Thomas Leslie Outerbridge (died 5 September 1927) was a notable Bermudian, who participated in the American Civil War as a sailor aboard blockade runner ships from Bermuda.
The Man-of-Wars immediately attacked with heavy cannons, destroying a winch and severely wounding a number of foreign sailors.
While the captain, Wilkinson, studiously ignored the attack, Outerbridge, the mate and a number of crewmen had gone to the forecastle to watch for other craft.
The following day, Outerbridge was commended by the ship's officers for his bravery, and the crew picked small bullets from the woodwork.
Originally owned by the British government and used as the Dockyard duty boat, the ship was mothballed and sold to Mr. Fininsey, the popular Confederate Consul in Bermuda.
Fininsey deployed the Sirene to Wilmington with a crew to bring back another steamship, the Cape of Good Hope, to act as a cotton freighter.
At the time, the Cape of Good Hope was a passenger boat between Wilmington and Smithfield, a role that the Sirene would then fulfill.
Only an hour later, the Man-of-War Key Stone State (which was later purchased by a Mr. Webb of New York, renamed the San Francisco and used as a mail ship to Bermuda) intercepted the Sirene and towed it into Bowford, with the crew laughing at the blockade runners' pitiful craft.
Four days into this, the Sirene crew witnessed another blockade running steamer, the Pavince, being chased on shore by the Man-of-War.
The steamer was fast enough that the crew had the leeway to abandon the ship and row ashore on small craft, but they were immediately captured by Union soldiers.
Four days into the stay, the Union wardens sent all imprisoned masons – including the both blockade runner captains and some fifteen thousand Confederate soldiers.
Like the other prisoners, he had to sleep in the open air, and ate a loaf of bread a day (with a quarter pound [0.11 kg] of fresh beef delivered thrice a week).
They returned to Bermuda as crewmen aboard the barque Lapflerene, where they were well treated by the captain – William Peniston – and his wife for the eight-day journey.
Upon returning to Bermuda, the crew made for Castle Harbour, proceeding up the old Quarry as close to the Outerbridge's homes at Bailey's Bay as they could get.
The ill-fated brig would be blown ashore and wrecked in a hurricane on the main island of St. Thomas The American Civil War would not be Outerbridge's only source of adventure.
The morning that the Bravo was to set sail for Bermuda, however, the crew awoke to find the entire harbour frozen solid.