It will be noticed that the route thus mapped out for the Vanderbilt corresponded very closely to the one actually taken by the Alabama. The next day the secretary was informed of the Alabama’s fight with the Hatteras, and the Florida’s escape from Mobile, and telegraphed Lieutenant Baldwin as follows:
* * * proceed with all possible dispatch to Havana, and there be governed by circumstances, but do not leave the West Indies as long as the Florida or Alabama are there.
United States Steamer Vanderbilt.
Acting Rear Admiral Wilkes, commanding the West India squadron, had come very near plunging his country into a foreign war in November, 1861. He then held the rank of Captain, and was in command of the San Jacinto. He overhauled the British steamer Trent at sea and forcibly removed from her the Confederate commissioners Mason and Slidell. This act would have been perfectly justifiable if the Trent had been attempting to run the blockade, but as she was bound from the neutral port of Havana to an English port, there was no excuse for the seizure, and the act was disavowed and the prisoners released by order of President Lincoln. Nevertheless, Captain Wilkes was advanced to the rank of commodore, and in September, 1862, made an acting rear admiral and assigned to the command of the West India fleet, consisting of the Wachusett, Dacotah, Cimarron, Sonoma, Tioga, Octorara and Santiago de Cuba. Almost from the time of taking command he had been sending frequent requests to Secretary Welles for more and better vessels. He felt sure that the Alabama might soon be captured if his requests were complied with. He complained bitterly because the Dacotah had been sent on an independent cruise, and because the San Jacinto, although cruising in the West Indies, was not placed under his command. He was inclined to make use of any stragglers from other squadrons which came within his reach. The R. R. Cuyler and the Oneida, of Admiral Farragut’s squadron, after chasing the Florida out of Mobile, got within the sphere of Admiral Wilkes’ influence, and the former did not get back to her station for six weeks. The Oneida did not get back at all while Wilkes retained his command. When the Vanderbilt reached the West Indies Wilkes took possession of her and retained her as his flag ship until the 13th of June. He persisted in the belief that the main object of the Alabama and the Florida would be the capture of the California treasure steamers, although those steamers had long since been furnished with an armed convoy. When the news of the Alabama’s depredations on the coast of Brazil reached the United States and the shipping interests began to clamor for protection in that quarter, Secretary Welles at first replied that the Vanderbilt had already gone thither. When later reports showed that she was still retained by Wilkes, the secretary’s stock of patience was exhausted, and he relieved Wilkes of his command.