Pelot, Thomas P., ?-1864 to William McBlair

Reporting the events that led to the British capture of the slave trading ship "Clara B. Williams," which had been falsely flying the American flag. The crew is being sent to Sierra Leone to be tried. Letter written on board the U.S.S. "Dale," on the Congo River. This incident was another example of a slaver flying American colors to avoid being seized by the British Navy. Once HMS "Alecto" officers had boarded the vessel, however, they quickly realized the ship was a slaver and began towing it to the 'Dale." The master threw his false ship's papers and colors overboard and was thus able to escape American arrest. (Note: The captain of the "Alecto" had been alerted to the "Clara B. Williams" by a dispatch from Joseph Crawford, the British consul at Havana, to Lord Clarendon. See GLC05832.01 for excerpts from Crawford's dispatch.) Thomas P. Pelot, a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, was a lieutenant aboard the USS "Dale." At the outset of the Civil War, Pelot joined the Confederate Navy. He was killed in 1864 while leading an expedition against the USS "Waterwitch."