3-011-848 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The War in America: the Federal steamer Chesapeake, seized by Confederates, landing crew and passengers off Musquash Harbour, Bay of Fundy, 1864. Engraving from a sketch by Mr. Charles C. Ward. '...when about twenty miles N.N.E. of Cape Cod, [the Chesapeake, Captain Willet] was seized by a party of Confederates...The second engineer, who was in charge of the engine at the time, was shot dead and his body thrown overboard. The first engineer was wounded by a ball in the chin, and was kept on board to work the engine...After the crew had been overpowered, the vessel was taken charge of by the Confederates; the captain, officers, and crew were placed in irons, and the passengers, some six or eight in number, on promising not to interfere, were allowed their liberty. The Confederates numbered sixteen persons, and were commanded by a Lieutenant Braine, reputed to hold a commission in the Confederate service...the Chesapeake arrived off Musquash Harbour, where she was boarded by a person, said to be a Confederate officer, who assumed the command of the steamer...We learn by the last mail that the three pirates captured on board the Chesapeake were taken from the authorities by the mob whilst being landed at Halifax, and set free'. From "Illustrated London News", 1864.