So, Maffitt's Channel at Charleston, SC Got Its Name from Who I Thought It Did

I have been writing about the recent archaeological survey in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina, and came across Maffitt's Channel a lot.

I got to wondering how it got its name, knowing of a famous Confederate commerce raider and blockade-runner captain from North Carolina named John Newland Maffitt.  It is not a real common name.  And, a sea-faring man would surely know his channels.  Perhaps it was named after his father or a relative.

Using good old Wikipedia, I found that the Confederate John Newland Maffitt entered the U.S. Navy in 1832 at the age of 13 as a midshipman and was assigned to the USS Constitution in 1835.

In 1842, he was transferred to the U.S. Coast Survey where he spent 14 years in the hydrographic survey, chiefly in Nantucket, Mass., Wilmington, N.C., Charleston, S.C. and Savannah, Georgia.  The Charleston channel was named after him, hence Maffitt's Channel.

Just Wanted to Know.  --Old B-Runner