USS Howquah
USS Howquah was a screw steamer purchased by the Union Navy in Boston from G. W. Upton on 17 June 1863, for action against Confederate commerce raider CSS Tacony which was then preying upon Northern merchantmen during what Professor Richard S. West has called "the most brilliant daredevil cruise of the war." Search for Tacony Howquah departed Boston 25 June 1863, with Acting Volunteer Lieutenant E. F. Devens in command, to search for Tacony in the southern section of the Banks of Newfoundland but her quarry had been destroyed the day before she sailed. Tacony'''s captain, Lieutenant Charles W. Read, OSN, in an effort to elude the Northern gunboats who were scouring the sea for his ship, shifted his guns to captured fishing schooner Archer and put the torch to Tacony. He and his crew were captured 3 days later while attempting to escape to sea from Portland, Maine, in still another prize, Revenue cutter Caleb Gushing. Blockade duty When Howquah returned to Boston 3 July, she received orders to sail for Wilmington, North Carolina, for blockade duty. Except for occasional brief interruptions for repairs, she remained in waters off Wilmington until close to the end of the war, usually