How Wilkes intercepted the Trent

The commissioners first left Confederate territory on a smaller vessel after the Union blockade prevented an easier departure, then waited in Havana for passage to Europe. Captain Charles Wilkes learned that the deeper-draught British mail steamer had to use a predictable channel. USS San Jacinto stopped Trent only after firing a second warning shot, despite the vessel displaying the British flag. Wilkes then sent Lieutenant Donald Fairfax aboard with orders to seize the envoys, their baggage and dispatches, and the ship itself as a prize. Those instructions created immediate legal danger because they extended beyond identifying Confederate passengers to searching protected papers.