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Re: CSS Alabama
In Response To: Re: CSS Alabama ()

The last flag is the one sold at auction last year for 218k. The flag was sold by the desendants of the man that Semmes or Sinclair presented it to. This is part of the write up from the auction.

Employing two of his best swimmers, Semmes salvaged his diary and ship-papers from the wreck, but otherwise most everything was lost, including Semmes's sword and the ensigns in the flag locker. (The Alabama had not only carried her own flags — English and US colors to deceive enemy ships, and Confederate colors, raised once the enemy was in closer range — but also kept the flags of her prizes.)

Semmes and 40 of his men were rescued from the water by the Deerhound, an English steam yacht owned by John Lancaster and captained by Evan Parry Jones. The yacht carried them to neutral London, where Semmes spent time with his friends, the Tremletts, and Sinclair stayed with the ever generous Mr. Beaver, who returned to London shortly after the Alabama's sinking, ahead of his marriage to Mary Robins on 12 July 1864.

According to the story passed down by his descendants, it was during that later stay that Mr. Beaver was given the present flag. Sir Hugh Beaver, a cousin to Mr. Hugh Rowland Beaver and a significant industrialist later involved with Britain's post-WWII re-growth, reported in 1928 that the flag was saved from the wreckage, and that Semmes himself "presented [it] to Rowland Beaver in return for his hospitality in Singapore. The flag still exists, probably the only tangible relic of one of the great raiders in naval history.

Im not sure how to post images on this site, but the flag is not a Richmond Depot product. Maybe someone can pull a picture of the Southeby's web site

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