The _Couronne_ accompanied the _Alabama_ to the limits of French waters, and then turned back.

The English yacht _Deerhound_ had hurried down from Caen, upon being telegraphed of the impending fight, and the owner, with his family on board, followed the _Alabama_ at the risk of receiving a stray shot that would wind up the career of the pleasure craft and all on board.
Some time before Captain Winslow had arranged his sheet chains for a distance of fifty feet amidships and over the side of his vessel, extending six feet down.

They were intended as an additional protection to his machinery, and the practice is common among warships.

The chains were secured by marline to eyebolts protected with one-inch boards.

This natural precaution was the foundation for Captain Semmes' charge that the _Kearsarge_ was partly armored.