USS De Soto-- Part 8: "A Voracious Aquatic Bird"

After that the USS De Soto returned to Key West for repairs.  Back at sea, the De Soto captured the schooner Lady Maria north of Tampa Bay on 6 July 1863.

On 18 July, she captured the steamer James Battle laden with rosin and cotton.  This led to the great anger of two Union ships, the USS Aristook and Ossipee which had been pursuing the James Battle.

Later the same night, the Aristook and Ossipee were in another pursuit of a blockade runner which was taken by the De Soto as well.

This led to an angry confrontation over prize shares between the three Union ships.  Feeling that the De Soto had purposefully run the two steamers out of signal distance and cutting them out of the money, the commander of the Ossipee, Captain Jonathan P. Gillis called the De Soto 'a voracious aquatic bird."  If you've ever seen seagulls battling over food you know what he meant.

It took intervention by the two admirals on station, Farragurt and Bailey, to bring the tempers down.  All three ships got equal shares of the prizes.

--Old B-Runner