Capture
Locke had arranged for Braine and sixteen Confederate sympathisers from Nova Scotia and New Brunswick to board the Chesapeake as normal passengers while in New York. While en route to Maine, on the night of December 7, just off the coast of Cape Cod, Baine and the others commandeered the vessel. In the exchange of gunfire that transpired the ship’s second engineer was killed and three others wounded. After the seizing of the vessel, Locke took command of the vessel himself at Grand Manan Island.
The crew was faced with the problem that neutrality regulations forbade the bringing of prizes into British waters. Locke still took the Chesapeake to Saint John, New Brunswick as planned but was unable to load coal for the voyage south. As a result, the steamer made its way to Nova Scotia. They stopped in at Shelburne (DEC 10) and at Conquerall Bank, Nova Scotia on the Lahave River (Dec 14) where they loaded some coal, and then spent two days and sold some of the stolen cargo for supplies.
In the mean time, two Union warships, the fast side-wheeler Ella and Annie, moving south from Halifax, and the USS Dacotah, coming north from Shelburne, were closing in.
The Chesapeake was nearly caught by the Ella and Annie on the LaHave River. Under the cover of night, the Chesapeake turned all lights out and slipped behind Spectacle Island and out the LaHave without being detected. The Chesapeake was again able to avoid capture at Lunenburg and made its way to Halifax. The vessel moved through Mahone Bay. At St. Margaret’s Bay it let some crew leave the ship. By December 16, the ship arrived at Mud Cove harbour at Sambro. Once there Locke went to Halifax over land and arranged to have a schooner come to Sambro to load coal. While the Chesapeake was being loaded with coal the Ella and Annie and USS Dacotah arrived.
Read more about this topic: Chesapeake Affair
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