John Slidell, appointed as Confederate commissioner to France, and James Murray Mason, appointed as commissioner to Great Britain, accompanied by their private secretaries and their families, had sailed from Charleston on October 16, 1861. Slipping through the Union blockade around the harbor aboard the small steamer Theodore, the party reached Havana in Cuba. There they boarded the British mail packet Trent on the next step in their journey. They would not reach their destination for some time, however. (By John Osborne)