March 3, 1863, The New York Herald
The news from Vicksburg is important. The capture of the Union ram Indianola by the rebels, in addition to the Queen of the West – lately taken at Fort Taylor on the Red river – is confirmed by an official despatch from Rear Admiral Porter, received by the Navy Department yesterday. It appears that the Queen of the West and the ram Webb were employed by the enemy against her, twenty-five miles below the headquarters of the Mississippi squadron, and rammed her until she surrendered. Admiral Porter says that he does not know the particulars; but he charges that if his instructions had been followed up the disaster would not have occurred. The Indianola was built at Cincinnati, at a cost to the government of $100,000. She is flat bottomed, iron-plated, her sides spread out at an angle of forty-five degrees, and fall in above deck at the same angle, rendering her almost impregnable to the force of any shot. She registers one hundred and forty-two tons burthen, and is built to carry two heavy guns.
The rebel privateers are keeping up a vigorous campaign on the seas. The Florida captured the ship Jacob Bell on the 12th ult., in latitude 24, longitude 65, bound from China to the port of New York. The Jacob Bell had a cargo of 22,000 packages of tea, 2,500 rolls of matting, 5,000 boxes of fire crackers, 400 boxes of fans, 8,000 mats of cassia and 210 boxes of camphor, the whole being valued at about a million of dollars, upon which the United States government lost over $175,000, or $200,000 in revenues, as that would be about the duty on the goods aboard. The rebel privateer burned the vessel, and transferred her passengers and crew to a Danish vessel, which conveyed them to St. Thomas. The United States steamer Alabama and the ship Shepherd Knapp were at the latter port on the 20th ult., and were then about to start on a cruise in search of the privateers Alabama and Florida. Great fears were entertained by the United States merchant ships at St. Thomas of the rebel privateers.
We are in possession of this news by the arrival of the steamer Delta from St. Thomas at Halifax yesterday. Her report also states that the steamer Columbia ran the blockade at Wilmington, N.C., and arrived at St. George, with a cargo of cotton and tobacco.
In the port of Bermuda, on the 19th of February, were the British steamers Cornelia and Mirian, trading to and from the rebel ports. The Cornelia had arrived, with a cargo of cotton, from Charleston, and was loading with firearms and other munitions of war, for Charleston. The Mirian is the mate of the prize steamer Princess Royal, and was to sail for Charleston in a week.