In other words, the Vesuvius was ordered to "run the blockade."
In times of war, an enemy will often blockade a port by stationing big ships in such positions that they may prevent any vessels from entering or leaving the port, just as the combined fleets of Europe are preventing the Greek fleet, under Prince George, from entering the harbor of Canea.
In our late war the harbor of Charleston was actually blockaded, and vessels were regularly employed as blockade runners, many of them getting through without difficulty, and many having hair-breadth escapes.
The steamers selected to run the blockade in war times were light, swift, and built so that they lay very low in the water. They were painted a dull gray color, so that they could not be seen at a distance; their funnels were made like telescopes, so that they could be shut up, and be little higher than the deck, when the moment for actually running the blockade arrived. They burned smokeless coal, and could blow their steam off under water, so that it was very hard to discover them, and on dark nights they could often slip by the watching vessels without being observed.
Admiral Bunce thought that the search-light system which is in use on all our war-vessels would make it extremely difficult for a blockade runner to pass a modern blockade, and it was to test this that the game of blockade running was tried off Charleston.
When all was in readiness for the game to begin, the New York, which was the flagship, sent up a rocket, warning the other vessels to be on the lookout for the blockade runner.
The flagship of a fleet is always the one which has the admiral on board. The ships in a fleet are like a regiment of soldiers, and act under the orders of the admiral in command; and as the orders are always sent from ship to ship by means of flags or signals, the ship from which the orders are issued is called the flagship.
All the search-lights were in play, and there was the greatest excitement on board the various vessels as the little cruiser steamed out to sea to begin the game.
Back and forth the search-light flashed along the whole line of the blockade. Here and there, in every direction, the waters were searched for a sign of the little Vesuvius, which was surely steaming toward them to try and run the blockade.
No sign of the cruiser could be seen, and anxiety was felt lest she should have escaped all the searchers, when the signal came from the Maine that she had been discovered, and all the search-lights from the various vessels were turned toward the Maine's light, and there was the Vesuvius, defeated.