CSS Alabama's South Atlantic Expeditionary Raid commenced shortly after the Confederate States Navy ship CSS Alabama left Haiti and the Caribbean Sea and cruised south toward Brazil in the south Atlantic Ocean. The raid lasted from about the beginning of February 1863 to the end of July 1863.
The primary area of operation during this expeditionary raid, was the Atlantic seaboard of South America starting from the northern end of Brazil then ranging up down along the Brazilian coast before finally heading east toward southern Africa.
Raid overview
CSS Alabama worked its way slowly down the east coast of Brazil in the most devastating of its seven raids, capturing or burning dozens of enemy Yankee vessels.
From this raiding area off the coast of Brazil, CSS Alabama made its way into the Indian Ocean by way of the Cape of Good Hope to continue its unhindered wrecking of enemy commerce in the Indian Ocean as far as Indonesia.
Raid bounty
CSS Alabama's South Atlantic Expeditionary Raid
Date
Ship name
Ship type
Location
Disposition of prize
February 3, 1863
Palmetto
?
?
Burned
February 21, 1863
Olive Jane
?
mid-Atlantic
Burned
February 21, 1863
Golden Eagle
Extreme Clipper
mid-Atlantic
Burned
February 27, 1863
Washington
?
mid-Atlantic
Captured and released
March 1, 1863
Bethia Thayer
?
?
?
March 2, 1863
John A. Parks
?
?
Captured
March 15, 1863
Punjab
?
?
Captured
March 23, 1863
Charles Hill
?
?
Captured
March 23, 1863
Morning Star
Boston clipper
Near St. Paul
Captured and released
March 23, 1863
Nora
?
?
Captured
March 26, 1863
King Fisher
?
?
?
April 3, 1863
Louisa Hatch
?
?
Captured
April 15, 1863
Lafayette
?
?
Captured
April 15, 1863
Kate Cory
Schooner converted to Brig
?
Captured / Burned
April 16, 1863
Lafayette
?
?
?
April 22, 1863
Nye
Bark
?
Captured / Burned
April 23, 1863
Dorcas Prince
?
?
Captured
May 3, 1863
Union Jack
?
?
Captured
May 3, 1863
Sea Lareta
?
?
Captured
May 25, 1863
Gildersleeve
?
?
Captured
May 25, 1863
Justina
?
?
Captured
May 29, 1863
Jabez Snow
?
?
Captured
June 2, 1863
Amazonian
?
?
Burned
June 4, 1863
Azzapodi
?
?
Captured
June 4, 1863
Queen of Beauty
Clipper
Off Brazil
Captured and released
June 5, 1863
Talisman
medium Clipper
?
Burned
June 20, 1863
Conrad
Bark
coast of Brazil
commissioned as Tuscaloosa
July 1, 1863
Anna F. Schmidt
?
?
Burned
July 6, 1863
Express
?
Coast of Brazil
Burned
References
Hearn, Chester G., Gray Raiders of the Sea, Louisiana State Press, 1996. ISBN0-8071-2114-2
Howe and Matthews, American Clipper Ships 1833 - 1858 Volume I, Dover Publications, 1986. ISBN0-486-25115-2
Luraghi, Raimondo, A History of the Confederate Navy, U.S. Naval Institute Press, 1996. ISBN1-55750-527-6
