New British built steamer Oreto arrives in the Bahamas, a secret purchase of the Confederate Navy

The 700 ton screw steamship Oreto had been recently completed in Liverpool for secret purchase by the Confederacy as the first of its foreign-built raiders.  She left Liverpool in March with a British crew and arrived in Nassau where she was transferred to the Confederate Navy. She emerged in August 1862 as the C.S.S. Florida, under Lieutenant John Newland Maffitt, and had raiding success until her capture in October 1864.  (By John Osborne)