Lionel Vogel's Account of the "CSS Florida."
by Terry Foenander.
The following account originally dictated to the Columbus, South Carolina, Carolinian, by Acting Master's Mate Lionel Vogel, formerly of the Confederate cruiser Florida, was reprinted in the Atlanta, Georgia Southern Confederacy of June 17, 1864. By that time Vogel had already resigned from Confederate naval service. Appointed as Captain's Clerk in the Confederate Navy in 1862, he was promoted in September, 1863, to Acting Master's Mate before resigning on December 10, 1863.
We are indebted to a visit from Mr. L. Vogel, one of the officers of the far famed steamer, Florida who has just returned home on a brief furlough, for the following interesting particulars concerning the movements of our little navy on the ocean.
The Florida, two months ago, was at Brest, in France, undergoing repairs. The officials of that city and of the French Government rendered every facility to the authorities of the ship, and for two months she occupied the Government dock, while her officers and men were the recipients of the hospitalities of the people of the city. An indication of the sympathies of the French Government may be found in the fact that the commander of the United States gunboat Kearsarge made a similar application to that of the Florida, but was refused. This vessel attempted to blockade the Florida, but the latter evaded her with ease. Three weeks ago, the latter touched at the island of Bermuda, to land Lieutenant Everett [Samuel Wootton Averett], her executive officer, who was severely ill. Second Lieutenant [James] Lingard Hoole was left at Martinique, for the same cause. Just one year ago, the Florida, while at Bermuda, was received with a royal salute of twenty one guns, her officers in the evening being entertained at the house of the colonel commanding the forces on the island. The only ship burned since leaving Brest is the Avon, 2,000 tons, bound to Cork from the Chincha Islands, loaded with guano.
The discipline on board is like that of a man of war. Her complement is one hundred and thirty men and eighteen officers. All live well, clothe well, and feed well. Oysters, turkeys and delicacies of every description captured on the prizes supply their larder, and these are served in the commonest messes of the ship, with silver knives and forks. Think of that, ye hungry landsmen! Captain [John Newland] Maffit, the former commander of the Florida is now in a Confederate port, in command of a steamer owned by the State of Georgia - one of the fastest vessels afloat and in every way adapted to the purposes of a blockade runner. Lieutenant [Charles] Manigault Morris, of this State, is now in command of the Florida.
The total number of prizes captured and burned by the ship is twenty-eight. Her tender, the Taconey [Tacony], Lieutenant Reed [Charles W. Read] commanding, took twenty-one before being burned off the harbor of Portland, Maine. Half of the value of each of these prizes is distributed among the officers and crew of the captor; the other half is placed to the account of the Confederate Government. Every man on board is, therefore, "well to do" in the world.
The armament of the Florida has not altered since she first went into commission, and consists of a 120-pound Blakely rifle gun amidships - some mettle on the bow, and six broadside 68-pound Blakely rifles.
Captain [Raphael] Semmes is stated by Vogel to be still in command of the Alabama, and cruising in the China Seas. Lieutenant [William E.] Evans, of South Carolina, is in command of the Georgia, at last accounts in Bordeaux, France.
Mr. Vogel is a native and resident of Charleston, and his friends will most gladly welcome him home after an absence of four years. He has been in the naval service from the start, was captured in the steamer which carried out Mason and Slidell, but passing for a Frenchman, he was detained at New York only ten days. The following list of the officers of the Florida is furnished by him for the benefit of friends at home:
Commander, M. [Charles Manigault] Morris; 1st Lieutenant S.G. [Sardine Graham] Stone; Master, H.S. [Richard S.] Floyd; Acting 2d Lieutenant, S. [Samuel, junior] Barron; 3d Lieutenant, Midshipman G.D. [George D.] Bryan, Acting Master; Paymaster, R. [Richard] Taylor; Surgeon, C. [Thomas Jackson] Charlton; Midshipmen, T. [George Terry, junior] Sinclair, W. [William B., junior] Sinclair [drowned at sea on July 10, 1864], T. [James H.] Dyke; Master's Mate, T.T. [Thomas T., junior] Hunter, Chief Engineer, C.W. [Charles W.] Quinn; Captain's Clerk, R. [W.D.] Hough.
We nearly forgot to add, that Mr. Vogel has brought home with him a handsome photograph of the Florida, represented in the act of "bringing to" the ship Jacob Bell - her largest capture - together with portraits of her officers.
The picture may be seen at our sactum. - Columbus Carolinian.
The photograph mentioned at the end of the account was probably an engraving done in one of the ports that Vogel called in to. There are no known photographs taken on the high seas aboard a Confederate vessel during the war, but if this was a first, then it would be a most unique discovery, if the image can currently be located.
Not much is known about Vogel's subsequent career and life, but a gravestone at the San Lorenzo Cemetery, St. Augustine, Florida, shows a Leopold Ramie Vogel buried there. The inscription also indicates he was an Acting Master's Mate aboard the CSS Florida, born in 1842 and died in 1907, which may actually be Lionel Vogel, the stone being inscribed in error.
January, 2001.
