William Haley Face served as Acting Master of CSS Teaser during the Battle of Hampton Roads. He was also at the center of an international incident in 1885 when, serving as a pilot with the Virginia Pilot Association, he was abducted by the Captain of a Russian warship.

CSS Teaser had been the aging Georgetown, D.C. tugboat York River until the beginning of the American Civil War, when she was taken into the Confederate States Navy and took part in the famous Battle of Hampton Roads. Later, she was captured by the United States Navy and became the first USS Teaser.