This steamer, originally the Havana, had been fitted out by the Confederate authorities, and although the mouth of the Mississippi was closely blockaded by the United States steamer Brooklyn, with two other ships, Semmes watched an opportunity when the Brooklyn was chasing a decoy vessel off shore, and dashing out, by her superior speed escaped our fleet.
Three days later, she captured and burned at sea the ship Golden Rocket, and by July 6 seven more prizes had been taken by this dashing privateer.
This, of course, created a tremendous excitement throughout the country, and our government sent every available ship they had in pursuit of her.
Orders also came to Captain Pope to hasten his preparations for sea, and on August 3 we sailed under sealed orders, which, when opened at sea, proved to be directions to make a thorough search for thirty days through the West India islands for the Sumter, and, failing to fall in with her, to join the West Gulf Squadron, then commanded by Flag Officer Mervine.
So we started on what proved to be a wild-goose chase, but which gave us an opportunity of making a very agreeable cruise, with the constant excitement of a possible capture that would have brought us no end of glory.
Among other incidents, we fell in one day with the wreck of Her Britannic Majesty’s ship Driver, piled up on a reef off Mariquana Island, with her crew living ashore under tents they had improvised from the ship’s sails.
We were boarded by her commanding officer, who bore the historic name of Horatio Nelson. He seemed to be a kind of nautical Mark Tapley, exceedingly jolly under very trying circumstances, and perfectly at ease, notwithstanding his ship was a total loss.
In fact, he appeared to look upon that as a mere incident of the cruise, and declined our offers of assistance, saying he “was all right, barring the blasted mosquitoes, don’t you know!” He was every day looking for the arrival of a British man-of-war to take them off, as he had sent a launch down to Port Royal for assistance.
At last, having nearly exhausted our coal, we steamed into Port Royal, Jamaica, on August 21, to obtain a fresh supply. Here we met the Powhatan, Commander David D. Porter, homeward bound after an ineffectual hunt after the Sumter.
After coaling, our thirty days having expired, we ran down to Key West and the Dry Tortugas, and stopping for a day off Pensacola at Fort Pickens, we received orders from the flagship to relieve the Brooklyn off the Passes of the Mississippi.