for England. Arriving in Cuba on Octo-
ber 15, they found that British mail ships
did dock at Havana but that they would
have to wait three weeks for the next ship,
RMS Trent.
Union intelligence sources thought
Mason and Slidell had escaped aboard
Nashville.Thus the U.S. Navy dispatched
James Adger,commanded by John B.
Marchand, with orders to intercept
Nashville. On October 3 the Union steam
frigate San Jacinto,commanded by 62-
year-old Captain Charles D. Wilkes,
arrived at St. Thomas in the Danish West
Indies. He was hunting the Confederate
raider CSS Sumter.
Wilkes, a gifted astronomer, had experi-
enced many ups and downs in his naval
career. Early on, he had won accolades for
his voyages of discovery to Antarctica and
the Fiji Islands. But repeated displays of
bad temper and insubordination had
landed him in hot water with his superiors,
and Wilkes had been shunted aside to a
minor bureaucratic desk in Washington
before receiving orders to take command
of the steam warship San Jacintoon patrol
off the coast of West Africa. He was
directed to sail the ship home for refitting.
Characteristically disobeying orders,
Wilkes determined instead to prowl the
West Indies for Rebel shipping.
In Cienfuegos, on the southern coast of
Cuba, Wilkes learned from a newspaper
that Mason and Slidell were in Havana
waiting to take passage on Trent,sailing
first for St. Thomas and then on to Eng-
land. Wilkes knew that Trentwould have
to use the Bahama Channel between Cuba
and the Great Bahama Bank. He thought
over the legal implications of trying to
remove the Confederate envoys from the
British vessel, asking the opinion of his
executive officer, Lieutenant D.M. Fair-
fax. He decided that Mason and Slidell
could be considered “contraband” and
legally seized.
Trent left Havana on November 7 with
Mason and Slidell on board; Slidell was
accompanied by his wife and children.
Diplomatic secretaries James E. Macfar-
land and George Eustis were also part ofthe official company. Passing through the
Bahama Channel they found San Jacinto
waiting. The Federal ship spotted Trent
about noon on November 8; the mail ship
was flying the Union Jack. Wilkes ordered
a shot fired across Trent’s bow. It was
ignored. A second shot landed close to the
bow. Trenthove to. Wilkes gave detailed
instructions to Fairfax. “Should Mister
Mason, Mister Slidell, Mister Eustis and
Mister Macfarland be on board,” he said,
“make them prisoners and send them on
board this ship immediately and take pos-
session [of the Trent] as a prize.” Fairfax
was also instructed to seize any dispatches
and official correspondence he might find.
Armed with cutlasses and pistols, Fair-
fax and a boarding party of 20 men
approached Trentin two cutters. Fairfax
boarded alone, not wishing to enflame thesituation, but found Captain James Moir
furious that his ship had been stopped at
sea. Fairfax told him his orders, Moir
refused to cooperate, and Fairfax soon
found himself surrounded and threatened
by passengers and crew. He had little
choice but to order the armed party in the
waiting boats to join him. Once again
Moir refused permission for the boarding
party to search the ship. Mason and Slidell
came forward willingly, and Fairfax
backed down, belatedly realizing that such
a search would constitute a de facto seiz-
ing of the ship—a clear act of war.
Mason and Slidell formally refused to go
with Fairfax but did not resist when led to
the boats. Wilkes had hoped to find impor-
tant documents in the captured men’s lug-
gage but found nothing. All their dis-
patches had been taken in hand by Trent’s
mail agent, Richard Williams, who
promised to deliver them to Confederate
authorities in London. In the meantime,
Slidell’s furious wife and daughters heaped
verbal abuse on the Union sailors, even
after Fairfax grabbed one of the daughters
and saved her from falling overboard after
a sudden wave.
Wilkes was still keen to seize Trent,but
Fairfax talked him out of it. A prize crew
would be needed, he warned, and the
inconvenience to Trent’s other passengers
and mail recipients was unacceptable.
Wilkes reluctantly agreed, and Trentwas
allowed to proceed on her way. Mean-
while, San Jacinto reached Hampton
Roads on November 15 for coaling, and
Wilkes was able to contact Washington.
He was ordered on to Boston, where his
captives were imprisoned in Fort Warren.
A congratulatory telegram was waiting for
Wilkes from Secretary of the Navy Gideon
Welles. “Your conduct in seizing these
public enemies was marked by intelligence,
ability, decision, and firmness, and has the
emphatic approval of this Department,”
Welles informed him.
Others in the North likewise praised
Wilkes and his crew. Congress thanked
him for his “brave, adroit and patriotic
conduct in the arrest of the traitors” and
had a gold medal struck for him. He wasLeading actors in the Trentcontroversy includ-
ed, clockwise, from top left, James M. Mason,
John Slidell, and Captain (later Admiral) Charles
D. Wilkes. None would emerge unscathed by
criticism.All: Library of CongressCWQ-EW16 Trent Affair_Layout 1 10/22/15 1:19 PM Page 32