USS San Jacinto entered the Caribbean nominally hunting CSS Sumter, but the aggressive and independent Captain Charles Wilkes shifted his attention to two Confederate envoys leaving Havana aboard Trent. His orders to Lieutenant Donald Fairfax called for taking the British vessel as a prize. Fairfax judged that he lacked the prize crew needed to secure the whole ship and removed the envoys instead. Trent carried the Queen’s mail and official dispatches, so this compromise turned the interception into an especially serious diplomatic affront. A Royal Navy officer aboard was so angered that he concealed the envoys’ papers and carried them on to Britain.
Chapter · 6:23-11:11
Wilkes, Fairfax, and the seizure of Trent
The incident begins when Captain Charles Wilkes stops the British mail steamer Trent and removes Confederate envoys.