From wowway.com.
The Theodora was a 175-foot long, 7-foot draft steamer capable of 16 knots and carrying a crew of 50. It was originally named the Carolina, then became the Gordon, then the Theodora and finally the Nassau. (I found it mentioned in another source as being a sister ship of the Carolina.)
It had a mixed career as a blockade-runner along with stints in Confederate service as a transport and armed picket ship.
It was built at Greenpoint, NY, in 1852, and worked as a coastal packet out of Charleston, SC, occasionally crossing to Havana.
At the outbreak of the war, it was strengthened and refitted as the Gordon and given a Letter of Marque to operate as a privateer under the command of Captain T.J. Lockwood.
On July 15, 1861, it was disarmed and operated as the Theodora and carried Confederate envoys James Mason and John Slidell Oct. 12, 1861. (The Civil War Gazette said the name was changed after Mason and Slidell chartered it.)
More to Come. --Old B-R'er
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