main peak of the Kearsarge the colors were stopped, that they might be
displayed if the ensign was carried away, and to serve as the emblem of
victory in case of a happy success. It will be remembered that the
Alabama's colors were brought down by a shot from one of the first
broadsides of the Kearsarge,--an auspicious omen for the sailor at the
commencement of battle. A shot from the last broadside of the Alabama
passed high over the Kearsarge, striking and carrying away the halyards
of the colors at the main peak, and in so doing, pulled sufficiently to
break the stop, and thereby unfurled the triumphant flag at the moment
the rebel ensign was struck in token of submission.

The Alabama was destroyed--the Kearsarge being so little damaged, that
if required, could have engaged another enemy. It is surprising that the
Alabama's fire should have produced so moderate an injury, for,
according to report, over three hundred shot and shell were discharged;
of these, thirteen took effect in the hull, and fifteen in sails,
rigging, boats, and smoke-stack. Luckily, a one hundred and ten-pounder
rifle shell which lodged in the stern post, raising the transom frame,
and a thirty-two-pounder shell that entered forward of forward-pivot
port, crushing water-ways, did not explode.

Captain Semmes, in his official report, says: "At the end of the
engagement it was discovered by those of our officers who went alongside
the enemy's ship with the wounded, that her midship section on both
sides was thoroughly iron-coated. This planking had been ripped off in
every direction by our shot and shell, the chain broken and indented in
many places, and forced partly into the ship's side. The enemy was
heavier than myself, both in ship, battery, and crew; but I did not know
until the action was over that she was also iron-clad." The
chain-plating of the Kearsarge, the "iron-clad" of Captain Semmes,
consisted of one hundred and twenty fathoms of sheet chains covering a
space amid-ships of forty-nine and one-half feet in length by sixteen
feet two inches in depth, stopped up and down to eyebolts with marlines,
secured by iron-dogs and employed for the purpose of protecting the
engines when the upper part of the coal bunkers was empty, as happened
during the action. The chains were concealed by inch deal boards as a
finish. The chain-plating was struck twice, by a thirty-two pound shot
in starboard gangway, which cut the chain and bruised planking,