CSS Alabamas South Atlantic expeditionary raid commenced shortly after the Confederate States Navy ship left Haiti and the Caribbean Sea and cruised south toward Brazil in the south Atlantic Ocean. The raid lasted from about the beginning of February 1863 to the end of July 1863.
The primary area of operation during this expeditionary raid, was the Atlantic seaboard of South America starting from the northern end of Brazil then ranging up down along the Brazilian coast before finally heading east toward southern Africa.
Raid overview CSS Alabama worked its way slowly down the east coast of Brazil in the most devastating of its seven raids, capturing or burning dozens of enemy Yankee vessels.
From this raiding area off the coast of Brazil, CSS Alabama made its way into the Indian Ocean by way of the Cape of Good Hope to continue its unhindered wrecking of enemy commerce in the Indian Ocean as far as Indonesia.
Raid bounty + CSS Alabamas South Atlantic Expeditionary Raid Date Ship name Ship type Location Disposition of prize February 3, 1863 Palmetto ? ? Burned February 21, 1863 Olive Jane ? mid-Atlantic Burned February 21, 1863 Golden Eagle Extreme Clipper mid-Atlantic Burned February 27, 1863 Washington ? mid-Atlantic Captured and released March 1, 1863 Bethia Thayer ? ? ? March 2, 1863 John A. Parks ? ? Captured March 15, 1863 Punjab ? ? Captured March 23, 1863 Charles Hill ? ? Captured March 23, 1863 Morning Star Boston clipper Near St. Paul Captured and released March 23, 1863 Nora ? ? Captured March 26, 1863 King Fisher ? ? ? April 3, 1863 Louisa Hatch ? ? Captured April 15, 1863 Lafayette ? ? Captured April 15, 1863 Kate Cory Schooner converted to Brig ? Captured / Burned April 16, 1863 Lafayette ? ? ? April 22, 1863 Nye Bark ? Captured / Burned April 23, 1863 Dorcas Prince ? ? Captured May 3, 1863 Union Jack ? ? Captured May 3, 1863 Sea Lareta ? ? Captured May 25, 1863 Gildersleeve ? ? Captured May 25, 1863 Justina ? ? Captured May 29, 1863 Jabez Snow ? ? Captured June 2, 1863 Amazonian ? ? Burned June 4, 1863 Azzapodi ? ? Captured June 4, 1863 Queen of Beauty Clipper Off Brazil Captured and released June 5, 1863 Talisman medium Clipper ? Burned June 20, 1863 Conrad Bark coast of Brazil commissioned as Tuscaloosa July 1, 1863 Anna F. Schmidt ? ? Burned July 6, 1863 Express ? Coast of Brazil Burned
References Hearn, Chester G., Gray Raiders of the Sea, Louisiana State Press, 1996. Howe and Matthews, American Clipper Ships 1833 - 1858 Volume I, Dover Publications, 1986. Luraghi, Raimondo, A History of the Confederate Navy, U.S. Naval Institute Press, 1996.