Raphael Semmes

[CMWinkler]

Raphael Semmes
Posted to Maritime Musings (byDennis Bryant) on May 8, 2015

The most prolific commerce raider in history

Raphael Semmes (1809-1877) was a naval officer and, briefly, an army general. Born in Maryland, he entered the United States Navy as a midshipman in 1826 and was promoted to lieutenant in 1837. During the Mexican War, he commanded the brig USS Somers until it capsized and sank with a loss of 37 crew members in a squall in December 1846 while pursuing a vessel off Veracruz. As first lieutenant in USS Raritan, he accompanied the landing party at Veracruz and brought them inland to meet up with the army. After the war, he settled in Mobile, Alabama, where he practiced law while on extended leave from the US Navy. In 1855, he was promoted to Commander and assigned to lighthouse duties - during this era, Navy officers served as Lighthouse Inspectors. When Alabama seceded from the Union, Semmes resigned his commission in the US Navy and joined the new Confederate Navy as a commander.

More:
http://www.maritimeprofessional.com/blogs/post/raphael-semmes-14751

 

[Mark F. Jenkins]

(Incidentally, the loss of the Somers shouldn't really be held against Semmes... that class of vessel was generally considered to be a bit "over-hatted" and unstable, and at least one of her sister ships, the Bainbridge, was lost in almost the same way on another occasion. Semmes himself was an expert sailor.)

 

[BillO]

(Incidentally, the loss of the Somers shouldn't really be held against Semmes... that class of vessel was generally considered to be a bit "over-hatted" and unstable, and at least one of her sister ships, the Bainbridge, was lost in almost the same way on another occasion. Semmes himself was an expert sailor.)

And he owed a lot to his immediate subordinate Kerr.

 

[Carronade]

(Incidentally, the loss of the Somers shouldn't really be held against Semmes... that class of vessel was generally considered to be a bit "over-hatted" and unstable, and at least one of her sister ships, the Bainbridge, was lost in almost the same way on another occasion. Semmes himself was an expert sailor.)

True; there were five brigs built at the same time, the other three to different designs and not so overrigged as S and B. One, Truxton, was lost by grounding during the Mexican War, but none foundered.