 Briefly serving under Captain Raphael Semmes aboard the CSS "Savannah", he was sent across the Atlantic and, in August 1862, joined the "Alabama" in the Azores just before its official commission and would remain aboard the commerce raider throughout its entire career.Wounded during the battle with the USS "Kearsarge" on June 19, 1864, in which the "Alabama" was sunk, Anderson was rescued by the "Deerhound", a British yacht, and taken to England.On his return to the Confederacy, he encountered the blockade runner "Owl" and agreed to join its crew as an acting master and, by the end of the war, had won promotion to lieutenant.