CSS Alabama Searches for California Gold, December 1862

In late November 1862, Raphael Semmes ordered CSS Alabama to steam southwest toward Cuba.  He was purposely looking to intercept steamships collectively known as the "California line."  These American-flagged steamers traveled between the port of Aspinwall (now known as Colon)--on the Atlantic side of Panama--to New York, often loaded with gold mined in California. Thus, Semmes planned to capture both Yankee merchant ships and a pirate's bounty of treasure.  He later recalled, "A million or so of dollars in gold would materially aid me, in my operations upon the sea.  I could purchase several more Alabamas, to develop the 'nautical enterprise' of our people, and assist me to scourge the enemy's commerce."

The California line vessels took two routes: one went to the west of Cuba and one that went south of Haiti.  Semmes chose to monitor the latter route, which was more heavily traveled.  He parked Alabama about 100 miles southwest of the city of St. Domingo and waited.  Several ships came in Alabama's direction, but only one, a merchant ship called Parker Cooke, was a legal target, and it did not have gold.  Semmes ordered her burned and moved on.  He was about to give up when Alabama's officer of the deck informed his captain that watches spotted another ship. 

After seeing Semmes' Confederate flag, the American steamer, a Vanderbilt-owned vessel called Ariel, tried to make a break for it.  Semmes ordered the forward pivot weapon--which Semmes referred to as his "persuader"--to fire a blank round.  The steamer stopped and he heard women screaming from the other ship.  The screaming turned out to be a precursor to his disappointment.  Hoping for gold, Semmes instead found 500 women and children.  His boarding team also found 150 U.S. Marines bound for the Pacific Squadron.  The Marines' weapons were confiscated and they surrendered without a fight.  It was not one of the prouder moments in the Corps' history.

Normally, Semmes would take the civilians on board and burn the enemy vessel.  But Alabama had no room for 650 people.  Thus, forty-eight hours later, he released the ship.  Before he released Ariel, one of Semmes' junior officers asked to speak to the ladies as a group.  In his speech, he attempted to persuade the ladies that Alabama's sailors were not cutthroat pirates.  Apparently, one of the ladies was so moved by the speech that she asked the lieutenant if she could cut a button from his jacket.  The boarding officer agreed.

Alabama's Gulf Stream Raid, October 3-15, 1862

Alabama burning the ship Brilliante and her $93,000 worth of grain off the coast of Nova Scotia

When CSS Alabama and her captain Raphel Semmes could find no more whaling ships to burn in the Azores, the cruiser steamed northwest towards Nova Scotia.  On October 1, 1862, Alabama reached a point approximately two hundred miles southeast of the island in the middle of the Gulf Stream.  Semmes knew the Gulf Stream served as a major highway for eastbound trans-Atlantic traffic.  He also knew that he was taking a risk by being there.  Not because of the possibility of a U.S. Naval warship, but rather the frequent storms that were stirred up by the Stream. 

Alabama capturing the ship Towawanda near Nova Scotia

Semmes'  knowledge of the American merchant marine paid off. Between October 3rd and 15th, Semmes encountered a dozen ships within a 200 mile area.  Fortunately for Semmes, none of them were warships.  His boarding teams searched every one of them, releasing six.  As for the other six, Semmes judged them to be lawful prizes and seized them.  Among the cargo discovered by the boarding teams was large amounts of grain. On one ship alone, the ship Brilliante, the team discovered and burned $93,000 (1862 dollars) worth of wheat and flour.  

Northern merchant cargo was not the only thing the teams discovered.  A year before, several sailors from CSS Sumter (Semmes' first ship) had deserted.  It pleased Semmes mightily when a boarding team discovered one of them serving on the captured merchant ship Dunkirk.  He immediately convened a court-marital which found him guilty.  Semmes forced the sailor to serve on Alabama without pay for the rest of the cruise.  The sailor was lucky, as Semmes considered hanging him.

Another person impressed into Semmes' service was an African American steward on the ship Tonawanda.  Upon discovering the steward was still legally a slave (being from Delaware), Semmes made him a steward on his ship. 

The October 5, 1862 edition of the New York Herald-.
 Semmes obtained a copy from a merchant ship and
gathered intelligence on U.S. Navy  ship movements.

Papers and documents were also among the items seized.  This included boxes of Bible tracts written in Portuguese from the American Tract Society and the New York Bible Society, which were being sent to American missionaries operating secretly in Portugal.  Semmes spoke very angrily both in his daily journal and memoir of service of the two Societies claiming the organizations were run by men whose "business it is to prey upon the credulity of kind-hearted American women and make a pretense of converting the heathen!"  He felt he was doing Portugal a great national service by intercepting the Biblical materials.

The second group of papers were newspapers, which Semmes found to be the perfect intelligence source.  After reading recent copies of the New York Times and New York Herald, Semmes knew the exact location of every U.S. Navy ship.  How? The papers printed a complete list (click on image at right).  Even Semmes was stunned by the inability of the U.S. Navy to keep secrets.  He commented, "Perhaps this was the only war in which the newspapers ever explained, before hand, all the movements of armies and fleets, to the enemy."

By October 16, the storms Semmes feared came upon his ship.  Having had a productive raid in waters so close to Yankee shores, the Alabama headed south. 

CSS Sumter Crosses the Atlantic

Once Raphael Semmes and CSS Sumter escaped from the West Indies, they headed east across the Atlantic. Along the way, he captured a few more ships, namely a whaler out of New Bedford and a schooner out of New York carrying food. By the time Sumter arrived in Cadiz, Spain, in January 1862, she had captured sixteen ships.  However, none of the ships were particularly big catches.  Semmes would later complain to his superiors that despite capturing all these ships, he only took in about $1,000 in cash.  Thus, he needed more money to refit his ship and his men. 

As for the U.S. Navy, Welles had six cruisers looking for Sumter (in some cases as far south as Brazil): USS Niagara, San Jacinito, Richmond, Keystone State, Powhatan, and Iroquois.  When Semmes read Welles' public account of the search for his cruiser, the Confederate captain wrote a letter from Cadiz to the London Times mocking the U.S. Navy Secretary. 

Semmes, however, had a more serious problem than U.S. Navy cruisers.  Sumter was falling apart. Spanish authorities only allowed him temporary repairs and no fuel.   Semmes departed Cadiz and headed to the British colony of Gibraltar, hoping to find a more sympathetic ear.  He did not.  For the next several weeks, he attempted to procure coal and supplies, but did not succeed.  With some of the enlisted sailors deserting, Semmes pondered what to do next.

CSS Sumter Makes a Break For It

CSS Sumter in New Orleans

It was realized early on by Confederate Secretary of the Navy Stephen Mallory that he would have to have actual commissioned warships on the high seas if the Confederate guerre d'course was going to suceed.  Among the first of these Confederate cruisers was CSS Sumter under the command of Raphel Semmes.  Here is Semmes' account of the cruiser's dramatic breakout out from the Head of Passes and into the Gulf of Mexico on June 30, 1861.

Finally, on Sunday morning, the 30th of June, it having been reported to me that the Brooklyn was absent from her station, I caused steam to be gotten up, got underway, and ran down toward the Pass. As we approached the mouth of the river we discovered the Brooklyn with our glasses, standing back under steam and sail to regain her station, and it was for some time a little doubtful whether we could pass the bar before she came up.

To add to my perplexity, the pilot protested that he knew only the bar of the Southwest Pass, and could not undertake to run me out of Pass a l’Outre [the eastern branch of the Mississippi River delta]. I continued on, however, hoisting a signal for a pilot at the fore.

As luck would have it, a pilot happened to be present at the pilots’ station a little above the light house, and as we ran by it the gallant fellow pushed aboard in his boat, and in fifteen minutes afterwards he had us outside the bar. We discharged him in great haste and all sail and steam, the Brooklyn being in pursuit about 4 miles distant. The next few hours were of course very anxious ones for me, as the Brooklyn had the reputation of great speed, and our relative powers were to be tested.

By 3:30, Commander Poor gave up the chase. As he bore up, I sent my men into the rigging, and we gave three hearty cheers for the flag of the Confederate States, thus for the first time thrown to the breeze on the high seas by a ship of war.