Two Years On The Alabama

Description for TWO YEARS ON THE ALABAMA by Arthur Sinclair:

This striking work by the first officer aboard the Confederate cruiser Alabama tells a story of raids, battles, and close escapes. The daring escapades of the ship that wreaked havoc on northern commercial shipping are as thrilling to today’s reader as they were to the despairing hearts of southerners in 1863-64.

The reader is also treated to a rare view of the life at sea. Captained by the famed Commander Raphael Semmes, the Alabama sailed over 75,000 miles (or three time around the globe) without any naval support and very few friendly ports in which to see safety.

With no shipyards of her own, the Confederacy turned to England for help in assembling a navy. Though officially neutral, England was in fact sympathetic to the southern cause and aided the South in many ways while observing the letter of the international rules of neutrality. In return for a promise of the future delivery of southern cotton, private British companies, with a wink and a node from the government, contracted to build the Alabama for the South.

The Alabama was one of only two cruiser class vessels of the Confederacy’s sparse navy, which was able to offer only slight resistance to the Union Navy and give little relief to the suffering caused by the Union blockade. These conditions made the Alabama’s achievements, which were quite significant, all the more spectacular. It became a source of hope and a symbol of pride to a beleaguered Confederacy and her people.

Launched in May 1862, the Alabama sunk, burned, or captured 57 Federal ships with an estimated value of $6,750,000. The vastness of this sum can be understood by comparing it to the $250,000m that the Alabama cost to build. In June 1864 the Alabama was finally defeated and sunk by the USS Kearsarge off the coast of Cherbourg, France.

The fascinating story and breathtaking victories in the face of tremendous odds have earned the Alabama a permanent place in American maritime history.