and by a
thirty-two-pounder shell, which broke a link of the chain,
exploded, and tore away a portion of the deal covering. Had the shot
been from the one hundred and ten-pounder rifle, the result would have
been different, though without serious damage, because the shot struck
five feet above the water line, and if sent through the side would have
cleared the machinery and boilers. It is proper therefore to assert that
in the absence of the chain-armor the result would have remained the
same, notwithstanding the common impression at the time, of an "iron
clad" contending with a wooden vessel. The chains were attached to the
ship's side more than a year previous to the fight, while at the Azores;
in subsequent visits to European ports they had attracted notice and
caused repeated comment. Strange that Captain Semmes did not know of the
chain-armor before the fight; supposed rebel spies had been on board,
there was no attempt at concealment; the same pilot was employed by both
vessels and visited each during the preparation for battle.

One hundred and sixty-three was the number of the crew of the Kearsarge,
including officers; that of the Alabama not definitely known, but from
the most reliable information estimated at nearly the same. The tonnage
of the former 1031, of the latter 1044. The battery of the Kearsarge
consisted of seven guns, two eleven-inch pivots, smooth bore, one
twenty-eight-pounder rifle, and four light thirty-two pounders; that of
the Alabama of eight guns, one sixty-eight-pounder pivot, smooth bore,
one one hundred and ten-pounder rifle pivot, and six heavy thirty-two
pounders. Five guns were fought by the Kearsarge, seven by the Alabama,
both with the starboard batteries. The Kearsarge had made thirteen and
one-half knots an hour under steam, the Alabama never exceeded thirteen,
and at the time of the action was only equal to ten. The vessels were
not unequally matched in size, speed, crew, and armament, displaying a
similarity not often witnessed in naval battles. The contest was
decided by the superiority of the eleven-inch Dahlgrens over the
Blakely rifle and smooth bore, in connection with the greater coolness
and accuracy in aim of the gunners of the Kearsarge.

"So ends the story of the Alabama," quoting again from the Liverpool
_Courrier_, "whose journal would be the most interesting volume of ocean
literature; whose ubiquity scared the commerce of America from the seas;
whose destructive