The Confederate commerce raider Nashville runs the blockade at Charleston and heads for the North Atlantic

The Nashville was a 1,200 ton former passenger side-wheeler that had run between Charleston and New York. Originally assigned to take the Confederate commissioners Slidell and Mason to England, she was instead fitted as a commerce raider and slipped out of Charleston, running the blockade.  She did arrive in England in November, the first Confederate ship of war to dock in that country.  The incident this caused, however, was largely overshadowed by the Trent Affair and the fate of the Nashville's earlier intended passengers.  (By John Osborne)