Semmes
RAPHAEL, an American naval officer; born in Charles co., Md., Sept. 27, 1809; was appointed, in 1828, a midshipman on board the "Lexington," and rose by successive steps to the rank of commander in 1855. He was nominated, in 1858, secretary to the Lighthouse Board, which situation he held when the war broke out. He then joined the Confederate service, March 26, 1861, and was made commander of the war steamer "Sumter." With this vessel he caused considerable damage to the United States merchant navy, and having been driven into the port of Gibraltar by stress of weather, sold her to a "neutral." He was then ordered to take the command of a vessel built in England, and known at first as "290," which afterward became famous as the "Alabama." His exploits while commander of this vessel, though not so dashing as those of Paul Jones during the first American war, were far more destructive. After having inflicted an enormous amount of loss on the National commerce, the "Alabama," which had been into Cherbourg, France, for rebeen into Cherbourg, France, for repairs, encountered outside the harbor a United States war steamer, the "Kearsarge," Capt. John A. Winslow, June 10, 1864. A French man-of-war followed her to prevent any violation of international law. The fight took place about 9 miles from Cherbourg, and was both short and decisive. The "Kearsarge," a powerful ship, was defended ended by iron chains slung over the bulwarks, on which the shot of the "Alabama" could make but little impression; and in rather more than an hour from the beginning of the fight the "Alabama" was completely disabled. The crew tried to reach the French coast with her, but failed in the attempt, and she began to sink. Commander Semmes, and some of the sailors, including 13 officers, were saved by the boats of an English steam yacht, the "Deerhound," which had accompanied the "Alabama" from Cherbourg to be a spectator of the fight. Semmes succeeded, after some difficulty, in making his way back to the Southern States; but the effectual blockade of their ports deprived him of any further chance of continuing his adventurous career.
He wrote the "Cruise of the Alabama and Sumter," and the "Log of the Alabama", (1864); "Memoirs of Service Afloat" (1869). He died in Mobile, Ala., Aug. 30, 1877.