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Originally published in the Historic Nantucket, Fall 1993 (Vol. 41, No. 3; incorrectly labeled Vol. 42, No. 3), p. 54

A Glimpse of the War at Sea: Taking of the Whaler Levi Starbuck
by Douglas K. Burch

While the island remained safe from Confederate naval attack, Nantucket ships and their crews did not.

This painting of the whaler Levi Starbuck, sunk by the notorious Rebel raider CSS Alabama, hangs in the Whaling Museum as a reminder that natural perils of the sea were not the only dangers Nantucketers faced when they sailed around Brant Point during this turbulent period.

The log of the Alabama includes this entry for Sunday, November 2, 1862:

"A fine day, with light winds from the S.E. At 8:30 gave chase to a ship to the N.W. At 11 mustered the crew and read the articles of war. At 11:30 hoisted the North American Flag, being some four miles distant from the chase, the chase responding to the same colors. At 12:30 hove the chase to with a gun; and having come up with her, sent a boat on board and brought the master alongside with his papers. She proved to be the whaling ship Levi Starbuck five days out of New Bedford bound for a voyage of thirty months to the Pacific Ocean. Received from her such articles as we needed, brought the crew on board, consisting of twenty-nine persons, and a little after nightfall set fire to her, and filled away to the southward. Papers to the 28th ultimo. No news of importance; the armies on the Potomac remaining in status quo. The Yankee fleet is bestirring itself in our pursuit. Latitude 36°13'26"; longitude 66°01'15"."

The Alabama, was built in Liverpool in 1862 and bought by the Confederate government for use as a raider and blockade runner. In her twenty-one-month cruise to the four corners of the globe, Alabama wrought havoc among United States merchant shipping, taking more than sixty prizes valued at nearly $6,000,000. The most famous of the Confederate cruisers, her very existence caused the Federal Navy Department to divert warships from the blockade to intercepting positions at focal points on the world's trade routes. Northern shipowners were compelled to delay sailings, pay increased insurance premiums, and, in many cases, transfer ships to foreign registry.

Alabama was intercepted off Cherbourg, France, by the USS Kearsarge and, after a furious fight, was sunk on June 19, 1864, writing finis to one of the most daring chapters in naval history.