JUNE 22ND, 1865: Upon learning of the final collapse of the Confederacy, Master John C. Braine, CSN, took passage for Liverpool, England, from Kingston, Jamaica.
On several occasions during the war Braine had led naval parties in successful seizures of Federal merchantmen and quite likely would have been prosecuted for piracy had he been apprehended.
The schooner St. Mary's, which he seized in Chesapeake Bay and had sailed to Nassau, was abandoned in Kingston just prior to his booking passage for Liverpool. Previous to seizing the St. Mary's, he had seized the steamer Chesapeake off Cape Cod (7 December 1863) and the steamer Roanoke off Havana (29 September 1864) while leading Confederate naval parties masquerading as passengers.
This man would be a good topic for a book.
A Really Brainy Decision for Braine. --Old B-R'er
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