GHOST SHIP OF THE CONFEDERACY

by Edward Boykin ‧ RELEASE DATE: N/A

Raphael Semmes, commander during the Civil War of the raider cruiser Alabama, scored 68 merchantmen and one gunboat before lowering his colors in the famous encounter with the Kearsage. Victory follows victory so closely and the pattern is so similar that the book tends to merge into a composite impression. This consists of Semmes sailing into whaling waters, hauling up a foreign flag to deceive his oncoming victim, sending out a boarding party, taking the ship's papers and the navigation instruments from his defeated opponent, capturing the enemy crew-taking them on but treating them well, and in the morning light- so as not to frighten off further prey- setting fire to the enemy ship, using furniture for kindling and spreading butter from the victim's stores on the pyre.... The narrative as a whole is mechanical and wearing.

Pub Date: N/A

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Funk & Wagnalls

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1957

Categories: NONFICTION