SEPTEMBER 7TH, 1864: The USS Wachusett, Commander Napoleon Collins, captured the CSS Florida, Lt. Morris, in Bahia Harbor, Brazil, and towed her out to sea. Collins, who had been scouring te sea lanes for the Florida for many months, saw her enter Bahia on 4 October and anchored close in the next morning. Collins offered to meet Morris outside the harbor in a ship duel, but the Confederate commander wisely declined.
The Brazilian authorities, recognizing the explosiveness of the situation, exacted promises from both Morris and the U.S. consul, Thomas Wilson, that no attacks would be made in Brazilian waters.
Collins, however, was not about to let the Florida escape him again and made plans to attack her shortly after midnight on the 7th. At 3 a.m. he slipped his cable, steamed past the Brazilian gunboat anchored between his ship and the Florida, and rammed the famous Confederate raider in her starboard quarter.
After a brief exchange of cannon fire, Lt. Porter, commanding the Florida in Morris' absence, surrendered the ship. By this time, the harbor was alive, and as the Wachusett towed her long sought-after prize to sea, the Brazilian fort opened fire on her.
Another raider Done Gone. --Old B-Runner
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