Spanish cruiser Tornado The Tornado was a 2100 - ton and maneuverable at 13 knots bark - rigged screw steam cruiser of the Spanish Navy , first launched at Clydebank , Scotland in 1863 , as the Confederate raider " CSS Texas " . She is most famous for having captured the North American filibustering ship " Virginius " , which led to the " Virginius Affair " and to the Spanish - American Crisis of 1873 . Design and construction . She was built as the Confederate raider " CSS Texas " but was seized by the British Government in 1863 and acquired in 1865 . She was purchased by the Chilean government for 75 , 000 Pounds , through Isaac Campbell & Co , in February 1866 . Being " officially " known as both the " Texas " and the " Canton " , she was later given the name " Pampero " in an attempt to conceal her true identity . In early 1862 , Lt . George T . Sinclair was sent to England , with orders to build a " clipper propellor for cruising purposes " , and to take command of her when she was ready for sea . His instructions were to confer with Commander Bulloch in Liverpool , as to the design of the vessel , and the building , fitting out and arming of her . Bulloch received orders to help Sinclair with funds and advice . He showed Sinclair the drawings and specifications for the CSS Alabama , also the contract with Lairds , and they both decided to use these as a basis for the new cruiser . What Sinclair did was to arrange , with the help of the Southern diplomat James M . Mason , for an issue of bonds , each equal to 25 bales of cotton , weight 12 , 500 pounds . Seven individuals took up these bonds , and were effectively the owners of this new vessel . The new cruiser was contracted by James and George Thomson of Glasgow , in October 1862 . The same firm that was contracted to build an ironclad ram for Lt . North . The " Pampero " was modelled on the Alabama , even though she was somewhat larger . The " Pampero " was to be 231 feet in length , 33 feet in breadth , powered by both sail and steam . Bark rigged , she was equipped for cruising under canvas or steam , with telescopic funnels , and a raiseable screw . Similar , but larger engines to the Alabama were placed below the waterline for protection . Her frame was iron , with a mixture of iron and wood for the planking . Her armament was to be three 8 - inch pivot guns , and a broadside battery of four or more guns . The original contract called for the Pampero to be ready for sea by July 1863 , but the schedule could not be maintained . Guns and gun carriages were ordered , and Sinclair received £10 , 000 ( $ 40 , 000 ) from Bulloch , and perhaps more . For his crew , Sinclair made arrangements for some men to come out from Baltimore . By the spring of 1863 Sinclair was becoming very concerned about the " Pampero " , and feared that the British Government would not permit the departure of any vessel suspected to be Confederate . He visited Paris to discuss with John Slidell the possibility of transferring the vessel to France . Slidell suggested Hamburg in Germany would be a better alernative . However , Sinclair investigated this , but did not proceed with it . Meanwhile the completion of the " Pampero " was further delayed by labour troubles , and the seizure of the " Alexandria " , another Confederate vessel in production at Lairds , by the British Government . The Alexandria trial was indecisive , and Mason put off the launching of the Pampero " until a final verdict was reached . " The " Pampero " herself first came to the attention of Thomas H . Dudley , United States Consul in Liverpool , in the spring of 1863 , when he made an investigative tour of Northern England and Scotland , looking for any warships being built for the Confederates . He learned that Thomsons were building a screw steamer " of about 1500 tons , " designed for great speed . He was told that she was to have an angle - iron frame and teak planking , and he found that among the workmen it was generally believed that she was for the South . On his next trip to Scotland in August 1863 , his suspicions increased as new details on the vessel came to light . The builders insisted that the boat was for the Turkish Government , but Dudley ` s informants in the yard insisted the boat was for the South , being supervised by the same men as those who supervised the building of the ironclad ram . Dudley left behind a spy in Thomsons yard , who soon reported that the vessel was rigged in the same manner as the Alabama , the drawings of which , he was told , were in Glasgow . The " Pampero " by a Mrs . Galbraith , the vessel finally slid down the slipway on October 29 , 1863 . On November 10 , the American consul in Glasgow , W . L . Underwood formally requested that the Pampero be detained . Although the British Government did not make any immediate legal moves , in late November a British warship was moored abreast of the Pampero , and she was placed under a 24 hour scrutiny by customs officers . Court proceedings against the Pampero commenced on March 18 , 1864 , and were never satisfactorily concluded . Capture . During the Chincha Islands War , the South American allies sent agents to European shipyards in search of unsold warships originally laid down for the Confederate states ; Peru purchased two screw corvettes in France and Chile , purchased two in Britain , the Tornado and the Chilean corvette Abtao ( 1866 ) She set sail from Leith with a British register , British flag , with a British crew , after having been duly examined by the Custom - house authorities , on 19 August 1866 . Bound for a neutral destination , she had no Chilean men on board . She should have been in rendezvous with the British filibustering ship steamer " Greathem Hall " , aiming to interfere against the Spanish trade . But the latter was captured by HMS Caledonia and taken into Portland . The " Pampero " ( now named the " Tornado " ) waited patiently in the rendezvous point , until the crew were ordered to re - coal and head for the desolate islands of Fernando de Noronha , an old pirate haunt off the Brazilian coast , in order to collect unpaid wages and bonuses offered for the delivery of the vessel . The Spanish frigate , brought strict orders from the Spanish government to capture these ships . However , the Peruvian vessels made it to Latin American waters but the Chilean " Pampero " was about to be captured . The " Gerona " sailed from Cadiz in the early morning of the 20th instant , arriving at Madeira , Portugal on the 22nd instant . At 6 ' 15 in the evening ; before arriving at the anchoring ground , she discovered a suspicious steamer weighing anchor and apparently getting ready to put to sea , for which reason the Commander of the " Gerona " Don Benito Escalera , thought fit to proceed towards her to see if he could obtains news , and to be at the same time in readiness to follow in her track , should she turn out to be ither of the vessels indicated to him by the Spanish government . At 8 o ' clock at night the frigate , thinking that she perceived that the " Tornado " was putting herself in motion , and having been confirmed in that opinion by the showing of the signal agreed upon on board the Spanish schooner , commenced to move in pursuit . The course which the " Tornado " took was in every way suspicious , for she kept as close into the north - west shore of this island as she could , coasting along it at a very short distance as far as Cape Tristão , where she put to sea steering towards the north . Notwithstanding that the " Tornado " was some distance off at 10 - 30 at night , and at a distance of more than four miles from the coast , the Captain of the " Gerona " , a slower ship , resolved to call her attention by discharging at her a cannon loaded with blank cartridge , but seeing that she kept on her course , he fired another shotted cannon at her , and this he repeated three times , the Tornado then stopped . He sent on board of her tow boats manned and tow officers to examine her , which was done in due form , although it could not be affirmed positevely whether she carried munitions of war or not on account of the great quantity of coal with which she was stowed . The Commander made the captain come on board the " Gerona " , and this latter answered the questions that were put to him with insolent and insulting words so that he was obliged to be called to order . He then ordered the said captain to return to the " Tornado " , which was navigated to Cadiz by the 1st Lieutenant Don Manuel del Bustillo , 2nd Lieutenant , four midshipmen , one engineer , and 51 armed men , and the crew of the " Tornado " comprising 55 men , among whom were five Portuguese taken on board at Funchal , were transferred to the " Gerona " . Captain John MacPherson and the crew of the Tornado were treated with great severity , both on their way to Cádiz and after their arrival in that city . The case led to negotiations between the British and Spanish governments expressed the opinion that the Spanish Government had no right to treat the crew as prisoners of war , much less to chain them up . Spanish Service . She was brought into Spanish service as " Tornado , " and rated as screw corvette . During the Ten Years ' War , she saw service in Cuban Waters and had a notorious incident with the American filibustering steamer " Virginius " , that had been bought for the purpose of being used for landing military expeditions on Cuba in aid of the insurgents , and she had been engaged in this work for months , being even called by one of the Havana newspapers as " the famous filibuster steamer Virginius " . On October 31 , 1873 she was bound from Kingston , Jamaica to some point in Cuba , flying the American flag , and carrying a cargo of war material . Having a crew of 52 ( chiefly Americans and Britons ) and 103 passengers ( mostly Cubans ) , the " Virginius " was sighted by the " Tornado " , and she immediately fled in a northerly direction toward Jamaica , but was chased by her , captured and taken into Santiago de Cuba . Fifty - three of the crew and passengers were condemned to death by court - martial , and between November 4 and 8 were shot ; among them were eight American citizens . Relations between Spain and the United States became strained , and war seemed imminent , but on December 8 , the Spanish government agreed to surrender the Virginius to the U . S . on December 16 , to deliver the survivors of the crew and passengers to an American warship at Santiago , and to salute the American flag at Santiago on December 25 if it was not proved before that date that the Virginius was not entitled to sail under American colors . The Virginius foundered off Cape Hatteras as she was being towed to the United States , by the Ossipee . George Henry Williams , the Attorney General of the United States decided before December 25 that the Virginius was the property of General Quesada and other Cubans , and had had no right to carry the American flag . Under an agreement of the February 27 , 1875 , the Spanish government paid to the United States an indemnity of $ 80 , 000 for the execution of the Americans , and another indemnity to the British government . Resumed service . She was converted to a torpedo - training vessel in 1886 . From 1898 until her destruction by the Nationalist aviation in 1938 , she served as a hospice for poor children of sailors and fishermen killed or drowned in maritime accidents , in the port of Barcelona . She was finally broken up in 1939 .