- Joined
- Apr 4, 2017
- Location
- Denver, CO
Bern Anderson, see page 207, reported:
"After leaving Singapore,[some time after Christmas 1863] Semmes captured and burned a ship under British register which had only recently been transferred from American register. This change in register was an old trick to evade capture, but in this case it was legitimate and the local British admiral ordered his ships to capture Alabama if the action was repeated."
The Alabama sailed into Indian ocean and made Capetown by March 1864. The Alabama arrived in Cherbourg, France on June 11, 1864. Coincidentally, or not, a specialized search and destroy vessel, the USS Kearsage was in Flushing, in the Netherlands, and in telegraph range of Paris. Was it a coincidence or had the shipping news arrived on the English channel ahead of the Alabama?
Wherein lies Semmes' mistake?
As a hint, he sailed to Cherbourg, not an English port. Even after he was picked by the Deerhound and reached England, Semmes did not stay there, but somehow made his way back to the Confederacy.
"After leaving Singapore,[some time after Christmas 1863] Semmes captured and burned a ship under British register which had only recently been transferred from American register. This change in register was an old trick to evade capture, but in this case it was legitimate and the local British admiral ordered his ships to capture Alabama if the action was repeated."
The Alabama sailed into Indian ocean and made Capetown by March 1864. The Alabama arrived in Cherbourg, France on June 11, 1864. Coincidentally, or not, a specialized search and destroy vessel, the USS Kearsage was in Flushing, in the Netherlands, and in telegraph range of Paris. Was it a coincidence or had the shipping news arrived on the English channel ahead of the Alabama?
Wherein lies Semmes' mistake?
As a hint, he sailed to Cherbourg, not an English port. Even after he was picked by the Deerhound and reached England, Semmes did not stay there, but somehow made his way back to the Confederacy.