Salvador Pirates was the name given to the band of

Confederate Navy The Confederate States Navy (CSN) was the naval branch of the Confederate States Armed Forces, established by an act of the Confederate States Congress on February 21, 1861. It was responsible for Confederate naval operations during the American ...

sailors that attempted to seize a

Panama Railroad The Panama Canal Railway ( es, Ferrocarril de Panamá) is a railway line linking the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean in Central America. The route stretches across the Isthmus of Panama from Colón (Atlantic) to Balboa (Pacific, near P ...

coastal steamer on the high seas. Their intent was then to arm her and attack the Pacific Mail steamers and the American whalers in the

North Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

. In spring of 1864, the Confederate Navy ordered Captain

Thomas Egenton Hogg Thomas Egenton Hogg (1828–1898) was a master in the Confederate States Navy who participated in raids on Union ships during the American Civil War. He was captured and sentenced to death, but was eventually released from prison, after which he b ...

and his command to take passage on board a coastal steamer in

Panama City Panama City ( es, Ciudad de Panamá, links=no; ), also known as Panama (or Panamá in Spanish), is the capital and largest city of Panama. It has an urban population of 880,691, with over 1.5 million in its metropolitan area. The city is locat ...

, seize her on the high seas, arm her and attack the Pacific Mail steamers and the whalers in the

. In

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.

, the American consul, Thomas Savage, learned about this conspiracy, and notified Rear Admiral George F. Pearson at Panama City. The Admiral had the passengers boarding the steamers at Panama City watched and when Hogg's command was found aboard the Panama Railroad steamer ''Salvador'', a force from arrested them and brought them to San Francisco. The Salvador Pirates as they came to be called, were tried for

piracy Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...

by a military commission, convicted, and sentenced to be hanged, but General

Irvin McDowell Irvin McDowell (October 15, 1818 – May 4, 1885) was a career American army officer. He is best known for his defeat in the First Battle of Bull Run, the first large-scale battle of the American Civil War. In 1862, he was given command ...

commuted their sentences. To prevent any further attempts to seize Pacific coast shipping, General McDowell ordered each passenger on board American merchant steamers to surrender all weapons when boarding, and every passenger and his baggage was searched. All officers were armed for the protection of their ships."Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion." 31 volumes. United States Government Printing Office, 1914; reprinted, 1987, by the National Historical Society, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; citation includes series 1, volume 3, pp. 302–303, 352–368.
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References

External links

Brainerd Dyer, Confederate Naval and Privateering Activities in the Pacific, Pacific Historical Review Vol. 3, No. 4, Dec., 1934 (pp. 433–443)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Salvador Pirates Confederate States Navy California in the American Civil War United States Navy in the 19th century Anti-piracy battles involving the United States Maritime history of California 19th-century pirates