 While Fingal was discharging her cargo , Bulloch went to Richmond to confer with Stephen Mallory , Secretary of the Navy . Mallory endorsed Bulloch 's plan to load Fingal with cotton to sell on the Navy Department 's account to be used to purchase more ships and equipment in Europe . He returned to Savannah on 23 November and it took him almost a month to purchase a cargo and acquire enough coal . He made one attempt to break through the blockade on 23 December , but it proved impossible to do as the Union controlled every channel from Savannah , aided by their occupation of Tybee Island at the mouth of the Savannah River . Bulloch reported to Mallory in late January 1862 that breaking out was hopeless so Mallory ordered him to turn the ship over to another officer and to return to Europe some other way . 
