, however, sho started to settle by the stern, and, twenty minutes after the iurnaco fires were out, the word went forth for every man to save himself Semmes threw his sword into the oceart and swam to the Deerhor.nd, a British yacht, which rescued him, along with thirteen other officers. Most of the wounded and the crew were also saved. The duel had the significance which attaches to almost every heritage of naval warfare in which Great Britain and her descendants have been engaged. It was fought openly, honestly and to <i finish, with that dogged persistence tl-afc brings sympathy almost always to bear for the vanquished rather than for the victors.