Luck runs out for raider Sumter

Some ships are favored by fortune; others are not.Although the CSS Sumter had some successes as a raider, it was dogged by ill luck throughout. The name was bestowed upon the ship after Fort Sumter fell, and perhaps it was tempting fate.

The fledgling Confederacy was acutely aware that its puny navy was no match for Federal warships and realized that urgent steps must be taken to remedy the situation. Cmdr. Raphael Semmes began to assess the value of vessels in Southern waters that could be requisitioned and converted into men-of-war. One such was the Habana.

A 437-ton screw steamer, barkentine-rigged and with a single stack, the Habana was 184 feet long with a beam of 30 feet. In New Orleans, it was transformed into a naval vessel, lightly armed with an 8-inch shell gun amidships and four 32-pounders in broadside. On June 30, 1861, it was ready for the high seas as a raider, and Semmes had been appointed the captain.

Ideally, a raider should be fleet, but Sumter could manage only 10 knots at best, being singularly slow under sail. Its coal was sufficient for only eight days. Despite such disadvantages, it soon proved to be a scourge of the seas.

First, though, it had to beat the blockade at the mouth of the Mississippi. It succeeded, but soon, a U.S. sloop of war, the Brooklyn, found the Sumter in the Gulf of Mexico and gave chase. Capture seemed inevitable, but eventually, the often luckless ship managed to outrun its pursuer.

On July 3, while off the coast of Cuba, the Sumter first showed its teeth. The Maine-registered Golden Rocket was seized and torched. Not long after that, two brigantines, Cuba and Machias, were taken but not put to the flames. However, when Semmes took these and four other prizes to the port of Cienfuegos, the Cuban authorities gave him a frosty welcome. All six vessels were eventually returned to their owners. The Sumter’s bad luck had begun.

Semmes ranged widely, as he would later do with the Alabama, making other ships his captives, some to be burned. But there was an urgent need for coal, and on Nov. 13, Sumter put in at St. Pierre, Martinique, to refuel. This was unfinished when the U.S. gunboat Iroquois arrived. Capt. J.S. Palmer felt unable to attack, aware that his ship was in neutral waters. Instead, he protested the Sumter’s presence to the governor of the French territory, only to be informed that there was no objection to a Southern warship anchoring there.

The governor also informed Palmer that the Iroquois was quite at liberty to anchor there, too, but not permitted to attempt a blockade in French waters. To ensure Palmer’s compliance, the Acheron, a French man-of-war, arrived on the scene. This left Palmer with no choice but to maintain a vigil beyond the harbor.

Semmes could not remain forever at Martinique, though, and after nine days, he decided to escape. On the night of Oct. 23, he slipped past the Iroquois and went off to resume his depredations. Palmer’s failure to intercept and attack the Sumter almost cost him his command.

On Nov. 25, the Sumter took the Montmorenci off the island of Dominica, and on Jan. 4, 1862, it dropped anchor in the Spanish harbor at Cadiz, where Semmes was rebuffed by the military governor. Told to take his ship elsewhere, Semmes countered by protesting that the Sumter had suffered damage. He was permitted rudimentary repairs at nearby La Carraca but first was compelled to release all his prisoners. Spanish patience ran out on Jan. 17, when Semmes was ordered to go without further delay, his vessel inadequately coaled.

He decided to risk a voyage to Gibraltar, an unfortunate choice, as it turned out. On the way, he took two more prizes — his final total would be 18 — and reached the rock Jan. 19. But local merchants refused to sell him coal, and three U.S. warships blocked him in. They were the Chippewa, the Tuscarora and the Kearsarge.

The Kearsarge was commanded by Capt. John A. Winslow, who was to become Semmes’ nemesis. In the famous duel with the Alabama in 1864, Winslow’s gunners were vastly superior, sending a fearsome adversary to the bottom and ending Semmes’ career as a raider.

At Gibraltar, Semmes yielded to the inevitable and abandoned the Sumter. After the crew was paid off, he and his officers sailed for England, where Semmes took command of the Alabama. However, the Sumter had taken its toll on American merchant shipping, forcing up the cost of marine insurance to such an extent that many ship owners sold their vessels to non-Americans.

In December 1862, the Sumter was put up for auction in Gibraltar and purchased by a Liverpool merchant, who renamed it the Gibraltar. The captain of the Chippewa vowed to attack if it left Gibraltar, even though it would be flying a British flag, but common sense prevailed.

The Sumter might have changed names, but its luck did not improve. Some years later, it was in the North Sea when a bad storm blew up. The old raider had met an enemy it could neither evade nor outrun, and the great waves closed over it. One is inclined to wonder whether Raphael Semmes ever learned of its fate.

Peter Cliffe, a retired corporate administrator, lives in Hertfordshire, England. He became interested in the Civil War while working with a multinational firm in this country.