558 NAVY, CONFEDERATE. 



NAVY, UNITED STATES. 



Tlio other merchant vessels (twenty-nine) 

 were captured in Southern harbors and rivers. 

 Of the vessels captured by the cruisers, seven- 

 teen were bonded, and all the others burned. 



During 1864 a few captures were made by 

 th'e Alabama before she was sunk by the Kear- 

 sarge. (See NAVAL OPERATIONS.) The Florida, 

 Captain Morris, appeared off the coast of Vir- 

 ginia in July and captured six vessels, and de- 

 stroyed afterwards a number, and was finally 

 captured in the harbor of Bahia by a U. S. 

 steamer. (See DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE.) 



Three more cruisers also made their appear- 

 ance during 1864, viz. : the Tallahassee, OIus- 

 tee, and Chickamauga. The steamer Tallahas- 

 see in August visited the entire length of the 

 coast of the Northern States, and destroyed 

 thirty-three vessels in ten days, one of which 

 was a New York pilot-boat. The steamer 

 Olustee was an iron vessel of 1,100 tons bur- 

 then, schooner rigged, with two screws and 

 very fast. Several vessels were captured by 

 her off the coast and bound to New York in 

 the month of November. The steamer Chicka- 

 mauga also captured several vessels, which 

 were valued at $500,000. 



The most important rams for harbor service 

 were the Tennessee and Albemarle. For the 

 details respecting these and also the Confeder- 

 ate gunboats, see NAVAL OPERATIONS. 



On September 29th the steamer Koanoke, a 

 passenger and freight vessel running between 

 New York and Havana, was captured by Lieu- 

 tenant Braine and some companions, who had 

 come on board as passengers as the vessel was 

 leaving Havana in the afternoon. The officers 

 and crew were overpowered, made prisoners, 

 and the vessel headed for Bermuda, where a 

 pilot was called on board. Braine went ashore 

 and brought on board a party, and the vessel 

 put to sea, soon overhauling a brig with coal 

 and provisions. 



These were taken aboard, and on the next 

 day a vessel "was sent to take off the passen- 

 gers. The transfer was made together with 

 a quantity of cotton, and the steamer set on 

 fire. The passengers and crew were taken into 

 Five Fathom Hole, and the purser and first mate 

 went ashore to have the Confederates as pirates 

 arrested, which was done, but after a trial by 

 the British authorities they were discharged. 

 The Roanoke had on board $17,000 in green- 

 backs, and $4,000 in gold. 



A correspondence relative to this affair en- 

 sued between the Governor of Bermuda and 

 the Home Government, and with Mr. Adams, 

 the American Minister at London. The rea- 

 sons on which Lieutenant Braine was dis- 

 charged are stated in the following letter of 

 Earl Russell to Mr. Adams : 



FOREIGN OFFICE, January 21. 



SIR : I have had the honor to receive your letter 

 of the 21st ult. protesting against the proceedings 

 fif her Majesty's colonial authorities at Bermuda in 

 the case of the steamer Koanoke, and enclosing 

 sopies of various documents relating thereto. 



These papers refer to two different complaints. 



The one complaint is, that persons were enlisted at 

 Bermuda with a view to make war on a State in 

 amity with her Majesty. The other complaint is, 

 that certain passengers proceeding from Havana in 

 the United States vessel Roanoke, when five hours 

 from Havana on their voyage, rose on the captain, 

 made themselves masters of the vessel, destroyed 

 her, and were afterwards permitted to land on the 

 island of Bermuda. The answer to the first com- 

 plaint is, that sufficient evidence to convict the per- 

 sons accused was not produced, and consequently 

 they could not be convicted. The answer to the 

 second complaint is, that the person arrested for a 

 supposed piratical act produced a commission au- 

 thorizing that act as an operation of war, from the 

 Government of the so-called Confederate States, 

 which are acknowledged by her Majesty's Govern 

 ment to possess all belligerent rights. 

 (Signed,) I am, &c., RUSSELL. 



NAVY, UNITED STATES. Of all the sys- 

 tems adopted by the Navy Department "to 

 accomplish the various and arduous objects 

 rendered necessary by the outbreak of the 

 vrar, not the least interesting is the man- 

 ner in which an effective blockade of the 

 Southern coast was secured. The length 

 of coast to be blockaded was three thousand 

 five hundred and forty-nine (3,549) miles. 

 This is a greater extent than the whole coast 

 of Europe from Cape Trafalgar to Cape North. 

 The most serious attempts heretofore made by 

 the great maritime powers of Europe consisted 

 in endeavors to interdict trade at a few of the 

 principal ports of a belligerent. The first steps 

 of the department consisted in making every 

 naval vessel available, recalling the foreign 

 squadrons, increasing the force by building 

 new vessels, and procuring for naval purposes 

 from the merchant service every steamer 

 which could be made a fighting vessel, and in 

 enlarging the capacity of the navy yards, 

 putting in requisition the foundries and work- 

 shops of the country for supplies of ordnance 

 and steam machinery, augmenting the number 

 of seamen, and supplying the deficiency of 

 officers by selecting experienced and able ship- 

 masters and others from the commercial 

 marine. The next efforts of the department 

 were directed toward securing several harbors, 

 at comparatively equidistant points, as bases of 

 operations for the several squadrons, where 

 our naval vessels could receive their supplies, 

 and maintain themselves at their stations and 

 on their cruising ground without returning to 

 northern ports for repairs and to refit. For 

 this purpose various naval expeditions were 

 organized. The first sailed from Hampton 

 Roads in August, 1861, and captured the forte 

 at Hatteras Inlet. This was followed, a few 

 weeks later, by the capture of Port Royal, 

 which secured a commodious harbor for the 

 ships of the South Atlantic squadron. Early 

 in the spring of 1862 New Orleans was cap- 

 tured. Other harbors and places were from time 

 to time seized and occupied. From the outset, 

 the blockade has been so effective as to be re- 

 spected by the nations of Europe, and to cause a 

 constant complaint by the enemy of its ex- 

 hausting severity. Wilmington was the last 



