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Signal flares are often used at sea. Their bright lights can be seen from a great distance even in fog.

sea at a high rate of speed. It looked like the small boat that Phillips had seen earlier tied to the larger boat. The skiff was fast and the waves were slight. It was getting closer by the second. When the boat was about one mile out, Phillips ordered Colin, the third mate, to sound the intruder alert signal. The alarm clanged and every seaman raced to their designated stations. Some locked themselves in a “safe room” designed to keep intruders out. Others made their way to the steering room, where they could control the ship using a set of auxiliary controls. The crew fired distress flares into the air and radioed that they were under attack. Then gunfire erupted. Bullets flew in all directions. Some struck the Alabama ’s smokestack. Others ricocheted off its superstructure .

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