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Not too long after serving his engineering apprenticeship at the Cunningham Belknap, Phoenix Foundry in New York in October 1852, Brooks served as one of the engineers aboard the S.S. "Habana", a passenger and freight steamer which cruised between Havana, Cuba and New Orleans up until the outbreak of hostilities between the States, when it was purchased by the Confederate Government in order to serve its navy.
Brooks, like so many of his fellow countrymen, immediately offer his
services to the Confederacy who appointed him an acting second assistant
engineer aboard the steamer "Habana" receiving his commission from the
State of Louisiana on May 11, 1861. He was one of the engineering officers,
under its Chief Engineer Miles James Freeman, who assisted in the fitting
out of the "Habana" into the Confederate States Steamer "Sumter" and after
being placed under the command of Captain Raphael Semmes, served aboard
for its brief but successful cruise until she became trapped at Gibraltar
by three federal warships during February 1862, after putting in a month
earlier to carry out repairs to her boilers and engines. With the "Sumter"
laid up at Gibraltar, Brooks and the other officers were order to London to
await further orders and on April 9th took passage aboard the English
steamer Euphrosyne bound for London.
However a few days after leaving
Gibraltar, she encountered strong head winds and heavy seas and during
the next few hours hardly made any progress at all, so its Captain
decided to turn his ship around and set course for Vigo Bay, Spain. On
April 15th after taking on more coal the Euphrosyne left Vigo Bay for
open sea but again she met with strong winds and turbulent seas which caused
the steamer to strike a submerged rock, hitting it three times which
fractured her hull and leaving the captain with no other option but to
order the lease of the life boats. All the passengers and crew of the
Euphrosyne, numbering about fifty (50), were eventually picked up from
the life boats by two fishing boats which had come out from Vigo to offer
some assistance, and finally returned to that port a little after midnight,
when all had been rescued. After a short convalescence a Vigo, Brooks and
the other officers booked passage on another steamer and arrived in London
on or about April 28th where they immediately reported to the Confederate
envoy, the Honorable John M Mason of their arrival.
It was while in London, awaiting to be assigned to the CSS Alabama, that
Brooks met and fell in love with the beautiful Wiltshire born Emily Ann
Bence, and within a fortnight of their meeting they were married at the
parish church of Saint Mary's, Newington, on July 16, 1862 with most of
the officers from the late Sumter attending in full dress uniform. Their
short honeymoon was spent in Ireland accompanied by her mother, and it was
while here that they paid a visit to Blarney Castle near Cork, where Brooks
held his new bride by her heels in order that she could kiss the famous
Blarney Stone.
On August 13th, 1862, Brooks and the other officers assigned to the Alabama,
left Liverpool aboard the steamer Bahama for a voyage to Porto Praya, on
the island of Terceira, and a rendezvous with the Alabama. After meeting at
the Azores on August 20th, Brooks assisted in the fitting out of the "290"
or the "Enrica" as she was then called, into the Confederate States Steamer
Alabama, and after her commissioning on August 24th, served aboard as first
assistant engineer under the command of Captain Raphael Semmes. Brooks
served aboard for the full cruise and took part in the naval engagement
against the USS Kearsarge on June 19th 1864 off the coast of Cherbourg,
France and was among the survivors who were rescued from the channel by
the crew of a French pilot boat under the command of its pilot Monsieur
Mauger.
In gratitude to Mr. Mauger for his assistance in rescuing some of
the officers and crew of the late Alabama, the Confederate Government,
through its Cherbourg agent Mr. Bonfils, delivered personally by lieutenant
Armstrong and Engineer Brooks, sent to him the sum of five hundred Francs,
which he accepted on behalf of his men by sharing it amongst them all. It
was reported in the local newspapers that Mauger received a gold medal of
the second class from the French Minister of Marine, with silver medals
being awarded to the pilot Gosselin and the apprentice pilot Doncet for
their gallant conduct during the rescue.
It was at Havana Cuba a short while later that he learned of General Lee's surrender at the Appomattox Court House from Captain C.S. Boggs of the USS Connecticut, when he ordered Captain Page to give up his ship and accept his terms on surrender. Page simply refused his terms and instead sold the Stonewall to the Spanish Captain-General of Cuba with the proceeds from the sale being used to pay off his crew.
With the ending of hostilities, Brooks decided to remain in Havana and
with his wife Emily, who soon joined him, worked as an inspector of
shipping for the Spanish Government for eleven years. During his term of
service in the Spanish Navy, Brooks was instrumental in saving two
steamers during a terrific hurricane and tidal wave on the island of Saint
Thomas, in which it is said that over sixty sailing vessels and crews and
ten steamers and their crews were lost. The loss of life was appalling
and for the bravery exhibited by Mr. Brooks in endeavoring to save the
vessels and rescue the people, the queen of Spain conferred upon him the
Naval Cross of the Order of Merit, First Class. Queen Isabel, the Second,
in the official decree commands that
"general and private officials of
Navy and all Armed and other personnel of the Army, Commanders of Navy,
Ministers and all other persons of whatever class, order and condition,
that they hold and regard you a Knight, First Class, of the Naval Order
of Merit".
After eleven years in the service of Spain, he resigned his position and returned home to Savannah, Georgia. Upon his return he was engaged as chief engineer aboard the Ocean Steamship Company's vessel Tallahassee, a post he held until his demise on April 19, 1889. With his coffin draped in the colors of the Sumter and Alabama, he was buried in a private grave at the Laurel Grove Cemetery and where his Emily, who survived him, joined him on April 7th 1927.
Mr. Brooks had an historic album containing the pictures of each one of the vessels and a photograph of the officers. He also had in his possession a whale's tooth, on which were cut, by some of the staff, the pictures of both the Alabama and the Sumter. The pictures are exact likenesses of the vessels with each flying the flag of the Confederacy. The Sumter flying the original "Stars and Bars" , while the Alabama flies the flag with the standard in the corner and the white field flowing, the second National. Admiral Raphael Semmes, in securing a picture of them for his "Memoirs of Service Afloat", took copies from the whales tooth. Among other relics are two flags of the Alabama and the Sumter. The former is of bunting and the latter is of silk.
The following photographs were provided by Mr. Clint Brooks.
The Brooks whale`s tooth scrimshaw depiction of the CSS Alabama
The William P Brooks headstone, in Savannah, Georgia.
The United Daughters of the Confederacy "Iron Cross Gravemarker" at William P Brooks grave.
