Product Description
CSS Florida was a sloop-of-war built in Liverpool, Britain, and purchased by the Confederate States Navy. The vessel was fitted out as a commerce raider in Nassau, Bahamas, in mid-1862, before forcing the Union blockade to get to a friendly port, whence she sailed again in January the following year. She was sometimes misreported and erroneously identified as another famous Confederate raider, the Alabama, having a similar silouhette and the same number of masts; however, at a glance the ships can be told apart since Florida had two funnels while Alabama had only one, and the former lacks a flying bridge.
Anchored at Bahia, Brazil, in early October 1864, the ship was surprised by a night attack by the sloop-of-war USS Wachusett, which heavily outgunned the Confederate vessel, being captured by the Union ship. Towed as a prize to the States, she foundered in dubious circumstances after a collision with an Army transport. A number of artifacts from CSS Florida have been recovered and are now displayed in the Hampton Roads Museum.