, 1863-09-22
Gl)ifago Qribu11e.
TIE PIRATE FLORIDA,
Capt. maff1t's Narrative OF Her Opef-
Atfon8,

nishes the following interesting account Of
the voyages and dolDgs of the pirate Florida.
derived from an Interview with her Captain,
at Brest: -.
"The Confederate States, steamer Florida,
In Liverpool and sent to Nassau IN April, 1862;
was put in the Admiralty Court: cleared on the
eth Of August, when her present commander took
her lender, and received her guns, DC. On the
10Th Of August the yellow fever appeared on
board, and Capt. Mnfht had to perform surgeons
dueas, Thsre che lost nearly ~ her crew, her
paymaster, and thltd engineer. She ran the block.
ace On Havana n a4d q o4, and m On the 4th of Sep
tsmee5 appested q Mobile Ths entire bloekad.
up from bed Of sickness yellow feyet} tofake
her IN. For two hours and forty-eight minutes
ehe IVES III der close tre; Allthe crew vera seat
below, aud the officers only remained on deck, TO.
ehe bad only eleven men On duty, aud her guns
were not fu1utshe with hammers, guofns, beds;
or sights; in fact she was almost helpless Three
h Esy shots struck her hull One ehelt struck her
am:dships and passed through, killing one man
aud Vi ounding fesen. Her standing rigging was
shct away, and some 1900 eharpnel shot .atruck
s., fal tie notes which Capt Maf1it has as
get found time to send me. Of the Captain
hiuEe.t may sag ths: he Is slight, middle
sized, Weu-knit man, Of about furty-two;
merry looking man, with ready, determined
mir, full Ct life and business; apparently the
tor1 of nan nho is equally ready for light
latter would By no means interfere with his
c1edttable conduct Of the former.' His plain
j. furnished little State room looked as busi-
ees:Nkc as a merchants Office. The round
table In the center was Etrewn With books
aId innu1nerable manuscripts, and or. the
tbelyes were formidable looking rows Of &C.
count books, charts dc. I may observe Of
the cabin, as ct every part OF the Florida,
thst none Of It appears 70 have been built for
ernament-all for nsc. t.You see," said the
CAPTAIN: Pc pointing to the heaps Of p.pers; let.
literally Uttered the table, lyon sec I've no
tiuecu1e Of it, Since my paymaster died, I've
had to be my oWn paymaater. There's q
yot1 g man named Davis (no relation to cur
pr1sidtnt,) who does paymaster's du:y 4; but
he's not yet quite up TO the woik."
Capt. Mafit forthwith began au animated
forty-two years old, and is the oldest officer
on Doa1d- AL the officers were born IN the
Confederate states, and most Of them were
officers In the United States Navy before tbs
outbreak Of the war. The Oldest Of the Off
Gers is not more than tweaty three. The men
are more mixed. There are about 100 able
eeameu on board the Florida, and about thir.
ne1ghborhood Of Brest. Captain Maflt says
that lie has hardly erer taken prize bat wliat
some Of the crew Of the prize have come for
ward to cay, "Slould like to serve with you,
Sill" Generally speaking, he has to refuee
but If lie sees Tery likely fellow, lie takes
him On.
Capt. Maii Was a Lieutenant Of the Uni.
ted States Navy before the outbreak, and II
that capacity distinguished himself greatly.
In 1855 he commanded the brig Dolphin
When he captured the SLAYER Echo with 40{
slaves on beard, and took her into Charleston
For this feat his health was drunk at a pub.it
dinner at LivcTpool; and It Is curious fact
America Is founded upon the slave question
that the commander of this important Con
ftCerate cruiser should be the yeIy man Whe
has distinguished himself actively ag aInsttht
slave trade. ln 1859 Capt. n atfit muanded
tie United States steamer Crusader, and cap
| turtd four E1ayers.
The Captain had great de,l to say about
| Lis successful feat at Mobile. In his opinion
| it Ias been the greatest naval feat Of moder1
| times. He iwelt long and warmly upon tht
Incidents Of the affair, and pointed proudl,
| to the marks Of shaEpael, which are numer
| GUS enough, upon the masts and smoke
| stacks The Elcrlda WAS struck With thre,
heavy s1ots On that occasion, and. one CHI
| easily pei ceire in the side of the ship wher,
the miEch3ef caused By the 11-inch shell ha
| been repaired. The Florida made no endeag
| or to reply to the fire which she received, tn
sea running too high to admit Of steady aim
and her small crew being too much occupiet
showed us Water~color sketch {FeTy vel
| drawn by one Of the midslipmen) Of the Flo.
| ida running the blockade. It would not hay'
! disgraced professional artist
| The only broadsIdc which the Florida ha
fired in anger was sgaiust the Ericsson, a
armed me1ehantman, which she encounters
some forty miles from New York. The Ef
lesson, ye1y large yessel, did not reply, bu
| made the best Of her way of, and succeeds
in escaping. When they Venturcd With
forty miles Of New York they did not knot
that the arrival Of the Tacony lone Of thai
"ousfits'} had put the New Workers on thei
gua1d, and they soon found that there wer
| for them, and SO were glad to retreat. "W
never seek fight" said Capt Maftit, "an
| we don't avoid one, You See we've oul
two vessels against ], 500, so We should stan
poor chance. Our object is merely to dt
stloy their commerce, 50 as to bring about
pence. We've taken altogether seventy-tW
prizes. and estimated the value at abou
4l5, COX, 600. The Jacob Bell alone was wort
g, l0, ,U00." Tie Captain exhibited q boo
in which all the prizes we're regularly entel
cd, and all particulars relating thereto. e
explained tbat their mode Of procedure va
No,the1n States wherever they found it.
asked II they took gold and precious articles
and the reply Was, Pretty quick, when n
get them" :.
The papers of the burnt prizes are all Eep
and o valuation is made before the destrut
ton Ct the VESSELS. 1n the expectation thu
when peace is restored the Confederate Go,
! emmett win make al appropriation Of mone
equivalent to the c1ai6ns Of the captors. ]
consequence Of this arrangement there
! very little actual treasure on board the FL
1ids, and the officers and crew are wosktn
mainly On the filth Of tue future fudepen
Sn SGnsFay," said Capi. Maffit, f" We have CO
Government very little, for we've Lived
the enemy. Oh, yes, we've served them d
beautifully In reply to some questions
to the method Of capture, the Captain sal
"We only make war with the United Stat
Government, and We respect little propert
We treat prisoners Of war with the create
respect. Most Of those whom We have ca
tured have spoken well Of us. To be 81
We have net with some ungratef1l rasca]
but you meet with those Nil the world oV.
The Last prize We took was the Anglo SAKE
which We took II the English Channel t
from Cork. She had ceal on board, and
buried her. "
The pilot was Eaucy fsllow, and ma
tained that he was on his plotting grour
He insisted on being landed in an Engli
port, but We conld not do that. I brong
him and twenty. four men here Ito Brest) 4
sent them to the English Consul. II t
}. settled BY the Confederate GoVernme,
: That is not my bueinees. Ny buEiness Is
take care cf the ship:s'
Wien the Florida came into Brest she b
been At sen for eight months without spec
Ing more than tour entire days In port. T
fore entering the port Of Bfest che had 4
been more than twenty hours in any 0
port, although she had Visited Nassau, B.
muda, Pernambuco, and Sierra (Brazl
"Yes, indeed. Sir!" said the captain, 81
days upon solid jnnk, without repairs Or pl
: visiop.' Duricg all this time they have OF
lest fifteen men, including, those who vi
: killed and wounded At Mobile, the pa5ma, asi
{who cied Of coneumption), md one ot1is
: who was accidentally drowned. They ha
come into Brest to repair the engines, viii
are somewhat out OF order, the shaft bel
quite out Of line. Tho Emperor has civ
ordert that the F1oridn Is to be admitted IN
! the port tor Ill necessary repairs, and Is to
supplied With everything she may require {
) cept munitions Of war.
q In the coprse Of conversation Capt. Maff
= Gare me an account Of what he called &. I
! t.ouif1ts" Of the Florida. These have be
three in number. The Clarence Was captur
:. of Pernambuco on the 5th Of May, and Lii
+! tenant Reed was put On board with twen
men and one gun: These were afterwa.
= ! caauEcu u tut 41cOugs ottLtl Feesels HAl
!; was captured shortly after, and Ito borrt
CAPT. Afahltt's expression,) "ehe captur
> night and let..'' Finally, she took the re'
nue. cutter eff Portland harbor. The ott
"fit-out" was the Lapwiug, on board
: which Lieut.. Avrett was put to cruise on t
: Equator. He made several captures, and
1 Low returned to his ship.
Capt. MafNttshoWed Us oYer his skip, VIII
was In pretty good order, considering
eight months almost uninterrupted crni
and he presented US both with photograr
!. ic picture Of her, which was taken at Bern