 On 14 May 1862, she received orders to join the East Gulf Blockading Squadron at Key West, Florida.She served briefly off the South Pass at the mouth of the Apalachicola River in far northwestern Florida and then settled down to a summer's worth of duty blockading St. Marks, Florida, on Apalachee Bay where the gulf coast of Florida begins its southward turn, and the Florida panhandle becomes a peninsula.She returned to Key West early in October and, on the 11th, received orders to proceed to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for repairs.