, 1862-02-18

Capture Of q Rebel Ship with $85, coo
Worth of Cotton.
CAPTURE OF VALUABLE PRIZE
LOADED WITH ARMS AND
E0WDBRs .
lmpoFtant 8otGuFe BY the Unite
Ss1te9 GuuboAf HAttefAs..SeTen Vel
sells BRFued:s

A'Ass
States Guuboaf Hattefns.-Seven YES
sells HRFNed.:5
The United states storeahip Supply, Com
mander Colvocoreesea, from Ship Island Janu-
aFy y, arrived at New York Friday morning,
l: having g On board as prisoners the captains and
schooner 4 s. Piou, all captured By the gun
boat New London, of Florida
The Supply On the fifth dny out, and in 1atI-
tnde u IL north, longitude 81 IL west, board
Cd and seized the British schooner Stephen
Hdrt, loaded with ffed cannon, powder, En-
field rifles, gun-catriages, blankets, shoes, &C.,
all no doubt, intended for the southern army
She showed English c0lors when boarded By
the supply, and had cleared from Lodon for
Eardenas, Cuba, on the End of lust December.
Jects. The character Of the cargo, the proz-
unity Of the yessel to the Southern coast, to-
gether with other very suspicious circum-
stances, caused Commander Colvocoresses to
seize and bring her into New York for adjudi-
cation
She is the most valuable as well Us the most
important Prize TINT has been captured siuce
the breaking out Of this rebellion, as the
cargo alone is insured for S1o5, COO
1t is difficult to understand how a vessel
loaded with such a cargo could lawfully clear
from an English port, and VIC hope cur gov
HHAA AOStA
The late expedition to Cedar Keys by the
United States guuboats Florida and Hat
te1as has proved perfect success. The rebel
tort1hcatlons we're found deserted, but before
they left they fired sig schooners to prevent
them from falling into the hands Of our ga1-
lant tara The depot Of the Florida Rail
road was destroyed. Nineteen rebel soldiers
were captured Our gunboats secured 4 large
quantity Of contraband goods. The expedi-
ton was very brilliant affair.
avery serious and probably fatal accident
occurred a few *eeks since, By which Lieut.
Samuel Marcy, commanding the sloop.of-waE
Vincenncs, was injured so that his life is de-
SPARED Of The: particulars will be found in
| our correspondents letter
The shcooncr ]. W. Wilder Yves captured of
PENSACOLA IN the latter part Of January, b!
the United States gunboat Cuyler. She was
ter the occurrence the British Consul at Mo
bile sent a letter to Commodore McKeap, dc
1nandlHg q release of the schooner, claiming
her as British property, blown on the coast bJ
stress Of weather. The demand was prompt
A portion OF Porters mortar notilla had az
| rived at Key West.
| We have the following additional news b,
letter from Key West:
| kEr WEST, Florida, Feb. :, 1862.
| The Lizzie Wharton has been captured b,
the new gun boat Itasca, when two days GU
| from Apalachicola, with 800 bales Of exccllen
cotton, worth, at present prices, s65, 1000. sh'
was making for Havana, Cuba. THIS vesse
was formerly the a. G.: Atwater, Of New Lon
don, before the rebellion broke out. Sh'
reached Apalclicola with an assorted cargo las
april, and while there was seized By the rebe
authorities, coufscaied and sold for the sum 0
| S5,5GV. Sic has been there ever since, and LA:
| had her nTRSrnt hoard
! months, awaiting chance to run the block
ade. The vessel and cargo are owned in Rich
nona. f.
t The particulars Of the capture arc as fol
lows: The Itasca having disabled ono engin
was returning from Havana to Key West un
der light sail and with one engine. On Sun
day the 29th inst, sail in sight was reporte,
from the masthead; chase was at once made
and she was seon discovered to be Il large for
and aft schooner, standing to the southward
The wind at this time was from the southeast
As soon rs the steamer Was discovered b,
the schooner her movements became suspi
cious; she kept off the wind and did her best
knowing that stern chase is always a lon
one. AL now became excitement on boar
the ltasca, although her Incoming prize va
anything but certain; and for steamer, s1o,
at the best, working only one engine, an
with small proportion Of canvas, She had
difficult task to perform. Fortunately III
wind was light and the sea smooth; conse
| Iucntly the tt2sca gained on the chase, and a
haf-pnst nine T. II. was close enough to taro,
q shot ahead Of her, as q slight hint to sto
before another wasS sent on board. The 81
was now called away, in readiness for boart
I ing, and rs the Itasca ranged alongside an
ordered tile schooner to heaye to. wa
lowered and manned, and Acting Mlste
Cook erdcrcd to take charge Of hc7
When the schooner was hailed and Of
dcrcd to hcave to- the only reply made wis t
| ak the nationality of the gunboat. Thl
Capt Caldwell declined to answer. As 500
as Acting Master Cook arrived alongside
and discovered the deck load Of cotton, lie va
satisfied that it was all right, and that /,
would not lave much to do examining paper
&c His requcstfor rope to aid him in gc
ting on board was declined, for tile reason thi
they t'were ill inconfusion." Very probabl
they were. He at last succeeded ID reachin
the deck, aud an examination Of ler papel
, showed arebel register and several clearAnct
I one to Havana, another to JaTaica, anotEt
| ior somewhere else; in fact, she cleared #
any place she could get into, although goin
t to Havana if possible. An examination Of Il
schooner by the boarding party disclosed tt
fact that every preparation had been made
burn t1c vessel. a barrel Of shavings and
bucket Of tar, and can Of eanphene aft, s
that, if Capt. Caldwell had told them that 1t
, sunhont was one Of the United States squa
| ron, the torch would have hcen applied, N
the vessel aud cargo destroyed, rather than 81
should fsl into the hands Of tic GoGcrnIncl
Of the United States.