 Towed by tugs "Burlech" and "T. Carey", schooners "Racer", , and departed New York Harbor 23 January 1862 and proceeded via Key West, Florida, to the Gulf of Mexico.They reached Ship Island, Mississippi, on 13 March and 5 days later entered the Mississippi River over the bar at Pass a l'Outre.Flag Officer David G. Farragut, the commander of the Union expedition against New Orleans, Louisiana, kept his smaller ships busy during the following weeks with training and preparations for the coming attack, while he labored to get his deep draft steamers over the bar and into the river.