John Newland Maffitt ( privateer ) John Newland Maffitt ( February 22 , 1819 – May 15 , 1886 ) was an officer in the Confederate States Navy who was nicknamed the " Prince of Privateers " due to his remarkable success as a blockade runner and commerce raider in the U . S . Civil War . Early life . Maffit was born at sea on a ship bound for New York City , his parents having emigrated from Ireland . Maffitt ' s parents , Reverend John Newland Maffitt and his wife Ann Carnicke , settled with their son in Connecticut . When Maffitt was about five years old , he was adopted by his uncle , Dr . William Maffitt who traveled across the Atlantic Ocean with them , and moved to Fayetteville , North Carolina . United States Navy service . Maffitt entered the United States Navy as a midshipman in February 1832 , at the age of thirteen . He first served aboard USS " St . Louis " in the West Indies , and was later assigned to the Pensacola Navy Yard . In 1835 he was assigned to USS " Constitution " , serving as an aide to Commodore Jesse Elliott in the Mediterranean ; his service aboard " Constitution " would later become the basis for a novel , " Nautilus ; or , Cruising under Canvas " , published in 1871 . He also served on the frigate USS " Macedonian " , becoming its acting Master in 1841 . Maffitt was ordered to the United States Coast Survey in 1842 , and was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant in 1843 . He spent more than fourteen years in the hydrographic survey , chiefly in Nantucket , Massachusetts , Wilmington , North Carolina , Charleston , South Carolina , and Savannah , Georgia . A channel in Charleston Harbor still bears his name . In 1857 , Maffitt was placed in command of the brig USS " Dolphin " and ordered to capture pirates and slavers in the West Indies . On August 21 , 1858 , " Dolphin " captured the slaver " Echo " with 318 Africans on board and sent her into Charleston ; the liberated slaves were later sent back to Africa . Maffitt became commander of USS " Crusader " in 1859 and continued his assignment to suppress slavers in the West Indies until February 7 , 1861 . Confederate States Navy service . In May 1861 , with the coming of the U . S . Civil War , Maffitt resigned his U . S . Navy commission and became a First Lieutenant in the Confederate States Navy . He served as a naval aide to general Robert E . Lee while preparations for the defense of Savannah were in progress . In early 1862 , Maffitt was ordered to the civilian steamer " Cecile " to run the blockade with supplies for the Confederacy . On August 17 , 1862 , he became the first commanding officer of the cruiser CSS " Florida " , taking her through a difficult outfitting period during which most of the ship ' s company was stricken with yellow fever . While in port in Cuba , Commander Maffitt himself contracted the disease . In this condition , Maffitt sailed " Florida " from Cárdenas , Cuba to Mobile , Alabama . With the way into Mobile Bay blocked by Union warships , " Florida " braved a hail of projectiles from the blockaders and raced through them to anchor beneath the guns of Fort Morgan . The bombardment from the blockaders was severe and the damage to " Florida " was so great that Maffitt did not return to sea for more than three months . To prevent his escape , the Union Navy increased the blockading force near Mobile . Having taken stores and gun accessories the ship lacked , along with added crew members , Maffitt waited for a violent storm before setting out on January 16 , 1863 . He used trickery to lose six pursuing blockaders . After coaling at Nassau , Bahamas , " Florida " spent 6 months off North and South America and in the West Indies , with calls at neutral ports , all the while making captures and eluding the large Federal squadron pursuing her . It was during this period that he acquired the nickname " Prince of Privateers " ( which was somewhat inaccurate , since he was a naval officer and not an actual privateer . ) Maffitt was promoted to the rank of Commander in May 1863 " for gallant and meritorious conduct in command of the steam sloop " Florida " . " Ill health due to the lingering effects of yellow fever forced him to relinquish command of " Florida " at Brest , France on February 12 , 1864 . In the summer of 1864 , after returning to the Confederate States , Maffit was given command of the ironclad ram CSS " Albemarle " . Under Maffit ' s command , " Albemarle " dominated the Roanoke River and the approaches to Plymouth , North Carolina throughout the summer . In September , he was given command of the blockade runner CSS " Owl " . On October 3 , " Owl " escaped to sea from Wilmington ; the blockaders wounded her captain and several crewmen but 9 shots failed to stop them , and " Owl " arrived in Bermuda on October 24 with a large and valuable cargo of cotton . Maffit made several more successful runs through the Union blockade in " Owl " before the war ended . During his service to the Confederacy , Maffitt repeatedly ran the blockade to carry needed supplies and captured and destroyed more than seventy prizes worth $ 10 to $ 15 million . Later life . At the end of the war , he refused to surrender his ship to the United States . Instead , he returned " Owl " to agents in Liverpool . He chose to remain in England , and , after passing the British naval examination , he served for about two years in command of the British merchant steamer " Widgeon " running between Liverpool and South America . He returned to the United States in 1868 and settled on a farm near Wilmington , North Carolina . In 1870 , Maffit commanded a warship for Cuban revolutionaries during the Ten Years ' War . Maffit died in Wilmington in 1886 , leaving an unfinished manuscript about piracy in the West Indies . His collected papers are in the library of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill .