Chapter 56: commerce-destroyers.-their inception, remarkable career, and ending.
- The Florida (Oreto), Clarence, Tacony, Alexandria, Georgia (Japan), Rappahannock, Nashville, Shenandoah (sea King), Tuscaloosa, Chickamauga (Edith), Tallahassee (Atlanta), Olustee, Chameleon, etc. -- cutting out of the U. S. Revenue steamer Caleb Cushing from the harbor of Portland, me. -- capture of the Florida on the coast of Brazil. -- an apology to the Brazilian government. -- Captain Collins' punishment. -- the Florida sunk in Hampton Roads. -- destruction of the whaling fishery in the Arctic ocean. -- neutrality laws violated by foreign governments. -- scenes on board the Confederate cruisers. -- actual losses inflicted by the Alabama and Shenandoah. -- criticisms, remarks, etc., etc.
We have told the story of the Sumter and Alabama, and partly that of the Florida, which latter, after her escape from the Federal squadron off Pensacola, particularly the R. R. Cuyler, in January, 1863, commenced the business of destruction for which she was fitted out. In her first attempts at destruction the Florida was not particularly fortunate, for in the course of ten days Captain Maffitt only succeeded in destroying three small vessels. He then put into Nassau, where, it will be remembered, the Florida, formerly the Oreto, had been seized by the authorities and her case brought before the courts for violation of the Enlistment Act. The merchant to whom the vessel was consigned swore that the Oreto was a bona fide merchant vessel, while at that very moment her guns and munitions of war were on board another vessel in the harbor. When the ship returned to Nassau in July, under the name of the Florida, her appearance at first caused considerable confusion among the witnesses and officials, for it was evident that a flagrant breach of the British Foreign Enlistment Act had been committed. However, this circumstance did not seriously influence the British authorities at Nassau. Maffitt had entered a bona fide Confederate port, and now that he was again in Nassau, with a regular commission, a good crew, and the Confederate flag at his peak, he received an ovation. The officials allowed the Florida thirty-six hours to remain in port and take coal and whatever else she might require, although the orders of the Home Government limited the supply of coal to what was supposed to be necessary to enable a Confederate cruiser to reach one of the ports of the Confederacy. From Nassau the Florida proceeded to Barbadoes, where she received on board one hundred tons of coal, in further violation of the orders of the Home Government, which provided that a second supply of coal should not be allowed within three months. Doubtless, the instructions were similar to those issued by Earl John Russell to the British Minister at Washington in the case of the Trent,--one set to be shown to the American Secretary of State, and a second
