One of the warships that arrived at Fernandina was the U.S Gunboat Ottawa, commanded by a forty-two year old navy officer, Lieutenant Commander Thomas Holdup Stevens, Jr.
Stevens and his crew were already experienced in naval warfare having participated in the battle for Port Royal resulting in the capture of Confederate Forts Beauregard and Walker and covering the landing U.S. Army troops at Warsaw Sound, Georgia in January 1862.
Launched on October 7, 1861, the steam powered Ottawa was a formidable "90-day class" gunboat, armed with one 11-inch Dahlgren pivot gun mid-ship one 20-pounder and two 24-pounders, all being very potent guns all able to fire solid and exploding shot. She carried a crew of about ninety-five men. |