Sunken Blockade Runner Lelia Gets Protective Status-- Part 1

From August 30, 2019, BBC News  "US Civil War  steamship that sank in Liverpool gets protected status."

The steamship Lelia left Liverpool, England, in January 1865 on her maiden voyage bound for Bermuda and a run through the blockade but foundered in the bay in a huge storm.  Forty-seven crew members died, as did seven rescuers.

The ship now is at the bottom of Liverpool Bay and Historic England now says  the wreck is "significant as historical evidence."

It was built at Millers Shipyard in Toxteth, with the intention of running the American blockade into a Confederate port.  "The Lelia is one of a small group of British ships involved in British complicity in running guns and munitions to the confederates," said Duncan Wilson of Historic England.

Though the United Kingdom was officially neutral in the American conflict this ship is evidence that the country was not so neutral.

--Old B-Runner