FLORIDA CSS 1862
Posted: Mon Oct 03, 2011 7:31 pm
Built as a wooden cruiser by William C. Miller & Sons, Liverpool for a Liverpool shipping agentJohn Henry Thomas which was appointed by the Confederate States Navy.
June 1861 keel laid down.
February 1862 launched as the ORETO.
Tonnage 700 ton, dim. 58 x 8.28 x 4.0m. (draught).
Powered by a steam engine manufactured by Fawcett Preston & Co., Liverpool. Speed 9.5 knots under steam.
Barque rigged.
Three masts, two funnels and four gunports.
22 March 1862 completed and sailed out of Liverpool as a merchant ship under British registery.
Under command of the British Captain James A Duguid with a British crew of 52.
She was cleared for Palermo, Italy but instead she sailed to Nassau, Bahamas where she arrived on 28 April 1862.
Command was taken over in Nassau by John Newland Maffitt after coaling she sailed to the isolated Green Bay to take on board from her tender stores and her armament of 6 – 6 inch rifled cannons, 2 – 7 inch rifled cannons and 1 – 12 pdr.
17 August 1862 commissioned and renamed CSS FLORIDA.
Crew 146.
Initially called by the Confederates MANASSAS, the first of the foreign-built commerce raiders
During her outfit, yellow fever raged among her crew, in 5 days reducing her effective force to one fireman and four deckhands. In desperate plight, she ran across to Cuba. There in Cardenas Maffitt too was stricken with the dread disease.
In this condition, against all probability, the intrepid Maffitt sailed
her from Cardenas to Mobile. In an audacious dash the "Prince of
Privateers" braved a hail of projectiles from the Union blockaders and
raced through them to anchor beneath the guns of Ft. Morgan for a welcome by Mobile. FLORIDA had been unable to fight back not only
because of sickness but because rammers, sights, beds, locks and quoins
had, inadvertently, not been loaded at Nassau. Having taken stores and
gun accessories she lacked, along with added crew members, FLORIDA
escaped to sea 16 January 1863.
After coaling again at Nassau, she spent 6 months off North and South
America and in the West Indies, with calls at neutral ports, all the
while making captures and eluding the large Federal squadron pursuing
her. (See also the exploits of Lieutenant Read under CLARENCE, TACONY,
ARCHER and CALEB CUSHING.)
FLORIDA sailed 27 July from Bermuda for Brest, where she lay in the
French Government dock from 23 August 1863 to 12 February 1864. There
broken in health, Maffitt relinquished command to Lieutenant Morris.
Departing for the West Indies, FLORIDA bunkered at Barbados, although
the 3 months specified by British law had not elapsed since last coaling at an Empire port. She then skirted the U.S. coast, sailed east to Tenerife in the Canaries and thence to Bahia, 4 October 1864.
Anchored in the Brazilian haven, on 7 October FLORIDA was caught
defenseless in a night attack by Comdr. Napoleon Collins of USS
WACHUSETT, while her captain was ashore with half his crew. Towed to
sea, she was sent to the United States as a prize despite Brazil's
protests at this violation of neutral rights.
At Newport News, 28 November 1864, FLORIDA reached the end of her
strange career when she sank in a collision with the transport USA ALLIANCE, a troop ferry and thus could not be delivered to Brazil in satisfaction of the final court order. Commander Collins was court-martialed but won fame and eventual promotion for his daring.
FLORIDA captured 37 prizes during her impressive career; her prizes
TACONY and CLARENCE in turn took 23 more.
Today, many of her artifacts from CSS FLORIDA are at the Hampton Roads Naval Museum.
More info you can find at http://www.csa-dixie.com/liverpool_dixie/florida.htm
Grenada 2002 $6 sg?, scott?
Source: Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CSS_Florida_(cruiser)
June 1861 keel laid down.
February 1862 launched as the ORETO.
Tonnage 700 ton, dim. 58 x 8.28 x 4.0m. (draught).
Powered by a steam engine manufactured by Fawcett Preston & Co., Liverpool. Speed 9.5 knots under steam.
Barque rigged.
Three masts, two funnels and four gunports.
22 March 1862 completed and sailed out of Liverpool as a merchant ship under British registery.
Under command of the British Captain James A Duguid with a British crew of 52.
She was cleared for Palermo, Italy but instead she sailed to Nassau, Bahamas where she arrived on 28 April 1862.
Command was taken over in Nassau by John Newland Maffitt after coaling she sailed to the isolated Green Bay to take on board from her tender stores and her armament of 6 – 6 inch rifled cannons, 2 – 7 inch rifled cannons and 1 – 12 pdr.
17 August 1862 commissioned and renamed CSS FLORIDA.
Crew 146.
Initially called by the Confederates MANASSAS, the first of the foreign-built commerce raiders
During her outfit, yellow fever raged among her crew, in 5 days reducing her effective force to one fireman and four deckhands. In desperate plight, she ran across to Cuba. There in Cardenas Maffitt too was stricken with the dread disease.
In this condition, against all probability, the intrepid Maffitt sailed
her from Cardenas to Mobile. In an audacious dash the "Prince of
Privateers" braved a hail of projectiles from the Union blockaders and
raced through them to anchor beneath the guns of Ft. Morgan for a welcome by Mobile. FLORIDA had been unable to fight back not only
because of sickness but because rammers, sights, beds, locks and quoins
had, inadvertently, not been loaded at Nassau. Having taken stores and
gun accessories she lacked, along with added crew members, FLORIDA
escaped to sea 16 January 1863.
After coaling again at Nassau, she spent 6 months off North and South
America and in the West Indies, with calls at neutral ports, all the
while making captures and eluding the large Federal squadron pursuing
her. (See also the exploits of Lieutenant Read under CLARENCE, TACONY,
ARCHER and CALEB CUSHING.)
FLORIDA sailed 27 July from Bermuda for Brest, where she lay in the
French Government dock from 23 August 1863 to 12 February 1864. There
broken in health, Maffitt relinquished command to Lieutenant Morris.
Departing for the West Indies, FLORIDA bunkered at Barbados, although
the 3 months specified by British law had not elapsed since last coaling at an Empire port. She then skirted the U.S. coast, sailed east to Tenerife in the Canaries and thence to Bahia, 4 October 1864.
Anchored in the Brazilian haven, on 7 October FLORIDA was caught
defenseless in a night attack by Comdr. Napoleon Collins of USS
WACHUSETT, while her captain was ashore with half his crew. Towed to
sea, she was sent to the United States as a prize despite Brazil's
protests at this violation of neutral rights.
At Newport News, 28 November 1864, FLORIDA reached the end of her
strange career when she sank in a collision with the transport USA ALLIANCE, a troop ferry and thus could not be delivered to Brazil in satisfaction of the final court order. Commander Collins was court-martialed but won fame and eventual promotion for his daring.
FLORIDA captured 37 prizes during her impressive career; her prizes
TACONY and CLARENCE in turn took 23 more.
Today, many of her artifacts from CSS FLORIDA are at the Hampton Roads Naval Museum.
More info you can find at http://www.csa-dixie.com/liverpool_dixie/florida.htm
Grenada 2002 $6 sg?, scott?
Source: Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CSS_Florida_(cruiser)