It's regretable the Kearsage didn't go down with her in that last battle!!




I hope & pray the dives are successful in bringing C.S.S. Alabama's hull back to life!!

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

Replying to:

Divers bid to bring up hull of Alabama







A TEAM of expert divers have launched a major salvage operation in a bid to recover one of Merseyside's most famous vessels.




Built in 1862 by Laird Brothers in Birkenhead, the CSS Alabama is the most notorious commerce raider in maritime history with near-legendary tales of her battle prowess during the American Civil War.




But after a 22-month career, she was lost following a battle with USS Kearsage off the coast of Cherbourg in the English Channel.




Since 1989 there have been several dives to recover artefacts lost at sea and to discover more about the history of the ship and its crew.




Everything above the sea-bed has been recovered, but now organisers want to excavate the remains of the hull which is buried.




Throughout June there will be three dives in a joint operation between the governments of America and France.




The Association of Friends of the CSS Alabama will lead the salvage attempt. President Robert Edington said: "The dives are excavations of the remains of the hull. There will be six US underwater archaeologists and about a dozen French volunteer divers, plus several French Navy divers."




The crew of the Alabama included 31 Merseyside sailors fighting for the south. They joined in one of the most destructive maritime episodes in which they boarded 447 ships, including 65 Union vessels.




The Alabama was commissioned in 1861 by James Dunwoody Bulloch, but unbeknown to Laird Brothers Bulloch had ordered her for the Confederate States of America.




She was built from the finest English oak with iron fastenings and her bottom was copper sheathed. The vessel was tall-masted with a mix of rig and screw-driven steam and two 300-horsepower engines that enabled her to travel at 10 knots which could be increased with raised sail.




In June, she undertook sea trials with a small crew under the command of Matthew Butcher, with Bulloch and a small group of dignitaries on board.




Only Butcher and Bulloch knew that there was no intention to return to Liverpool. They announced the trials were going so well that the men had decided to remain at sea overnight to complete them.




The £47,000 ship was, in fact, already on her way to the Azores where she arrived in August to become the Alabama and was handed over to the command of Raphael Semmes.




After a trail of destruction through the West Indies and the North Atlantic, Alabama eventually met her match in USS Kearsage in June 1864.




The admiral's great, great grandson Captain Oliver Semmes will be in Cherbourg for the dives.