Mr. Dayton to Mr.
Seward
No. 495.]
Paris,
June 24, 1864.
Sir: The Yeddo, one of those vessels built by
Arman, at Bordeaux, for the confederates, left port yesterday morning at
about 6½ a. m. She left port under French colors, ostensibly for
Amsterdam, and our consul thinks will go there. You will recollect I
told them I would prefer that she should be delivered in Amsterdam
rather than off Bordeaux, if permitted to go out of port at all. It will
now be seen if Holland will permit her to be armed there, or will, in
any respect, aid and abet this fraud (if it be such) against us.
The Osacca, a twin ship, and sold, as I am informed, to the same parties,
will not be ready to leave for perhaps a week or two more. They are
pressing her to completion as fast as possible, a large number of hands
being constantly engaged. She will of course be permitted, like the
Yeddo, to leave port. Mr. Drouyn de l’Huys professes to be convinced, as
I have heretofore informed you, that the sale is a fair one, and that
these vessels will not get into the hands of the confederates; but I am
not at all satisfied, though I have nothing except circumstances and my
utter distrust of the good faith of Arman on which to rest my
suspicions. You will find an account of her sailing in Galignani, of
this morning. In renewing my remonstrances to Mr. Drouyn de l’Huys
yesterday on this subject, he said they could do no more than they had
done; they had exercised a proper caution and prudence to see that the
sale was to a neutral and bona fide; that the
builder had a right to sell his ship, and they could not stop him
without being subject to damages. I told him it was certainly better to
take this hazard than the hazard of war between the two countries. He
answered that they were subject to laws as well as we, and that they,
like us, must respect the rights of their citizens; that,
notwithstanding all the “reproaches” against France, nothing had
happened, up to the sailing of the Yeddo at least, against which we
could in any way complain. I made no reply to, or rather disclaimer of,
this word “reproaches,” though I certainly have used no language which
could be justly so termed; but I have used frequent and strong
remonstrances in reference to the completion and sailing of these ships,
which was, doubtless, about what M. Drouyn de l’Huys meant. I certainly
ought not, and indeed cannot, go further on this subject than I have
done. I hope that my suspicions will all turn out to be groundless, but
I wish the Niagara and Dictator were here. Some increased force on this
coast, and in these waters, may be necessary at an early day. Its
presence, at all events, will be useful.
The whole government press of France sympathizes with the Alabama. You
would suppose from its descriptions that that vessel had gone out to
fight only
[Page 111]
from a high sense
of honor, though conscious that she was every way overmatched in size,
armament, and crew; that, in fact, she was a mere martyr to a chivalrous
sense of honor. I enclose you a printed statement of what purports to be
an official report of the combat, from Captain Semmes. To whom this
report is made, or how it happens to be published immediately here, does
not appear.
I am, sir, your obedient servant,
Hon. William H. Seward
Secretary of State, &c., &c.,
&c,
The Alabama.
The following is the official report
of Captain Semmes:
Southampton,
June 21, 1864.
Sir: I have the honor to inform you that,
in accordance with my intention as previously announced to you, I
steamed out of the harbor of Cherbourg between nine and ten o’clock
on the morning of June 19, for the purpose of engaging the enemy’s
steamer Kearsarge, which had been lying off and on the port for
several days previously. After clearing the harbor we descried the
enemy with his head off shore, at a distance of about nine miles. We
were three-quarters of an hour in coming up with him. I had
previously pivoted my guns to starboard, and made all my
preparations for engaging the enemy on that side. When within about
a mile and a quarter of the enemy he suddenly wheeled, and bringing
his head in-shore, presented his starboard battery to me. By this
time we were distant about one mile from each other, when I opened
on him with solid shot, to which he replied in a few minutes, and
the engagement became active on both sides. The enemy now pressed
his ship under a full head of steam, and to prevent our passing eaeh
other too speedily, and to keep our respective broadsides bearing,
it became necessary to fight in a circle; the two ships steaming
around a common centre, and preserving a distance from each other of
from a quarter to half a mile. When we got within good shellrange we
opened upon him with shell. Some ten or fifteen minutes after the
commencement of the action our spanker gaff was shot away, and our
ensign came down by the run. This was immediately replaced by
another at the mizzenmast head. The firing now became very hot, and
the enemy’s shot and shell soon began to tell upon our hull,
knocking down, killing and disabling a number of men in different
parts of the ship. Perceiving that our shell, though apparently
exploding against the enemy’s sides, were doing but little damage, I
returned to solid-shot firing, and from this time onward alternated
with shot and shell. After the lapse of about one hour and ten
minutes our ship was ascertained to be in a sinking condition, the
enemy’s shell having exploded in our sides and between decks,
opening large apertures, through which the water rushed with great
rapidity. For some few minutes I had hopes of being able to reach
the French coast, for which purpose I gave the ship all steam, and
set such of the fore and aft sails as were available. The ship
filled so rapidly, however, that before we had made much progress
the fires were extinguished in the furnaces, and we were evidently
on the point of sinking. I now hauled down my colors to prevent the
further destruction of life, and despatched a boat to inform the
enemy of our condition. Although we were now but four hundred yards
from eaeh other, the enemy fired upon me five times after my colors
had been struck, dangerously wounding several of my men. It is
charitable to suppose that a ship-of-war of a Christian nation could
not have done this intentionally. We now turned all our exertions
towards the wounded, and such of the
[Page 112]
boys of the ship as were unable to swim. These
were despatched in my quarter boats, the only boats remaining to me,
the waist boats having been torn to pieces.
Some twenty minutes after my furnace fires had been extinguished, and
the ship being on the point of settling, every man, in obedience to
a previous order which had been given to the crew, jumped overboard
and endeavored to save himself. There was no appearance of any boat
coming to me from the enemy until after the ship went down.
Fortunately, however, the steam yacht Deer-hound, owned by a
gentleman of Lancashire, England, Mr. John Lancaster, who was
himself on board, steamed up in the midst of my drowning men and
rescued a number of both officers and men from the water. I was
fortunate enough myself thus to escape to the shelter of the neutral
flag, together with about forty others, all told. About this time
the Kearsarge sent one, and then, tardily, another boat.
Accompanying you will find lists of the killed and wounded, and of
those who were picked up by the Deerhound. The remainder, there is
reason to hope, were picked up by the enemy, and by a couple of
French pilot-boats which were also fortunately near the scene of
action. At the end of the engagement it was discovered, by those of
our officers who went alongside the enemy’s ship with the wounded,
that her midship section on both sides was thoroughly iron-coated,
this having been done with chains constructed for the purpose,
placed perpendicularly from the rail to the water’s edge; the whole
covered over by a thin outer planking which gave no indication of
the armor beneath. This planking had been ripped off in every
direction by our shot and shell, the chain broken and indented in
many places, and forced partly into the ship’s side. She was most
effectually guarded, however, in this section from penetration. The
enemy was much damaged in other parts, but to what extent it is now
impossible to tell; it is believed he was badly crippled.
My officers and men behaved steadily and gallantly, and though they
have lost their ship, they have not lost honor. Where all behaved so
well it would be invidious to particularize; but I cannot deny
myself the pleasure of saying that Mr. Kell, my first lieutenant,
deserves great credit for the fine condition in which the ship went
into action, with regard to her battery, magazine, and shell-rooms;
also that he rendered me great assistance by his coolness and
judgment as the fight proceeded.
The enemy was heavier than myself both in ship, battery, and crew,
but I did not know until the action was over that she was also
iron-clad. Our total loss in killed and wounded is thirty, to wit,
nine killed and twenty-one wounded.
I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
