trad
The Confederate sloop-of-war CSS Alabama was built by William and John Laird & Co. in Birkenhead, United Kingdom, in 1862. Alabama served as a commerce raider, attacking Union merchant and naval ships over the course of her two-year career, during which she never laid anchor in a Southern port. She was sunk on 19 June 1864 off the coast of Cherbourg by USS Kearsarge. The lyrics of the shanty Roll, Alabama, Roll are attributed to the Confederate sailor Frank Townsend who served on the ship. One of the crew of the Kearsarge who sank the Alabama is buried in the cemetery behind Armand Aromin & Ben Gagliardi's house in East Providence.
When the Alabama’s keel was laid (Roll, Alabama, roll!)
It was laid in the yard of Jonathan Laird (Oh, roll, Alabama, roll!)
It was laid in the yard of Jonathan Laird It was laid in the town of Birkenhead
Across the Mersey river she sailed then And Liverpool fitted her with guns and men
From the Western Isles she sailed forth To destroy all commerce of the North
Down to Cherbourg came she straight one day For to take her toll in prize money
There many a sailor lad met his doom When the ship Kearsarge hove in view
And a shot from the forward pivot that day It shot the Alabama’s stern away
In the three-mile limit, in sixty-four She sank to the bottom of the ocean floorÂ