November 14, 1863: "The Notorious James Duke" Foiled

NOVEMBER 14, 1863:  The USS Bermuda, Acting Lieutenant  J.W. Smith, recaptured schooner Mary Campbell after she had been seized earlier the same day by Confederates under the command of Master Duke, CSN, whose daring exploits five months before, 8 June 1863, had resulted on the capture of a Union ship near New Orleans.

The Bermuda also took an unnamed lugger which the Confederates had used to capture the Mary Campbell.  The captures took place off Pensacola after the ship had come out of the Perdido River under Duke's command.

Lieutenant Smith reported that  "...the notorious James Duke ... also captured the Norman, with which vessel he, with ten of his crew, had made for the land upon my heaving in sight, and I have reason to believe that he beached and burned her...."

Another John Yates Beall?  --Old B-Runner