Orders from Stephen R. Mallory to Lieutenant James H. North1,2,3 for a mission to Europe regarding the acquisition of formidable warships.
Confederate States, Navy Department,
Montgomery, May 17, 1861.
Sir: Upon the receipt of this order you will proceed to Savannah and join the _________ and proceed thence to London.
You will land at some convenient point in Ireland and reach London by the ordinary steam and rail route. At London you will call upon the commissioners of the Confederate States to whom you have a letter from this department, and to whom the department of State has also addressed a communication in relation to your mission.
Herewith I hand you a copy of my recent letter to Congress upon the subject of ironclad ships and a copy also of the bills authorizing the purchase of the most formidable war ships.
In this report you will find a general outline of the French frigate Gloire, which made her first cruise last summer, and which is regarded as the most formidable ship afloat.
The Confederate States require a few ships of this description, ships that can receive without material injury the fire of the heaviest frigates and liners at short distances and whose guns, though few in number, with shell or hot shot, will enable them to destroy the wooden navy of our enemy.
The views and disposition of the French Government are understood to be favorable to our cause, the recognition of our independence at an early day is expected, and it is thought that arrangements might be made with it for the transfer to our Government either directly or through some friendly intermediary of one of the armored frigates of the class of the Gloire.
You will therefore in such manner as upon consultation with our commissioners you may deem most advisable, ascertain whether this great object can be accomplished.
The importance to France of raising the existing blockade of the ports of the cotton States and of preventing their future blockade must be evident to that Government.
France and England must be hereafter connected with us by the strong ties of mutual interests, they as the purchasers of our cotton and other produce, we as the consumers of their manufactures, they have such an immediate and direct interest in preventing this blockade that we look to them with confidence for such aid [as] they may properly render to enable us to maintain the freedom of our ports.
Should the French Government assent to this transfer by a sale of the vessel, you will at once apprise me of the fact, and a full complement of officers and men can be sent from this country to bring the vessel over and all the necessary details including price and payment at once be arranged.
Should this proposition be declined by the French Government you will then direct your efforts to securing its sanction to the construction for us of an armored ship in France. Such construction would have to be done in such manner as to leave us unidentified publicly with it, and it is presumed that this can be done through parties in France, who will negotiate for receiving the bonds of this Confederacy in payment.
If authorized to construct we would want two ships, and by building each vessel to carry but six or eight heavy guns, we can probably obtain both complete within the amount provided for this purpose by law. In such case one should be built in Great Britain and one in France.
Before proceeding with the details of such vessels it would be advisable to consult with Captain Cowper Coles of the Royal Navy, or with other recognized authority upon the subject , and to acquaint yourself also with all the advances made in building iron-armored ships. The Warrior, now being built upon the Thames , must have your attention.
Secrecy and dispatch are equally essential throughout your labors, and your investigations, contracts, etc., must be so conducted as to secure them.
The armament of these vessels will require your careful consideration. Armstrong 80-pounders, breech loading, it is presumed will claim your attention.
If you shall contract for the construction of these vessels you will not fail to urge their completion within the shortest possible time, with coal, provisions, sails, ordnance, ordnance stores, and all equipments and outfits for a six months’ cruise.
I have named a six-gun frigate, but I am unwilling to limit your discretion in this respect, but confide much to your judgment. We want a ship which can not be sunk or penetrated by the shell or shot of the U. S. Navy at a distance at which we could penetrate and sink the ships of the enemy, and which can not be readily carried by boarders.
You will keep the Department advised of your movements and transactions by every conveyance, using the means severally explained to you to do so.
The dispatches intrusted to you by this Government you will deliver as early as practicable.
Instruct Mr. Bulloch to place on board the ________ such Armstrong guns with their equipments and shells as Mr. ________ shall be willing to receive, with percussion caps and any other ordnance stores which he may be disposed to bring to us.
You will, so far as your special duties will permit, associate yourself with Mr. Bulloch in the purchase and selection of vessels, their batteries and outfits, and render him all the aid in your power in the important duties devolved upon him .
You are furnished with a pamphlet copy of the laws of the Confederate States and our Constitution. The provision in relation to the slave trade, our export duty on cotton to secure the payment of the interest upon our bonds, and their redemption may, together with our tendencies to free trade, be useful in your discussions with business men.
Very respectfully , your obedient servant,
S. R. Mallory,
Secretary of the Navy.
Lieut. James H. North, C. S. Navy.
- Maynard, D. (1953). The Escape of the “Florida”. The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, 77(2), 181-197. Retrieved May 14, 2021, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/20088457
In February 1862, North is the senior Confederate officer in England. In this article, Maynard describes him as “an unimaginative, plodding, indecisive officer. - Maynard, D. (1954). Plotting the Escape of the Alabama. The Journal of Southern History, 20(2), 197-209. doi:10.2307/2954914
Maynard says here that “…the Alabama had been scheduled for Lieutenant James H. North.” - North managed to contract for the construction of one armoured frigate with a shipbuilder in Scotland. “By the summer of 1863, the Confederate agents in Europe were seeking to sell off North’s ship, offering her to the Imperial Russian Navy. The ship was clearly unsuited to Confederate needs, being too large and requiring too large a crew for their limited resources, and her draft of 6 meters was too deep for operations in the shoal waters on the Confederate coasts. Thompson’s too were concerned that they would not be allowed to deliver the ship to the Confederates in the changed political climate and canceled the contract in late 1863.
The outbreak of the Second War of Schleswig led the Royal Danish Navy to purchase the ship, but delays in fitting out and working up meant that she was not ready for service before the end of the war.
The Danmark undertook only one active commission, from June to October 1869. At sea with her armament aboard she rolled violently, and the coal consumption of her engines was extremely high. As a result, she remained in reserve thereafter, becoming a barracks ship in 1893 before being eventually scrapped in 1907.