Blockade Runner Chameleon Puts Into Liverpool

APRIL 9TH, 1865:  Blockade runner Chameleon (formerly CSS Tallahassee), Lt. Wilkinson, puts into Liverpool, England.

With the fall of both Fort Fisher and Charleston in January and February respectively, Wilkinson had been unable to deliver his cargo of provisions destined for General Lee's destitute army defending Richmond (see 19 Januaqry and 5 February).

Sealed off from the Confederacy, Wilkinson off-loaded his cargo in Nassau, took on board extra coal, and set a course for Liverpool with the intention of turning over his ship to Commander Bulloch.  However, the news of the fall of Richmond reached England on the 15th, followed a week later of General Lee's surrender at Appomattox.

Thus, the ship was was seized by the British government and her officers and men, reported Wilkinson, "were turned adrift with the wide world before them where to chose."  Wilkinson established his residence in Nova Scotia where he lived for a number of years before eventually returning to his native Virginia.

The ex-Confederate ship was subsequently sold by the English government and was being prepared for service in the merchant marine under the name Amelia when the American government initiated court action to gain possession of the vessel.  The court awarded the ship to the United States and she was turned over to the American consul in Liverpool on 26 April 1866.

--Old B-Runner