The Northern Blockading Squadron was having it share of trouble in 1861 due to the slow conversion of its ships that at times the blockade off Charleston had only a few ships, the state of the mission in this sector was so frustrating that Captain Mercer of the lamented to his commander Rear Admiral Silas H. Stringham "Now Flag-Officer, you know as well as I do that to blockade this port efficiently with this ship alone is next door to an impossibility." How true were his words? By 10 September of that year, over one-third of the squadron's vessels lay in yards for repairs.