USS ''Adela'' was a steamer captured by the

Union Navy ), (official) , colors = Blue and gold , colors_label = Colors , march = , mascot = , equipment = , equipment_label ...

during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

. She was used by the Union Navy as a

gunboat A gunboat is a naval watercraft designed for the express purpose of carrying one or more guns to bombard coastal targets, as opposed to those military craft designed for naval warfare, or for ferrying troops or supplies. History Pre-steam ...

in support of the Union Navy blockade of

Confederate Confederacy or confederate may refer to: States or communities * Confederate state or confederation, a union of sovereign groups or communities * Confederate States of America, a confederation of secessionist American states that existed between 1 ...

waterways.

Service history

Confederate blockade runner

In the spring of 1862, when the American Civil War was about a year old, ''Adela'' – a fast, iron-hulled, sidewheel steamer which had been operating out of

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

, Ireland, as a merchantman—was purchased by some now unidentified agent who planned to use her for carrying arms and other contraband cargo through the Union blockade to the Confederacy. She steamed in ballast via

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in May and—toward the end of that month—cleared the latter port, bound for the

Bahamas The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to ...

where she planned to fill her holds with ordnance for the Confederate forces. After a stop en route at

Bermuda ) , anthem = "God Save the King" , song_type = National song , song = " Hail to Bermuda" , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , mapsize2 = , map_caption2 = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = , e ...

, the ship got underway on 4 July and headed for the island of New Providence in the

to take on her forbidden cargo at

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and to prepare for a dash through the Union blockade. Shortly after dawn on the 7th, lookouts on Northern warships, and , spotted the would-be blockade runner northwest of

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, endeavoring to evade them. The blockaders immediately gave chase. As the three speeding vessels approached New Providence, ''Quaker City'' hoisted the Stars and Stripes and fired a shell across ''Adela's'' bow, signaling her to heave to. After the fleeing steamer had ignored not only that round, but a second in the same direction and two more behind her stern, ''Quaker City'' sent a fifth shell directly into her stubborn quarry. Nevertheless, despite having taken a damaging direct hit, the sidewheeler continued her efforts to get away. Finally, a sixth shot into ''Adela's'' beam persuaded her

commanding officer The commanding officer (CO) or sometimes, if the incumbent is a general officer, commanding general (CG), is the officer in command of a military unit. The commanding officer has ultimate authority over the unit, and is usually given wide latitu ...

, James Walker—a former master of the

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's famed sidewheeler Great Eastern – to stop. A prize crew from ''Quaker City'' boarded the British steamer, and the Union warship towed the captured vessel to

Key West, Florida Key West ( es, Cayo Hueso) is an island in the Straits of Florida, within the U.S. state of Florida. Together with all or parts of the separate islands of Sigsbee Park, Dredgers Key, Fleming Key, Sunset Key, and the northern part of Stock Isla ...

, where she was turned over to the

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. British authorities strongly protested this action by the Union blockaders, demanding the release of the ship and of two bags of mail which the prize had been carrying. One had been taken on board at Liverpool and the other at Bermuda. The ensuing protracted diplomatic relations delayed the United States attorney at Key West as he attempted to press charges against the ship, but did not save her from ultimate condemnation. The Union case was strengthened by the fact that ''Adela's'' master removed the mail bags from the courthouse and destroyed their contents which was thereafter presumed to contain evidence of forbidden activity. Once the vessel finally had been condemned, the Navy purchased her on 23 May 1863.

Union Navy career

The former blockade runner was then fitted out at the

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for blockade duty off the Confederate coast. No logs for the ship seem to have survived, and no other documents have been found which record the date of her being placed in commission by the Union Navy. However, we do know that her active service began on or before 13 June 1863, for on that night ''Adela'' – commanded by Acting Volunteer Lt. Louis N. Stodder left the navy yard, bound for Key West, Florida, to join the

East Gulf Blockading Squadron The Union blockade in the American Civil War was a naval strategy by the United States to prevent the Confederacy from trading. The blockade was proclaimed by President Abraham Lincoln in April 1861, and required the monitoring of of Atlantic ...

. Meanwhile, during the time ''Adela'' was being prepared for active service, ''CSS Florida'' and '' CSS Clarence'' – a Northern merchant brig which the former Confederate cruiser had captured on 6 May 1863, armed, and commissioned as a raider—were causing great consternation among merchants in the North by voraciously preying upon Union shipping. As a result, on 13 June 1863—the day of ''Adela's'' first getting underway as a Union

warship A warship or combatant ship is a naval ship that is built and primarily intended for naval warfare. Usually they belong to the armed forces of a state. As well as being armed, warships are designed to withstand damage and are usually faster a ...

–

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Gideon Welles Gideon Welles (July 1, 1802 – February 11, 1878), nicknamed "Father Neptune", was the United States Secretary of the Navy from 1861 to 1869, a cabinet post he was awarded after supporting Abraham Lincoln in the 1860 election. Although opposed ...

telegraphed the commandant of the

orders to send whatever vessels he had available to sea in pursuit of ''Clarence''. ''Adela'' was one of the vessels that responded to this call to action. Word of her new mission overtook her in the wee hours of the 14th while she was still in the vicinity of New York; and she cruised south as far as

Ocracoke Inlet Ocracoke Inlet ()
, from the North Carolina Collection's website at the

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, overhauling and boarding every vessel that she encountered. The papers of each were found to be in order, and all were allowed to resume their voyages. She put into

Hampton Roads, Virginia Hampton Roads is the name of both a body of water in the United States that serves as a wide channel for the James, Nansemond and Elizabeth rivers between Old Point Comfort and Sewell's Point where the Chesapeake Bay flows into the Atlantic O ...

, on the 18th to re-coal and to obtain further orders. Welles wired Stodder instructions to resume the hunt; and, after getting underway again on the 20th, ''Adela'' sailed off Indian River Inlet, searching for . On 12 June 1863, the Confederate naval officer, Lt. Charles William Read, in CSS ''Clarence'' had captured the bark ''Tacony'' and, upon learning from the prize's log that she was a faster sailer than ''Clarence'', transferred his crew and ordnance to ''Tacony'' and burned ''Clarence''. Stodder then returned to sea and heard from a passing merchantman that ''Tacony'' had been seen heading southeast. ''Adela'' cruised unsuccessfully in that direction until her depleted bunkers prompted Stodder to change to a southwesterly course toward

Port Royal, South Carolina Port Royal is a List of cities and towns in South Carolina, town on Port Royal Island in Beaufort County, South Carolina, Beaufort County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 14,220 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Hilton Head Is ...

. After taking on coal at that Union naval base, the ship got underway on 30 June and arrived in

, of the morning of 3 July. Meanwhile, Lt. Read—after learning from prisoners captured in his prizes that many Union warships were at sea searching for ''Tacony'' – had again changed ships, shifting to the captured

schooner A schooner () is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than the mainmast. A common variant, the topsail schoon ...

''Archer'' on the night of 24 and 25 June. In her he entered the harbor at

Portland, Maine Portland is the largest city in the U.S. state of Maine and the seat of Cumberland County. Portland's population was 68,408 in April 2020. The Greater Portland metropolitan area is home to over half a million people, the 104th-largest metropol ...

, during the evening twilight of the 26th and anchored without arousing suspicion. At 0130 the following morning, he and most of his men clambered up the sides of ''Caleb Gushing'' and took over that revenue cutter from her astonished and sleepy crew. However, Read's spectacular series of successes was nearing its climax. He was forced to surrender at 1130 to the commandeered Boston Line steamer ''Forrest City''. Thus, the end of the threat from Lt. Read, the ship-hopping commerce raider, freed ''Adela'' to turn her attention back to her original assignment, service in the

. She steamed from the

Virginia Capes The Virginia Capes are the two capes, Cape Charles to the north and Cape Henry to the south, that define the entrance to Chesapeake Bay on the eastern coast of North America. In 1610, a supply ship learned of the famine at Jamestown when it ...

back to New York for voyage repairs and re-provisioning at the

. On 7 July, Gideon Welles ordered Stodder ". . . to proceed with the U.S.S. ''Adela'' to Key West . . . ," but the steamer was not ready until late in the month and departed New York on the 30th. No record of her voyage to Florida waters seems to have survived, but the ship must have reached

, by 28 August, for she was then under orders to take blockade station off St. Andrew Sound. The steamer served in that body of water until the later part of September, when she proceeded to

Tampa Bay Tampa Bay is a large natural harbor and shallow estuary connected to the Gulf of Mexico on the west-central coast of Florida, comprising Hillsborough Bay, McKay Bay, Old Tampa Bay, Middle Tampa Bay, and Lower Tampa Bay. The largest freshwater in ...

to relieve the screw gunboat ''Sagamore'' which had been patrolling there. On 13 October, joined ''Adela'' in

. That screw gunboat's commanding officer, Lt. Comdr. Alexander A. Semmes, had instructions from the commandant of the

, Rear Admiral Theodorus Bailey, to land an armed expedition—manned by detachments from ''Adela'' and his own ship—to destroy two blockade runners that were reportedly anchored in the Hillsborough River, loading cotton. On the morning of the 16th, the two Northern warships moved in closer to

Tampa, Florida Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and ...

, and, when some 2,000 yards from

Fort Brooke Fort Brooke was a historical military post established at the mouth of the Hillsborough River in present-day Tampa, Florida in 1824. Its original purpose was to serve as a check on and trading post for the native Seminoles who had been confined ...

, began bombarding the batteries which protected the town. The shelling was primarily intended to divert the attention of Confederate forces from the real purpose of expedition—the blockade runners. To confirm the false impression that the Union forces intended to land northeast of the fort, Semmes had some stakes placed in that vicinity. The ruse seems to have succeeded for his report of the expedition stated that ". . . that night quite a force was sent there to oppose a landing." When the guns in Fort Brooke did not respond to the fire from the gunboats, ''Tahoma'' and ''Adela'' slackened the pace of their cannonade, but fired intermittently thereafter until they withdrew late in the afternoon. Then, under cover of darkness, they lowered several boats and filled them with 100 men—60 from ''Tahoma'' and 40 from ''Adela'' – several officers, and a guide. The men pulled stealthily for shore, landed on the western shore of Old Tampa Bay, and marched some 14 miles through the dark swampland to the Hillsboro River. The guide who directed the Union sailors to the blockade runners, Mr. James Henry Thompson—a resident of Florida loyal to the Union—was so ill that he had to be carried on a litter. When they finally reached the river bank they found the blockade runners—steamer ''Scottish Chief'' and

sloop A sloop is a sailboat with a single mast typically having only one headsail in front of the mast and one mainsail aft of (behind) the mast. Such an arrangement is called a fore-and-aft rig, and can be rigged as a Bermuda rig with triangular sa ...

''Kate Dale'' – floating in the stream. The men from the Northern ships put the torch to both vessels and, once sure that the cotton-laden Confederate ships were ablaze and damaged beyond possible salvage, retired along the path whence they had come. However, two men escaped from the burning ships, fled to Tampa, Florida, and alerted Southern defense forces of the Northern raid. As the Union sailors neared the shore, they encountered and attacked an armed Confederate scouting party dressed in civilian garb. In the ensuing melee, they captured two of the Southerners before the others took to their heels. A short time later, the Yankees emerged on the beach, only to learn that mounted Confederate troops, reinforced by infantry, were lurking in the woods nearby. Meanwhile, lookouts on the Union gunboats spotted their returning shipmates; and, almost immediately, boats were lowered and their crews began pulling for shore. Then the Southerners opened fire from the forest and managed to kill two sailors, to wound 10 others—one mortally, and to capture five. The rest of the raiders entered the boats and returned safely to their ships. During the fighting ashore, ''Adela'' shelled the thicket to help the landing party to re-embark. Among the casualties suffered by the landing force, one of the two killed outright was from ''Adela's'' crew and one of her four wounded died soon after returning. One of her men was captured. Soon after participating in this successful but costly action, ''Adela'' moved to St. George's Sound, took station off the East Pass to that body of water before the end of October, and served well into the spring of 1864. The most interesting event during her protracted service at that place did not involve her directly. Early in May, Confederate forces completed plans for a joint Army-Navy operation whose ". . . object was . . ."in the words of Lt. William Budd of the Union converted

ferryboat A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water taxi ...

''Somerset'', " ... the capture of the U.S.S. ''Adela'', intending in the event of their being successful, to carry her into

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, or to burn her ..." Budd learned of this plan and, on the night of 12 May, landed an expedition from his ship and the schooner near the town of

Apalachicola, Florida Apalachicola ( ) is a city and the county seat of Franklin County, Florida, United States, on the shore of Apalachicola Bay, an inlet of the Gulf of Mexico. The population was 2,231 at the 2010 census. History The Apalachicola people, after ...

. This group of fighting Union sailors dispersed the Confederate forces as they were embarking and captured six of their seven boats, a large amount of equipment, and four of their men. About this time, ''Adela'' shifted to the West Pass of St. George's Sound and was stationed there into August when she shifted to the West Pass of Apalachicola, Florida. She served at that post into September when she moved to St. Marks, Florida. The steamer was back off St. George's Sound—this time the middle entrance—on 6 November when a lookout on the masthead reported a strange sail. When Stodder ordered his engineers to get up steam, the stranger headed close to the breakers. ''Adela'' then launched her boats which rowed through the dangerous surf and took possession of the Confederate schooner ''Badger''. The Southern vessel had just left St. Marks, bound for

Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

, Cuba, laden with cotton. Later in the month, ''Adela'' steamed north to New York. Following repairs in the navy yard there which lasted until late in March, the ship was assigned to the

Potomac Flotilla The Potomac Flotilla, also called the Potomac Squadron, was a unit of the United States Navy created in the early days of the American Civil War to secure Union communications in the Chesapeake Bay, the Potomac River and their tributaries, and to ...

, and she guarded the water approaches to Washington, D.C., during the troubled days following the

assassination of President Lincoln On April 14, 1865, Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, was assassinated by well-known stage actor John Wilkes Booth, while attending the play ''Our American Cousin'' at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. Shot in the hea ...

. After the Potomac Flotilla was disbanded at the end of July, the ship returned to New York. Since her logs have apparently not survived, the ship decommissioning date is unknown, but she was sold at public auction at New York City on 30 November 1865. Her subsequent career remains a mystery.

References

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Adela Ships of the Union Navy Steamships of the United States Navy Gunboats of the United States Navy American Civil War patrol vessels of the United States 1862 ships Vessels captured by the United States Navy