The rest of the
crew, with their captain, were already in the waves. Mr. Lancaster
meantime had steamed up to the Kearsarge, requesting permission to
assist in saving life, and he was soon among them, throwing lines from
the yacht, and picking up many exhausted men in his boats. The loss of
men by drowning was nineteen, including an officer (Mr. Llewellyn),
carpenter, and assistant-engineer. The loss in killed and wounded was
twenty-eight, of whom seven were killed. Not a wrack of the Alabama was
secured by the victors in this memorable sea-fight. The captain and his
officers dropped their swords into the deep; the men drove their oars
into the bottoms of the boats. One spirit--the spirit of the
unconquerable Confederation of the Southern States--animated all. Not a
man who was able to support himself in the water, swam towards the
Kearsarge.
So sank the Alabama. It would have been glorious for her to have won,
but it was not disgraceful that the day went against her. She fought
against odds such as brave commanders are not in the habit of declining;
she fought to the water's edge. An end like this, and the splendid
antecedents she points to, have made her name and that of her captain
household words. Her flag has been indeed a "meteor flag," and that it
shall "yet terrific burn" we may reckon to be probable, when it is
remembered that the informing spirit, of which the good vessel was but
the gross body, is alive, and prepared once more to offer himself to the
land of his choice for service upon the seas.
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