$17,775
American School, 19th Century Action at Sea Between U. S.S. Kearsarge and C.S.S. Alabama. Unsigned. Oil on canvas, depicting the Civil War naval battle when the ironclad Union screw sloop steamer USS Kearsarge sunk the Confederate steamer CSS Alabama near Cherbourg, France, on June 19, 1864, 22 x 27 in., in a period molded gilt-gesso frame. Condition: Very good, scattered spots of surface grime. Note: The USS Kearsarge , was built at the Portsmouth Navy Yard, Kittery, Maine, under the 1861 Civil War emergency shipbuilding program. She was immediately deployed to European waters, where she spent nearly three years searching for Confederate raiders. In June 1864, under the command of Capt. John Winslow, Kearsarge found CSS Alabama at Cherbourg, France, where they fought a battle that became one of the Civil War's most memorable naval actions. The Kearsarge defeated her enemy in about an hour. Over the next two decades, she completed several tours in the Caribbean, the North Atlantic, Europe and North Africa. In February 1888, she was wrecked on Roncador Reef, while en route from Haiti to Nicaraugua. Efforts to salvage her failed, and she was sticken from the Navy List later that year. The spots may be mold spots and not surface grime.
Auctioneer:
Skinner
Date:
2008-06-08
