USS Antona ( 1863 ) USS " Antona " ( 1863 ) was a steamer captured by the Union Navy during the American Civil War . She was used by the Union Navy as a dispatch boat and gunship in support of the Union Navy blockade of Confederate waterways . Blockade runner " Antona " captured by gunboat " Pocahontas " . On the morning of 6 January 1863 , the Union screw steamer " Pocahontas " sighted a ship in the Gulf of Mexico , steaming westward close to the Alabama shore and headed toward the entrance to Mobile Bay . Soon after the blockader had turned to intercept the stranger lest she reach the protection of the Southern guns at Fort Morgan — then some nine miles away — the unidentified steamer altered her own course in an effort to escape . Both vessels pushed their engines to their limits and broke out all possible sails . " Pocahontas " slowly gained on her quarry but the sun was close to the horizon before she was near enough to fire a shot at the fleeing ship . The round fell short of its target which then hoisted English colors as she continued her flight . About an hour before midnight , the Union ship had closed to about half a mile and fired two more rounds in quick succession which promptly brought the vessel to about 30 miles south southeast of Cape San Blas , Florida . She proved to be " Antona " , an iron - hulled British screw steamer recently built at Glasgow , Scotland . She had departed Liverpool and had proceeded via St . Thomas , Virgin Islands , to Havana , Cuba . There , she took on a contraband cargo of gunpowder , rifles , tea , and brandy before sailing for Mobile , Alabama , on New Year ' s Day 1863 . " Antona " proves leaky , is taken to New Orleans for repairs . After accompanying " Pocahontas " back to the blockading fleet off Mobile , " Antona " — manned by a prize crew — sailed for Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , for adjudication . However , while still in the Gulf of Mexico , she sprang a leak which forced her to turn back . While she was undergoing repairs at New Orleans , Louisiana , she was rammed by passing vessels on two separate occasions . These collisions worsened her already leaky condition , caused other significant damage , and necessitated extensive repairs before she could once more put to sea . " Antona " commissioned while litigation continues . When this work had been completed , " Antona " was placed in commission on 19 March 1863 , but litigation against her for violation of the blockade was not concluded for another year . Then , having been condemned , in absentia , by the New York City prize court , she was finally purchased by the Union Navy on 28 March 1864 . Assigned to the Gulf of Mexico . Upon commissioning , the steamer began operations on the lower Mississippi River as a dispatch vessel , working primarily between New Orleans and Port Hudson , Louisiana . This duty was extremely important at this time because Rear Admiral David Farragut in " Hartford " had dashed upstream past the Confederate batteries at Port Hudson , Louisiana , and was patrolling the river between that Southern stronghold and Vicksburg , Mississippi , to support Rear Admiral David Dixon Porter ' s joint operations with Major General Ulysses S . Grant ' s troops in the first effort to open the complete Mississippi River to Union shipping . The surrender of Vicksburg on Independence Day 1863 and the occupation of Port Hudson five days later completed this task and freed " Antona " for other duty . " Antona " collides with " Sciota " , which sinks . Late on the evening of 13 July , " Antona " — commanded by Acting Master Charles T . Chase — departed New Orleans and headed downstream . However , shortly before 4 o ' clock the following morning , she collided with " Sciota " , sinking that screw gunboat in 12 feet of water about eight miles upriver from Quarantine , Louisiana . " Antona " captures English schooner " Cecilia D . " . Since " Antona " was unharmed , she was able to resume her voyage on the 15th and , upon reentering the gulf , proceeded in a generally southwesterly direction . On the 16th , she captured " Cecelia D . " and sent that English schooner to New Orleans under a prize crew . Commanding officer of " Antona " is captured while ashore . Upon her arrival at Galveston , Texas , on the 18th , Chase reported to Commodore Henry H . Bell , who commanded Union blockading forces in the region . Two days later , Bell ordered Antona to patrol the coast between Velasco , Texas , and the mouth of the Rio Grande . The steamer reached the latter on the morning of the 24th , and Chase immediately went ashore to mail dispatches for the United States consul at Matamoras , Mexico . While the Union officer was returning to his ship in the Mexican boat " Margarita " , a band of armed men on the Texas shore threatened to open fire on that craft if it did not head for the bank . When " Margarita " reached Texas soil , the men — who proved to be Southern soldiers — arrested Chase and sent him to Brownsville , Texas . Acting Master Spiro V . Bennis , Antona ' s executive officer learned of Chase ' s misfortune from a passing English ship and remained in the vicinity until he had verified the report . " Antona " then headed up the coast and arrived off Galveston on 27 July . Continued operations on the Texas Gulf coast . The steamer remained in that vicinity until getting underway again on 4 August and heading back down the coast . On the 6th , " Antona " — then under command of Acting Master Lyman Wells — captured " Betsy " some 16 miles southeast of Corpus Christi , Texas , flying English colors and purportedly from Matamoras to New Orleans with a general cargo . Commanding officer released by the Confederates . Wells sent that schooner to New Orleans under a prize crew for adjudication . " Antona " arrived off the mouth of the Rio Grande on the 8th and reembarked Chase who had been released by Brigadier General Hamilton P . Bee , CSA — who commanded Confederate troops in Texas — because of his having been captured in neutral waters . She sailed for Galveston two days later and reached the blockade station off that port on the 12th suffering from damage to her boilers , machinery , and propeller . Towed to New Orleans by " Bermuda " , she remained there under repair until heading downriver on 16 November to return to the coast of Texas . On the 29th , her new commanding officer , Acting Master Alfred L . B . Zerega reported having captured " Mary Ann " three days before . That Southern schooner of Sabine , Texas , had departed Caleasieu Pass on the 21st and was heading for Tampico , Mexico , with a cargo of cotton . Since the prize was leaking badly , Zerega transferred her cotton to " Bermuda " for delivery to the Federal prize commissioners at New Orleans and then destroyed the schooner before resuming " Antona ' s " voyage southward . " Antona " removes cargo of liquor from runner , sends runner to a prize court . " Antona " scored again on Christmas Eve 1863 when she took the British schooner " Exchange " 10 miles east of Velasco , Texas . This ship had departed Veracruz , Mexico , with a widely varied general cargo including a large quantity of liquor and was purportedly heading for New Orleans . Since she was far off course for that port , Zerega . seized the schooner , removed her liquor since he " . . . did not deem it safe to allow it to go in the schooner to New Orleans . " After promising to . . . send it on for adjudication . . . by . . . the first safe opportunity , " Zerega sent the prize to New Orleans and resumed Antona ' s patrol . Final operations in the Gulf of Mexico . The steamer ' s operations through the remainder of the Civil War were similar to her earlier services . Her last notable action occurred before dawn on 10 February 1865 when a boat from the steamer joined an expedition led by Lt . Charles E . McKay of " Princess Royal " to destroy the large iron - hulled steamer " Will O ' The Wisp " which had run aground off Galveston , Texas . Post - war decommissioning , sale , and subsequent maritime career . After the end of the war " Antona " departed Pensacola , Florida , on 27 July 1865 and proceeded North . She was decommissioned at New York City on 12 August 1865 and sold at auction there to G . W . Quintard on 30 November 1865 . Redocumented " Carlotta " on 5 January 1867 , the steamer served as a merchantman operating out of New York until destroyed by fire in 1874 .