CSS Tacony was originally a bark

Barque

A barque, barc, or bark is a type of sailing vessel with three or more masts.- History of the term :The word barque appears to have come from the Greek word baris, a term for an Egyptian boat. This entered Latin as barca, which gave rise to the Italian barca, Spanish barco, and the French barge and...

 captured by the Confederate

Confederate States of America

The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...

 cruiser CSS Clarence

CSS Clarence

CSS Clarence, also known as Coquette, was originally a brig from Baltimore captured by the Confederate cruiser CSS Florida during the American Civil War and converted into a Confederate cruiser for commerce raiding....

 during the American Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

 and converted into a Confederate cruiser

Cruiser

A cruiser is a type of warship. The term has been in use for several hundreds of years, and has had different meanings throughout this period...

 for commerce raiding

Commerce raiding

Commerce raiding or guerre de course is a form of naval warfare used to destroy or disrupt the logistics of an enemy on the open sea by attacking its merchant shipping, rather than engaging the combatants themselves or enforcing a blockade against them.Commerce raiding was heavily criticised by...

.

The CSS Clarence, commanded by Lt. Charles W. Read, captured the Tacony on June 12, 1863, and since it was a better ship suited for commerce raiding

Commerce raiding

Commerce raiding or guerre de course is a form of naval warfare used to destroy or disrupt the logistics of an enemy on the open sea by attacking its merchant shipping, rather than engaging the combatants themselves or enforcing a blockade against them.Commerce raiding was heavily criticised by...

, the crew and armaments were transferred to it and the Clarence was destroyed.

In its brief career as a Confederate cruiser it captured a number of ships: The Whistling Ada, Arabella, Byzantium, Elizabeth Ann, Florence, Goodspeed, Isaac Webb, Z.A. Macomber, Marengo, Ripple, Rufus Choate, Shattemuc, Umpire and Wanderer. Its final capture was the schooner

Schooner

A schooner is a type of sailing vessel characterized by the use of fore-and-aft sails on two or more masts with the forward mast being no taller than the rear masts....

 Archer

CSS Archer

CSS Archer was originally a fishing schooner captured by the Confederate cruiser CSS Tacony during the American Civil War and converted into a Confederate cruiser for commerce raiding....

 on June 25, 1863, which being a better ship suited for commerce raiding

Commerce raiding

Commerce raiding or guerre de course is a form of naval warfare used to destroy or disrupt the logistics of an enemy on the open sea by attacking its merchant shipping, rather than engaging the combatants themselves or enforcing a blockade against them.Commerce raiding was heavily criticised by...

, the crew and armaments were transferred to it and the Tacony was destroyed.

Officers and crew

• Lt. Charles W. Read, commander
• Billups, Matthewson, and Pride, master's mates
• Brown, engineer
• 16 men