When Maffitt had recruited his health and a good crew, he found the blockading squadron increased, among other ships, by the Cuyler, Capt. Francis Winslow, that, because of her speed, was sent there especially to take him should he run out. But little that worried Maffitt. At 2 o’clock on the morning of January 16, 1863, he was ready, and out he went.
The Florida Running the Blockade at Mobile.
After a painting by R. S. Floyd.
The lookout on the Cuyler saw him coming when he was a long way from the bar, and notified the officer of the deck. Now, there was a regulation on the Cuyler which forbade the officer of the deck slipping the cable until Captain Winslow was on deck to order it done. By this regulation just a half hour’s time was lost. So the Florida was away, passing between the Susquehanna and the Cuyler at a distance of 300 yards while the Cuyler was still at anchor. The Cuyler did get under way at last, and chased the Florida until the next night, when the Florida changed her course and escaped.
The Oneida’s crew saw the signal announcing the coming of the Florida, and beat to quarters, but remained at anchor, although she was one of the swifter vessels present. And she remained at anchor until 3.50 o’clock, when, to quote her log, “having seen no vessel run out, beat the retreat.” Porter calls this affair “the greatest example of blundering committed throughout the war.” Certainly the captains of the Cuyler and the Oneida were not fit for their commands.
Maffitt went to Nassau, where the British population went delirious with joy over his success, and sold him coal to last three months, instead of enough to last to the nearest Confederate port, as the government orders had provided. Then Maffitt went cruising between New York and Brazil. In the course of five months he took seventeen prizes, and then went to Brest, France, where the ship was thoroughly overhauled.
Meantime Maffitt fitted one of his prizes, the Clarence, with light guns, and sent her cruising under Lieut. Charles W. Read. Read was as brave and dashing as Maffitt. Between the 6th and 10th of May, 1863, he took five prizes, shifting his flag to the fifth, the Tacony, and burning the Clarence. Then he took ten prizes, including the Archer, to which he made another shift. With the Archer he came to off Portland, Maine, and with small boats rowed in and cut out the revenue cutter Caleb Cushing. The Archer was a sailing ship. Read burned the Cushing, but steamers overhauled him next day and he was captured.
At Brest, Maffitt was relieved by Capt. Charles M. Morris, who took the Florida to Bahia, where Capt. Napoleon Collins, in the Wachusett, found her. Morris thought he was safe, and with half his crew went ashore. Collins rammed the Florida, fired a few shots into her, and took her to the United States. That carrying her home was a very grave mistake will soon appear; for a more open violation of a neutral port was never recorded, and if a naval officer feels justified in such an act he should not try to get prize money out of it, but make an end of his capture as soon as possible.
