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By tk TK,
Civil War P 60. As Alabama had received information about Vanderbilt, so had the Union warship been kept informed of the general movement of Confederate ships around the Cape. Captain Charles Baldwin whose command was a side wheeler, mounted huge 11 inch guns, the shells from them about twice the weight available from the guns in Alabama. Baldwin knew his enemy had been sitting at Simonstown, that both Georgia and Tuscaloosa were nearby, he looked, in vain for these ships over the next month, but they all eluded his search. He had indeed passed close to Alabama one dark and dirty night, when Semmes had sighted a large ship through his binoculars, and heard the hiss and movement of the rotating paddle wheels driving Vanderbilt. The Union Captain oblivous to the enemy warship " Passing in the night." On the 27th. of September, Semmes was 44, and three weeks later, still driving his ship eastwards, after fixing the ship's position he made this comment:
It had been 2 years and 4 months since the Captain had seen his home. Over the past year, Alabama had destroyed 46 ships, their value listed at $3,506,218, the coming nine months would be relatively lean, with but 9 more to be sunk. The Confederate Raiders had been most successful in sweeping commerce sailing under the Union flag from the oceans of the world, but many American built ships were still sailing, now under new, but foreign owners. Thus the task of finding and destroying Union flagged vessels was made far more difficult by their own efficiency. By the 21st. of October, when some 4,410 miles from the Cape, Alabama crossed the Tropic of Capricorn,the ship now showing the signs of a tough voyage, her bottom fouled, indeed, no longer the fast ship she used to be. An overhaul was required, when close to Sunda Strait, Semmes heard from an English ship that USS Wyoming, plus a three masted schooner acting as her tender covered this strait, anchoring nightly off Krakatoa Island. Although he believed his ship both faster and with a heavier armament than the Union warship, Semmes for safety, shifted three of his 32 pound guns across the deck to mount a seven gun broadside. Playing his usual crafty game he told any neutral ship he encountered that he was USS Mohican, on his way to take over the duties of USS Wyoming. On the 6th. of November, the 598 ton bark Amanda fell to the Confederate, and was Civil War P 61. soon burned. The Java Sea was entered on the 10th. of November, a fine looking clipper appeared from a rain squall, the 1,768 ton Winged Racer bound for New York, one blank shot stopped her, again, Semmes uncanny ability came to the fore, he was in need of provisions, here they once more fell into his lap, including tobacco from Manila. This ship's boats were used to be rid of these prisoners and those from Amanda, all reached Batavia the following day. Next day, another clipper was sighted at 1000 ( 10 AM,) it was the 1,098 ton Contest, also off to New York, full of tea, silk, and goods from China, a race to survive began. The first mate of Conrad, later wrote a report, which Wyoming sent off to their Secretary Welles, in it, he said that they sighted a steamer close by, it finally hoisted the American flag at its yardarm, and we in turn, ran up our colours. After some 20 minutes more, she fired a blank shot, and when 3 miles away, down came the American flag to be replaced with the Confederate one, accompanied by another shot from the guns. We crammed on every inch of sail, and with a 14 knot breeze managed to leave her on our quarter, she in turn clapped on full sails, and full steam, and followed with a 100 pound shot which fell but a half mile astern. At about 1230 ( 12.30 PM ) the wind dropped to only 6 knots, and we were very rapidly overhauled, the next shot passed between the fore and mainmast, it seemed time to stop. As the prize of CSS Alabama, we anchored in 17 fathoms of water, and anything of value was removed to the Raider, our crew joined our valuable cargo, and the ship burnt about 2130 ( 9.30 PM. ) The British ship Avalanche was the transport medium to convey this crew to safety to Batavia. Over the rest of November, although many ships were stopped and boarded, all were neutral, and the South China Sea carries its share of navigational hazards in currents and coral reefs, it can be a Captain's nightmare, keeping him tied to his bridge, fearful of falling victim to the jagged teeth of a coral reef, swept there by a fast running current. The weather could blow a gale one moment, and then produce a becalmed state as the wind simply died. Alabama coasted along what is now Viet Nam, entering a bay between Saigon and Singapore, this area now French, the copper sheathing on the ship's bottom, now hanging off in places was repaired, and the bottom scraped clean. Singapore was the target, as Semmes set off on the 14th. of December, arriving there a week later. To reinforce the job done by Confederate Raiders, 22 American ships
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