172 MATTHEW FONTAINE MAURY 



Commander Maury was detached because of ill health, 

 and the ship was refitted. But she was fated not to go 

 out on another cruise. The vessel was not adapted to 

 the service for which she was required ; her coal capacity 

 was limited and the consumption of fuel on her was made 

 very large because she lacked great sail-power and 

 always had to chase under steam. She did, however, 

 slip out past the Union ships on guard, and made her 

 way to the Mediterranean to a rendezvous with the 

 C. S. S. Rappahannock on the coast of Morocco. Here 

 her battery, ammunition, and a part of her crew were to 

 be transferred to the other vessel, and she was then to 

 be sold. But the French kept such a close watch on 

 the Rappahannock that she was not able to leave the 

 harbor of Calais, and the Georgia was at last forced to 

 turn about and make her way to Bordeaux. She was 

 then ordered to Liverpool, where on the 10th of May, 

 1864, she was put out of commission and sold to an 

 Englishman by the name of Edward Bates for about 

 15,000 pounds. She was then captured in August of 

 that year by Captain T. T. Craven of the U. S. S. 

 Niagara, and sent to Boston, where she was condemned; 

 and afterwards the owner's claim for damages was dis- 

 allowed by the Mixed Commission at Washington. 



Maury was instructed by the Secretary of the Navy, 

 on June 8, 1863, to purchase another ship. This order, 

 however, did not reach him until two months afterwards, 

 and he was not able to carry it out until the month of 

 November, when he secured a condemned dispatch boat 

 belonging to the Royal Navy. This was the Victor, 

 a screw-steamer of about 500 tons which had been offered 

 for sale at Sherness. For fear of being stopped, Maury 

 hurried her to sea on the wintry night of November 24, 



