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Built in Baltimore in 1845 as the Putnam. She became the slaver Echo and was captured in 1858 by a USN ship captained by John Maffitt, who later had the CSS Florida. She was bought by Robert Hunter of Charleston in 1859. At the war’s start, Hunter obtained a privateer commission as the Davis and armed her with five outdated cannons. Captained by Louis Coxetter, the Davis took nine ships in a seven week cruise. Upon their return, Charleston gave the crew a hero’s welcome that lasted for days. The Davis was one of the last successful privateers in the age of sail. The Davis is shown with the Morris Island Lighthouse: 1876, 161 ft |
The Blockade Runner ADVANCE (a.k.a. A.D. VANCE and AD-VANCE) at Old Baldy
L=236 ft, W=26 ft, Draft =10 ft, iron hull,17 knots max. Built: Greenock, Scotland,1862
One of the most successful runners, with 18 runs into Wilmington & over 40 hairbreadth
escapes. NC Governor Zebulon Vance saw the need for state-owned blockade runners.
He appointed Capt. Thomas Crosson to go to England to purchase a suitable vessel.
The swift packet Lord Clyde, which plied between Glasgow and Dublin, was purchased and
renamed Advance. Capt. Crosson punned as they left Glasgow that she was going
“ad Vance to Vance”. Her name was never intended to be related to the Governor.
On June 28, 1863, the Advance made her first entrance into Wilmington with great
fanfare. Gov. Vance was on hand to visit the state’s ship. Upon going aboard, he
was informed by Lt. Col. Thornburn that no one could leave the quarantine ship. The
previous year Wilmington was ravaged by yellow fever carried by a ship. The Gov.
and Thornburn had a heated argument which ended by Thornburn saying that if the
Gov. was Jesus Christ himself - he still was not disembarking. Thornburn had troops surround
the ship with shoot to kill orders. Thornburn’s superior later arrived and quelled the
dispute. Vance left the ship and Thornburn’s career was ruined.
After several initial trips, interests in the ship were sold—though she was locally considered a public vessel.
She was captured on Sept. 10, 1864 coming out of Wilmington after an eight hour chase
by the USS Santiago de Cuba. Gov. Vance again complained to CSA officials for taking
high-grade coal and leaving the low-grade NC coal for State-owned vessels. With the low-
grade coal, the ADVANCE was barely making eight knots. She was taken into the Union block-
ade fleet as the USS FROLIC & served until Oct. 1 1877 when she was sold out of service.
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Built in New York in 1851, the Yacht America, won the Yacht Racing Cup in 1851 and the 'Cup' is now named 'America's Cup' in her honor.
She was then sold to British interests in 1852 and renamed Camilla. She was then sold to the Confederacy in 1861 and used as a blockade runner called the Memphis. She also carried Confederate Ambassadors to England.
Scuttled off Florida in 1862 and raised by the Union that same year and used as a blockader (the ships used to keep other ship from getting into the harbor as oppposed to a blockade runner). Surviving all this, she was then used as a training vessel at Annapolis from 1866 to 1873. Her last race was in 1901.
She collapsed of old age in a shed in 1942.
Seen here with Bald Head Lighthouse. |
L=220 ft, Width = 32 ft, Draft = 14 ft,
Crew = 148, Wood Hull - copper bottom. First ship to have sea-to-freshwater distillation.
Built in England 1862, 'Hull #290' was christened ENRICA in July 1862. In Aug., 1862 off the Azores, Capt. Raphael Semmes took command and commissioned her the ALABAMA.
The most successful commerce raider of all time, she captured 65 ships, many of which were burned. Her 2-year cruise covered the North and South Atlantic, and the Indian Ocean. Coming into Cherbourg, France in early June, 1864 for repairs, she reluctantly dueled with the USS KEARSRARGE. Though Semmes' cannon fire was accurate, the exploding shells were damp due to being at sea for two years. One shell hit the USS KEARSRARGE's rudder post early in the duel, but didn't explode! After Semmes lowered the flag, the Union vessel continued to fire. The Alabama was found off France in 1984 and is now a French and US protected historic site. |
The GREYHOUND clearing Old Inlet, April 2, 1864
L= 201 ft., W= 22 ft., Draft = 13?, Iron Hull, Built: Liverpool, 1863.
The red streaked, gray hulled GREYHOUND was known as a fast sailer and as "a three masted propeller." After her maiden blockade run from Nassau, she was loaded, and headed back. Capt. Henry Bier, CSN, was at the helm when she was caught a day out on 5/10/1864. Also on board was the Southern heroine, Miss Belle Boyd.
This famous rebel lady had been caught before. Capt. Bier was also recognized as having been in the USN. Prize Master Acting Ensign Samuel Harding, USN, was influenced by Miss Boyd's charm to let Capt. Bier escape to Canada. Harding did, and was later dismissed in disgrace from the USN. Miss Boyd and Harding were later married in London. Fate of the GREYHOUND is not documented, yet she is confused with Gen. Benj. Bulter's flagship, GREYHOUND, which was a different vessel.
Shown here with Bald Head Lighthouse: Established 1794,
Present tower: 1818, 95 ft. |
Built as the bark-rigged steamer HABANA in 1859, she was acquired in April, 1861 by the CSA and became the first raider. Under Raphael Semmes, of ALABAMA fame, the SUMTER Captured 18 ships before being forced to run into The Rock of Gibraltar in Dec. 1862.
Sold in Jan. 1863 and fitted out as a blockade runner, she made two runs through the blockade?one into Wilmington, NC carrying Blakely cannons for Ft. Fisher.
Never captured, she returned to England and was laid up in 1864.
Shown here with Bald Head Lighthouse: Established 1794,
Present tower: 1818, 95 ft. |
L= 195 ft, Beam = 27.5 ft, Draft = 16', Steam, Single Screw
The GLADIATOR made two runs through the blockade into Wilmington, NC. Often heavily laden and slow, the British owners transferred her to the Europe to Nassau cargo run. She was never captured. |
Length: 226 ft. Beam: 29 ft. Draft: 16 ft. Iron Hull, Sister Ship: BAHAMA
This ship was used in Dreamworks' The Lovely Bones
The brig-rigged steamer was built as the Czar at Stockton, England. Bought by British agent Fraser, Trenholm and Co. for the Confederacy and renamed BERMUDA. She was the first vessel to run the blockade.
After two runs, she was switched to the Nassau-to-Bermuda cargo runs where she was captured on April 22, 1862 and taken into the USN. Sold to private interests after the war, she foundered of NY in 1878.
Shown here with the Tybee Lighthouse: First Tower?1736, Present-1867, 154 feet tall Cockspur Island Lighthouse: 1857, 46 feet tall |
Length: 268 ft, Width: 26 ft, Draft: 11 ft, Iron Hull, 9-14 knots
Built in 1860 as a Glasgow-to-Belfast packet called the GIRAFFE. Bought by the CSA under the recommendation of Lt. John Wilkinson, who commanded her through most of her 21 CSN voyages. Her first run through the blockade was in late Dec., 1862 to Wilmington, NC. Despite Union intelligence stating that the ROBERT E. LEE could be easily captured, her first load out of Wilmington set her legendary reputation by leaving Union ships far astern.
She ran the blockade 15 times, and was caught on Nov. 9, 1863 off Beaufort, NC. Taken in as the USN blockader FT. DOMELSON, she was sold after the war to private interest and named the Isabella. She was sold to foreign interests in 1869. |
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