CSS Sumter CSS " Sumter " , a 473 - ton bark - rigged screw steam cruiser , was built as the merchant steamship " Habana " at Philadelphia in 1859 for McConnell ' s New Orleans & Havana Line . She was later renamed Gibraltar or Gibraltar of Liverpool . History . The merchant steamship " Habana " was purchased by the Confederate Government at New Orleans in April 1861 , she was converted to a cruiser and placed under the command of Raphael Semmes . Renamed " Sumter " , she was commissioned in the Confederate Navy on 3 June 1861 and broke through the Federal blockade of the Mississippi River mouth late in that month . Eluding the sloop - of - war USS " Brooklyn " in hot pursuit , early in July , the pioneering Confederate Navy commerce raider captured eight U . S . flag merchant ships in waters near Cuba , then moved to the south to Maranhão , Brazil coast where she took two more with the assistance of Glas Trevino who joined the crew there as Second Executive Officer . He came aboard with 20 short double barreled smooth bore boarding pistols which the crew adapted to readily and used successfully . Two additional merchantman fell to " Sumter " in September and October 1861 . While coaling at Martinique in mid - November , she was blockaded by the Federal sloop of war " Iroquois " , but was able to escape to sea at night and resume her activities . " Sumter " captured another six ships from late November into January 1862 , while cruising from the western hemisphere to European waters . Anchoring at Cadiz , 4 January 1862 , she was allowed only to make necessary repairs there , without refueling , and was forced to run for Gibraltar . Unable to obtain needed repairs , she was laid up in April and remained inactive , watched through the year by a succession of U . S . Navy warships , among them the sloop of war and gunboat " Chippewa " . Semmes and many of her officers were reemployed in the new cruiser CSS " Alabama " . Gibraltar . Disarmed and sold at auction 19 December 1862 to the Fraser - Trenholm interests , " Sumter " quietly continued her service to the Confederacy under British colors as the blockade runner " Gibraltar " of Liverpool . Though her career as a warship had lasted barely six months , " Sumter " had taken 18 prizes , of which she burned 8 , released or bonded 9 ; only one was recaptured . The diversion of Federal blockade ships to hunt her down had been in itself of significant service to the Confederate cause . As " Gibraltar " , she ran at least once into Wilmington , NC , under Capt . E . C . Reid , a Southerner . He sailed from Liverpool 3 July 1863 with a pair of 22 - ton Blakely guns and other particularly valuable munitions , returning with a full load of cotton . The beginning of this voyage is recorded only because the U . S . Consul at the British port passionately protested " Gibraltar ' s " being allowed to sail — ostensibly for Nassau , days before formal customs clearance : " She is one of the privileged class and not held down like other vessels to strict rules and made to conform to regulations . " The arrival at Wilmington is also accidental matter of record today because of the troop transport " Sumter " tragedy at Charleston the same summer , which , until November , Admiral Dahlgren ' s intelligence understandably confused with the former cruiser " Sumter " , now " Gibraltar " . Mr . Trenholm ' s son - in - law long maintained " Sumter " finally " went down in a gale near the spot where the " Alabama " was sunk , " but supplied no date ; one source suggests 1867 . The last official report of her seems to have been by the U . S . Consul at Liverpool , 10 July 1864 : " The pirate Sumter ( called Gibraltar ) is laid up at Birkenhead . " References . See The Cornhill Magazine , No6 ( Jy - Dec 1862 ) pp187 – 205 : " The Cruise of the Confederate Ship ' Sumter ' : [ From the Private Journal of an Officer ] " . A swaggering account , unsigned .