[1] After President Lincoln had proclaimed a blockade along the coastlines surrounding the newly formed Confederate States, the Confederacy was forced to turn to overseas sources for much of its supply.

[2] Syren was a seagoing steam vessel and as a blockade runner, was constructed long and narrow with a flat bottom and with lighter gauge steel for its hull, giving the ship a shallow draft that allowed it to cut through the water much easier.

Just before coming into sight of the Confederate coastline the steamers would often switch to burning a smokeless anthracite coal which greatly reduced their profile against the horizon.

Sometimes cotton soaked in turpentine would be used as fuel, as it gave off little smoke while producing an intense heat that resulted in a marked increase in the ship's speed.

[1][5] Syren was captured, along with Celt, Deer and Lady Davis on February 18, 1865, in Charleston harbor at the Ashley River where she had successfully slipped through the blockade the night before.