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Posted inMaritime & Naval History US Civil War

February 17, 1863 – News of the Florida

By the arrival of the Creole we have the following intelligence from-Havana:

The Confederate gunboat Florida was coaling at Havana on the 20th ult. She departed the next day, the Bio Bio hence for New York, via Havana, leaving at the same time, but did not molest the latter, owing, it is said, to a pledge given the Captain General to that effect. The San Jacinto pursued the Florida immediately upon her leaving port, but she eluded her pursuer. A number of other U. S. war vessels subsequently went in search of the Florida, and succeeded in compelling her to take refuge in Kingston, Jamaica, where she was lying at last accounts. Among the vessels destroyed by the Florida was a bark from New Orleans (name unknown) with a cargo of sugar and molasses for a northern port. The purser of the Creole favors us with the following:

Posted inMaritime & Naval History Ship Histories

Havana Services In Memory Victims Battleship Maine

Havana, Cuba. Feb. 15.—(AP)—Honors were paid !ate today to the 266 officers and men of the United States battleship Maine who perished when the warship was blown up in Havana Harbor 28 years ago today.

In the presence of the president of Cuba and the American ambassador, a tablet containing the names of the men who met death in the disaster was unveiled on the Maine monument. President Machado in an address said the object of the gathering was to render loving tribute to the dead.