Daar kom die Alibama

A Cape Malay harbour lookout tells everyone who cares to hear of the return of the fabled CSS Alabama.

The Alabama, a Confederate commerce raider under the command of Captain Raphael Semmes, visited Cape Town in the latter half of 1863. Semmes was already known for his kindness and chivalry towards the crews of destroyed or captured vessels. It is said that he hosted a party on board the Alabama while in port at Cape Town. Cape Town society in general, and the dock workers in particular, were so impressed by his generosity that a song was composed about it. The first and third parts of the song repeat, at times with some modifications, the following two lines:

Daar kom die Alibama,
die Alibama die kom oor die see...

[There comes the Alabama,
the Alabama, it comes over the sea...]


The second part of the song is:

Nooi, nooi, die rietkooi, nooi,
die rietkooi is gemaak,
die rietkooi is vir my gemaak
om daarop te slaap...

[Girl, girl, the reed cot, girl,
the reed cot is made
the reed cot is made for me
to sleep on it...]

This refers to the merchant sloop Alabama, named after the original, which traded in reeds along the coast for several years after Semmes' visit.


The song was kept alive by the hope in Cape Town of the return of the Alabama and her popular captain, but it was not to be. On June 19th of the following year, the Alabama was sunk by the USS Kearsarge in the English Channel and much of her crew captured, although Captain Semmes was rescued by the private British yacht Deerhound.

During her lifetime, the Alabama "boarded almost 450 vessels, captured or burned 65 Union merchant vessels, and took more than 2,000 prisoners without a single loss of life from either prisoners or her own crew." [Quoted from the Wikipedia article.]


The song itself has lived on, and is still sung to this day.


Note on the picture: I'm aware that the tiger's ear is in an angry attitude for a tiger, but that was the only way that his little hat could stay on