Adm. Raphael Semmes and the CSS Alabama raid again in new documentary

Adm. Raphael Semmes and the CSS Alabama raid again in new documentary

With his latest film for Alabama Public Television, filmmaker Robert Clem set himself what he regards as his most ambitious challenge: To get his arms around the story of Confederate Adm. Raphael Semmes.

The result, “Sink the Alabama,” premieres at 8 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 3, on Alabama Public Television. At 90 minutes long, it features interviews with historians and images from the historic record, but also uses actors to portray Semmes and other characters, re-enacting scenes as they might have occurred.

Clem is frank about his reason for adopting the structure: “Otherwise it would have been a slide show with narration,” he said.

The run of Semmes’ career was likewise unconventional. As a native of southern Maryland, he joined the U.S. Navy young. He had a respectable career, achieving some distinction in the Mexican War and capitalizing on it with a popular memoir. By the late 1850s, he’d landed in a role overseeing lighthouses, but the secession of Southern states and the rise of the Confederacy presented a choice, and new opportunities.