USS Merrimac (1864) (Paperback)

High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! USS Merrimac was a sidewheel steamer in the United States Navy during the American Civil War. Merrimac was purchased in England for the Confederate government in 1862. After a successful career as a blockade runner, she was captured by Iroquois off the coast of Cape Fear River, North Carolina, 24 July 1863. Purchased by the Navy from New York Prize Court 10 March 1864, Merrimac commissioned at New York 1 May 1864, Acting Master William P. Rogers in command. After joining the East Gulf Blockading Squadron in June 1864, she was ordered to cruise in the Gulf of Mexico. She captured Cuban sloop Henretta sailing from Bayport, Florida, with cotton for Havana. However, late in July yellow fever broke out among Merrimac's crew and she sailed north to allow her crew to recover. Upon arriving New York she debarked her sick sailors at quarantine, and got underway for a cruise in the northwest Atlantic as far as St. John's Newfoundland.