“On the 12th of February our most valuable capture was made–perhaps the most valuable taken by a Confederate cruiser during the war. We sighted this vessel about eight in the evening, but not until ten o’clock did we get near enough to give her a shot from our bow pivot, and even this fell considerably short.

“She rounded to, however; and as she lay thus, with black hull, gilt streak, scraped and varnished masts, and snow-white sails, there was a general exclamation of admiration, coupled with regret that such a thing of beauty must be destroyed. She proved to be the clipper ship Jacob Bell, from Foochow, bound to New York with a cargo, mostly tea, valued at upward of a million dollars.”
– G. Terry Sinclair, Midshipman, C.S.N., in “Confederate Commerce-Destroyers: The Eventful Cruise of the ‘Florida’ ” in The Century Magazine, July 1898; image of the Jacob Bell in flames from Harper’s Weekly, March 21, 1863; the ship’s cargo was actually tea and silk, and worth approximately $1.5 million.