I should add that Lieutenant Low has given up the Tuscaloosa (late Conrad) under protest, which he is about to make in writing, a copy of which shall be transmitted to your Excellency as soon as received.

Lieutenant Low, C.S.N., to Sir P. Wodehouse.  December 28, 1863

As the officer in command of the Confederate States ship Tuscaloosa, tender to the Confederate States steamer Alabama, I have to record my protest against the recent extraordinary measures which have been adopted towards me and the vessel under my command by the British authorities of this Colony.

In August last the Tuscaloosa arrived in Simon’s Bay.  She was not only recognised in the character which she lawfully claimed and still claims to be, viz., a commissioned ship of war belonging to a belligerent Power, but was allowed to remain in the harbour for the period of seven days, taking in supplies and effecting repairs with the full knowledge and sanction of the authorities.

No intimation was given that she was regarded in the light of an ordinary prize, or that she was considered to be violating the laws of neutrality.  Nor, when she notoriously left for a cruise on active service, was any intimation whatever conveyed that on her return to the port of a friendly Power, where she had been received as a man-of-war, she would be regarded as a “prize,” as a violater of the Queen’s proclamation of neutrality, and consequently liable to seizure.  Misled by the conduct of Her Majesty’s Government, I returned to Simon’s Bay on the 26th instant, in very urgent want of repairs and supplies; to my surprise I find the Tuscaloosa is now no longer considered as a man-of-war, and she has by your orders, as I learn, been seized for the purpose of being handed over to the person who claims her on behalf of her late owners.

The character of the vessel, viz., that of a lawful commissioned man-of-war of the Confederate States of America, has not been altered since her first arrival in Simon’s Bay, and she, having been once fully recognised by the British authorities in command in this Colony, and no notice or warning of change of opinion or of friendly feeling having been communicated by public notification or otherwise.  I was entitled to expect to be again permitted to enter Simon’s Bay without molestation.

In perfect good faith I returned to Simon’s Bay for mere necessaries, and in all honour and good faith, in return, I should on change of opinion or of policy on the part of the British authorities, have been desired to leave the port again.

But by the course of proceedings taken, I have been (supposing the view now taken by your Excellency’s Government to be correct) first misled and next entrapped.

My position and character of my ship will most certainly be vindicated by my Government.  I am powerless to resist the affront offered to the Confederate States of America by your Excellency’s conduct and proceedings.