150 Years Ago-- April 23rd, 1864: CSS Alabama Captures Rockingham

APRIL 23RD, 1864: The CSS Alabama, Captain Semmes, captured and destroyed the ship Rockingham with a cargo of guano at sea west of the Cape Verde Islands.

Semmes wrote of the capture: "It was the old spectacle of the panting, breathless fawn, and the inexorable stag-hound. A gun brought his colors to the peak, and his main-yard to the mast.... We transferred to the Alabama such stores and provisions as we could make room for, and the weather being fine, we made a target of the prize, firing some shot and shell into her with good effect and at five p.m. we burned her and filled away on our course."

Boding ill-fortune in the future, during the shelling, some of the shells did not explode, a factor in the upcoming battle with the USS Kearsarge.

Hopefully the Alabama was Upwind When It Burned the Ship (Considering Its Cargo). --Old B-R'er