Arthur Sinclair (1837–1925)
Author of Two Years on the Alabama
About the Author
The fourth generation of a naval family that first settled in Virginia in the 1740s, Arthur Sinclair had served on Commander Perry's expedition to Japan before the outbreak of the Civil War. He first saw action in the Confederate navy on the Virginia at the battle of Hampton Roads. Commissioned as show more an officer on the Alabama from the outset, he served until its end. He was the last survivor of the crew when he died in 1925 at the age of eighty-eight show less
Image credit: Fourth Lieutenant Arthur Sinclair
Source: Photo Album of Edward M. Anderson, William Stanley Hoole Papers, William Stanley Hoole Special Collections Library, The University of Alabama
http://www.lib.ua.edu/content/libraries/hoole/digital/cssala/sinc
Works by Arthur Sinclair
Robocroc 2 copies
Associated Works
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Legal name
- Sinclair, Arthur, IV
- Birthdate
- 1837-05-05
- Date of death
- 1925-11
- Gender
- male
- Occupations
- naval officer
- Organizations
- Confederate States Navy
- Relationships
- Sinclair, Upton (nephew)
- Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- Norfolk, Virginia, USA
- Places of residence
- Baltimore, Maryland, USA
- Burial location
- Green Mount Cemetery, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
- Associated Place (for map)
- Maryland, USA
Members
Reviews
Legally, they weren't really pirates. They acted like privateers. Almost a letter of marque. We'll settle for Man-o'-Warsmen since that's what they would have preferred, I think. The legitimacy of their papers aren't really relevant since the threat of their 100-pound payloads often proved convincing enough.
Put into service by the nascent Confederate States of America, they set themselves upon the seeking out, capture and (usually by burning) destruction of enemy (US of A) merchant show more shipping.
It's not really a sea-going story so much as a memoir with some after-the-fact political whitewashing for effect. These sailors never did wrong, never complained, never sailed slow, never missed a shot, never missed stays, never turned down battle and never molested the women. Always gallant, always smiling, polite and cheerful, their enemies were unarmed and under-armed merchant and packets that the Alabama would chase, detain, search, pillage and almost always burn. A sophisticated, mustache-twirling wolf among sheep, indeed.
One cannot argue with the evidence that commercial shipping to and from the northern states was severely disrupted during this time, even if you discount their own crowing somewhat. If that was their goal, they were successful. In seeking out like-sized man-o'-war for combat, they were not.
Their only action ended in disgrace and took place near the end of the war. Whether the captain truly thought the Alabama would prevail, thought they would be blockaded until grounding on their own beef bones or if he knew the war was over and this was akin to Pickett's Charge, the Alabama ended upbeing out-sailed, out-steamed, out-gunned, out-maneuvered and out-fought in their first and last battle .
This view of the world's navy doesn't much match with O'Brian's of several decades earlier, but don't read it for that reason. Read it because it's a first-person account of a bit of history that most people never knew about: that the Confederate States were the terror of the high seas for a few years in the sixties. show less
Put into service by the nascent Confederate States of America, they set themselves upon the seeking out, capture and (usually by burning) destruction of enemy (US of A) merchant show more shipping.
It's not really a sea-going story so much as a memoir with some after-the-fact political whitewashing for effect. These sailors never did wrong, never complained, never sailed slow, never missed a shot, never missed stays, never turned down battle and never molested the women. Always gallant, always smiling, polite and cheerful, their enemies were unarmed and under-armed merchant and packets that the Alabama would chase, detain, search, pillage and almost always burn. A sophisticated, mustache-twirling wolf among sheep, indeed.
One cannot argue with the evidence that commercial shipping to and from the northern states was severely disrupted during this time, even if you discount their own crowing somewhat. If that was their goal, they were successful. In seeking out like-sized man-o'-war for combat, they were not.
Their only action ended in disgrace and took place near the end of the war. Whether the captain truly thought the Alabama would prevail, thought they would be blockaded until grounding on their own beef bones or if he knew the war was over and this was akin to Pickett's Charge, the Alabama ended up
This view of the world's navy doesn't much match with O'Brian's of several decades earlier, but don't read it for that reason. Read it because it's a first-person account of a bit of history that most people never knew about: that the Confederate States were the terror of the high seas for a few years in the sixties. show less
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- Rating
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