CSS Florida Spawns a Baby

Lieutenant Charles Read, CSN

Throughout the Spring and Summer of 1863, the cruiser CSS Florida continued to have success in locating and destroying U.S.-flagged merchant ships.  After the capture of the Jacob Bell in March, John Maffitt and Florida captured several more ships along the East Coast, including the converted whaling ship Onedia on its way home to New Beford, MA from China.   Between the combined efforts of CSS Alabama and CSS Florida, New England newspapers such as the New Bedford Standard demanded the resignation of Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles.

When Florida captured the bark Clarence, one of Maffitt's more aggressive junior officers, Lieutenant Charles Read, proposed to his captain that he be allowed to command Clarence.  With a few guns, Read intended to take the war to the Yankees by raiding their ports.  Maffitt agreed, gave him one gun, and a "junior" cruiser was born.  Florida headed east for France for repairs.  Clarence headed north.   

Read's original plan to was to use Clarence's papers to sneak into Hampton Roads and either capture a U.S. Navy gunboat or burn merchant ships in the harbor.  But, he wisely reconsidered the foolish plan.  He second idea was to sail to New England and hit Yankee merchants in their own back yard.  This raid began on June 12, 1863, when Read captured the bark Tacony off the coast of the Virginia Capes.  The raid alerted the U.S. Navy that Confederate cruisers were dangerously close.  A dozen ships were deployed to look for them.  Before the raid was over, Read burned twenty-two fishing schooners and a U.S. Revenue Cutter.  He surrendered when a band of armed citizens joined with soldiers from the 7th Maine Volunteers in Portland, Maine.  They mobilized a small fleet and chased after Read's ship.

 More than any other Confederate raider, Read truly brought the war home to New England merchant owners.  In the end, this is what the guerre de course strategy was suppose to do: make the war too expensive for the upper class merchants to want to continue the war.

During the Spanish-American War, Captain Casper Goodrich published a study in the Proceedings of the Naval Institute on Read's raid and the Navy's reaction to it on how not to stop a commerce raider.  Goodrich produced the following maps.  Read's ship is highlighted by the arrow.  All other names are U.S. Navy and Revenue Cutter vessels searching for him.

Situation map: June 12, 1863 (left) and June 14, 1863 (right) (click to enlarge)





Situation map: June 16 (left) and June 17 (right) (click to enlarge)

By June 21 (left), Read had successfully destroyed several fishing
vessels off the coast of Maine.  He transferred to his command to a
fishing schooner called Archer. By June 27, he captured the
USRC Caleb Cushing before surrendering. 

The Capture of Georgina and Some Furry Friends

The English-built steamer Georgina had the potential to be one of the most effective ship ever to serve in the Confederate States Navy. She was a large steamer with a good size hold for cargo and had several placement for large caliber guns. Like many of the English-built cruisers, great secrecy surrounded her construction. It is still not clear whether the Confederacy intended her to be a commerce raiding cruiser or a blockade runner.

During her maiden (and only) voyage  in the Spring of1863, she was definitely a blockade runner.  Loaded with small arms, naval artillery, black powder, money, and alcohol, Georgina attempted to the run into Charleston. She did not make it.  U.S. Navy ships USS America, Wissahockon, and Housatonic spotted her and opened fired.  The shots struck Georgina.  During the chase, Georgina's captain committed a serious navigation error, causing the ship to run hard aground. He and the ship's company immediately abandoned ship.

Wissahockon's commanding officer ordered a boarding team to take possession of the ship and "all prisoners."  One of Wissahockon's division officers, Lieutenant Israel Vail, in his excellent memoir Three Years on the Blockade, tells us what happened next:

"A boat was immediately lowered from our ship, and Lieutenant Casey was sent to board the stranger, with orders to bring back the prisoners with him, and to ascertain what cargo she had, and get such other information as he could by an examination of her papers. It was past midnight, but we all sat up and waited patiently for the return of the boat, as we were anxious to see the prisoners and hear all the particulars about the ship.

In due time the boat returned bringing the prisoners, which consisted of a large Newfoundland dog and a very large Southdown sheep. Lieutenant Casey had obeyed his instructions to the letter, so far at least as the prisoners were concerned, for the dog and sheep were the only living things to be found on board the vessel, and these amiable animals had met him at the gangway as he stepped on board, and gave him a hearty welcome, at the same time indicating their willingness to surrender, without any words on the subject.

The arrival of these unexpected prisoners caused an immense amount of amusement for us, as we all crowded to the rail to see them hoisted on board, and the Lieutenant seemed to be very proud of his peaceful capture. He reported that he had made a thorough examination of the ship in search of officers and crew, whom it was possible might be stowed away somewhere among the cargo, but, that he could find no trace of any living beings except the prisoners mentioned. So he had concluded that all hands had escaped to the shore in their boats, as soon as the ship had struck the bar. Signals were at once made from our ship for assistance in getting the stranger off the bar, and in a few minutes several boats arrived from the other blockading ships, and preparations were made for hauling her off.

There was no manifest of the cargo found, but it was presumed that she was loaded with arms and ammunition, as a portion of the cargo was in sight, and consisted of small rifled cannon and Enfield rifles. There must also have been a considerable quantity of medical stores on board, as quite a number of bottles of quinine were found, as well as several cases of brandy. The quality of the latter article was tested.”

USS America-The Most Famous Civil War Ship You've Never Heard Of

It may come as a surprise to some Civil War naval aficionados that there was a ship serving on the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron as famous as Monitor, Hartford, or Alabama.  The schooner USS America should be added to that list.  The America was small by nineteenth century warship standards.  She did not possess iron plates or a steam boiler.  No well known officer ever controlled her helm.  Nonetheless, her name is legendary to people who compete in sailing regattas. 

In 1851, British royalty donated a trophy called the 100 Guinea Cup for the Royal Navy Yacht Club's annual race around the Isle of Wight.  Determined to win for the United States, a nine man syndicate known as the New York Yacht Club commissioned the construction of a gaff schooner-rigged yacht.  The ship was christened America.  After defeating fifteen British ships in front of Queen Victoria, the men brought the Cup to the United States.  They donated the trophy to the Club to serve as the award for an international sailing competition.  They renamed the cup and competition the "America's Cup," in honor of the yacht’s accomplishment.  Every four years, professional sailors and their sponsors compete for the Cup.

 
Despite their success, the syndicate sold the schooner to a British lord soon after the race.  After passing through a few other hands, the vessel finally landed with another member of British royalty, Henry Deice.  According to Edward Sweet, author of The America: War Service of a Racing Yacht, Deice's background was always a mystery.  He frequently changed his name in correspondence.  It is plausible that he lied about being a British lord. Nonetheless,  Deice committed the ship to Confederate service at the beginning of the war to be used a courier/blockade runner out of Jacksonville, Florida.

 When Union forces captured Jacksonville, they found the yatch scuttled in the St. Johns River.  Determining the vessel was worth saving, the Navy salvaged the schooner and sent her to the Washington Navy Yard for repair.  While there, Naval ordnance expert John Dahlgren gave the vessel a 24-pounder and two 12-pounder bronze cannons.  Commissioned as USS America, the Navy assigned the fast sailing schooner to the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron.  Despite its light battery and small size, America and her commanding officer, Acting Master Jonathan Baker, captured or chased ashore several blockade runners.  Her captures included the schooner David Crocket and the steamers Georgina and Stonewall Jackson.

Given the advance in maritime technology, it may seem odd for the Navy to use sailing ships for war service.  Since these little vessels (only 170 tons displacement) were fast, drew little water, and required little upkeep, senior officers coveted these ships.  Many complained loudly when the Department ordered them off duty.

After the war, the Navy kept the yacht as a training vessel at the U.S. Naval Academy until it was sold to General Benjamin Butler.  She survived until the 1940s. A replicia of the vessel sails on the West Coast of the United States.

The 2013 America's Cup will be held in San Francisco, California.