CSS Sea Bird, built at Keyport, N.J., in 1854, was purchased by North Carolina at Norfolk, Va., in 1861 and fitted for service with the Confederate States Navy. She was assigned to duty along the Virginia and North Carolina coasts with Lt. P. McCarrick, CSN, in command. Sea Bird served as the flagship of Confederate Flag Officer W. F. Lynch's "mosquito fleet" during the hard-fought battles in defense of Roanoke Island on 7-8 February 1862, and Elizabeth City, N.C., on the 10th when she was rammed and sunk by USS Commodore Perry.