Trent (ship)

The Trent was a British Royal Mail Steam Packet Company (RMSPC) ship, most notable for its involvement in the Trent Affair during the American Civil War. Launched in 1841, the Trent was a wooden paddle steamer primarily used for mail and passenger service between Southampton and the West Indies.

In November 1861, the Trent was en route from Havana, Cuba to Southampton, England. On board were Confederate diplomats James Murray Mason and John Slidell, who were traveling to Europe to seek recognition of the Confederacy from Great Britain and France.

On November 8, 1861, the Trent was intercepted by the USS San Jacinto, a United States Navy warship commanded by Captain Charles Wilkes. Wilkes ordered the Trent to be stopped, and a boarding party forcibly removed Mason and Slidell, along with their secretaries.

This act, known as the Trent Affair, caused a major diplomatic crisis between the United States and Great Britain. The British government considered the boarding of a neutral ship and the seizure of passengers to be a violation of international law and demanded the release of Mason and Slidell, along with an apology.

The Lincoln administration, initially lauded domestically for Wilkes' actions, eventually released Mason and Slidell in late December 1861, and offered a qualified apology to the British government. This defused the crisis and averted a potential war between the United States and Great Britain.

The Trent continued in service after the incident. Further details of its service history following the Trent Affair are somewhat limited in readily available historical records, but it remained a vessel of the RMSPC for some time afterward. Its ultimate fate and decommissioning date are less widely documented than the events of November 1861.