Ther Selfridge Curse Strikes Again: He Loses Another Ship March 8, 1864-- Part 1

MARCH 8TH, 1864: The USS Conestoga, Lt. Cmdr. Thomas O. Selfridge, was rammed by the USS General Price about ten miles below Grand Gulf, Mississippi, and sank in four minutes with the loss of two crew members. The collision resulted from a confusion in whistle signals aboard the General Price. //// Selfridge had the singular bad luck of having ships under his command sink. He commented in his memoirs: "Thus for the third time in the war, I had my ship suddenly sunk under me. It is a strange coincidence that the names of these three ships all begin with the letter 'C'., and that two of these disasters occurred on the 8th day of March; the other on the 12th of December." //// See the next post to find out the other two "C" ships. //// It's Like Deja Vu All Over Again. --Old B-R'er