Fates of Some Blockade Runners

From "Civil War Navies 1855-1883" by Paul H. Silverstone.

CERES

Run aground off Old Inlet, N.C., on 6 December 1863.  Set on fire, but captured by USS Violet.

DEE

Ran blockade seven times.  Chased ashore by the USS Cambridge and destroyed near Masonboro Inlet, 5 February 1864.

 FLORA

Ran blockade 11 times.  Sold to the Confederate government, October 1863.  renamed the Virginia and then the Cape Fear.    Used as a transport on the Cape Fear River.  Scuttled off Smithville (Southport) 16 January 1865.

HEBE

Ran blockade 3 times.  Chased ashore by the USS Shokokan at New Inlet, N.C., and destroyed, 18 August 1863.

VESTA

Run around and destroyed while trying to enter Little River Inlet, N.C., on first voyage, 11 January 1863.

--Old B-Runner

USS Columbia-- Part 5: Aftermath

During the afternoon of January 16 and much of the following day, Confederates boarded the Columbia to salvage anything they could.  During that time the USS Cambridge and Penobscot remained on station and shelled them.  With a Confederate flag flying defiantly over the ship, they continued until everything of use was stripped off it.

They then burned what was left of the ship.

In May 1909, the Wilmington (N.C.) Dispatch reported that the wreck of the Columbia was still visible in the water a few hundred yards from the Lumina.  In the late 1970s, underwater archaeologists detected a large iron anomaly deep in the sand near the Masonboro Inlet jetty, which were  later identified as the shipwreck of the Columbia.

--Old B-Runner

USS Columbia-- Part 4: Surrender and Imprisonment

Rufus E. Lester claimed that his regiment, the  25th Georgia Infantry, participated in the battle over the USS Columbia.  The January 17, 1863, Wilmington Daily Journal reported that Col. Lamb at Fort Fisher had sent a Whitworth rifled cannon with a range of four miles along with a detachment of cavalry to assist.

As a result of this battle between the USS Cambridge and USS Penobscot and the Confederates,  the Columbia received considerable damage from the crossfire during the morning of January 16.  Between the firing and heavy seas, rescue operations for the Columbia's crew were halted.  Seeing the inevitable, Lt. Couthouy threw most of his cannons overboard.and then hoisted  a white flag of surrender.

Lifeboats began moving the remaining crew ashore around noon.  Twelve officers, including Couthouy and 28 sailors became prisoners of war.  After a brief stay in Wilmington, the officers were moved to a prison camp  in Salisbury, N.C., and the sailors to Richmond, Virginia.

--Old B-Runner

USS Columbia-- Part 3: The Battle Over the Columbia

Despite the crew's best efforts to free the iron-hulled ship, waves pushed her broadside to the shoreline and flooded her boilers.  Flares were fired into the night-time sky, hoping to alert nearby blockaders to come to her aide.

When that failed Lt. Couthouy sent a boat to alert the commander of the squadron, some  20 miles south.  The boat made little headway in the rough seas and it was late the next day when it reached the nearest ship, the USS Cambridge which got underway immediately.

When she arrived, the USS Penobscot was already there and rescue operations underway  They managed to get crew men off the wreck, but a gale on January 15 hampered efforts.

The next morning, Confederate troops arrived and tried to claim the ship.  Confederate sentinels on the beach had probably spotted the wreck on the 15th and alerted the Wilmington command  Soldiers and artillery arrived and took up positions behind the sand dunes at Masonboro Inlet.  They engaged the cannons of the Cambridge and Penobscot.

--Old B-Runner

January 23, 1863: USS Cambridge Captures Blockade Runner Off Cape Fear

JANUARY 23RD, 1863:  The USS Cambridge, Commander William A. Parker, captured the schooner Time off Cape Fear, North Carolina, with a cargo of salt, matches and shoes.

--Old B-R'er

Blockade Runner Revere: Was the 1862 One the Same One Captured in 1861?

Two posts ago,  I mentioned the USS Monticello capturing an English schooner named the Revere running the blockade off Frying Pan Shoals, N.C.

I looked up some more information and found that the USS Cambridge had captured an English schooner named the Revere off Beaufort, North Carolina, on September 10, 1862.

Could This Be the One and the Same?  --Old B-Runner

USS Stars and Stripes-- Part 3: Still Operating in North Carolina Waters

On February 7, 1862, the Stars and Stripes took part in the attack on Roanoke Island, N.C.  On February 20, while transferring ammunition to Isaac N. Seymour, that ship struck the submerged anchor of the USS Louisiana and sank.  Most of the crew were saved by the Stars and Stripes.

The ship operated in North Carolina waters and helped capture New Bern in mid-March.

It returned to Norfolk on 4 June for badly needed repairs and six days later returned to blockade duty off North Carolina.

Shortly before dawn June 27, 1862, the Stars and Stripes helped the USS Cambridge destroy the blockade runner Modern Greece near the Cape Fear River off Fort Fisher.  (I wrote about this on June 27 only it did not mention the USS Stars and Stripes being involved, just the USS Cambridge.)

--Old B-Runner

June 27, 1862: Blockade Runner Modern Greece Chased Ashore in N.C.

JUNE 27TH, 1862:  The USS Bohio, Acting master W.D. Gregory, captured sloop Wave, bound from Mobile to Mississippi City with cargo of flour.

**  USS Bienville, Commander Mullany, captured schooner Morning Star off Wilmington, North Carolina.

**  USS Cambridge, Commander W.A. Parker, chased blockade runner Modern Greece ashore off Fort Fisher, guarding Wilmington, where she was subsequently destroyed with a cargo of gunpowder, rifled cannons and other arms.

The discovery of the wreck in the 1960s kicked off a new age in Underwater Archaeology.

--Old B-Runner

155 Years Ago, September 23, 1861:

SEPTEMBER 23RD, 1861:  USS Cambridge, Commander W.A. Parker, captured British schooner Julia, bound for Beaufort, North Carolina.

**  Flag Officer I.M. Goldsborough assumed command of the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron, including operations in the Chesapeake.

--Old B-Runner

155 Years Ago: Action in Missouri and North Carolina

SEPTEMBER 10, 1861:  USS Conestoga, Lt. S.L. Phelps, and USS Lexington, Commander Stembel, covering a troop advance, silenced the guns of a Confederate battery and damaged gunboat CSS Yankee at Lucas Bend, Missouri.

**  USS Pawnee, Commander Rowan, captured schooner Susan Jane in Hatteras Inlet.  Other blockade runners, unaware that the Union Navy now controlled the inlet, were also taken as prizes.

**  USS Cambridge, Commander W.A. Parker, captured British blockade running schooner Revere off Beaufort, North Carolina, with cargo of salt and herring.

CSS Yankee.  Quite a Name for a Confederate Ship, Like the CSS United States.  --Old B-Runner

155 Years Ago: Action Off Nova Scotia

SEPTEMBER 9TH, 1861:  The USS Cambridge, Commander William A. Parker, captured the schooner Louisa Agnes off Nova Scotia.

--Old B-Runner

Expedition Against Swansboro, NC

MARCH 24TH, 1864: An Army-Navy expedition departed Beaufort, NC, on USS Britannia with 200 soldiers and 50 sailors from the USS Keystone Stae, Florida and Cambridge. The object was to capture or destroy two schooners used in blockade-running at Swansboro, NC, and the capture of Confederate troops on the south end of Bogue Island Banks.

They arrived off Bogue Island late at night and encountered high winds and heavy seas which prevented landing. On the 25th, a second attempt succeeded, but a group got to Bear Creek where one of the schooners was burned.

Bad weather continued and the expedition returned, only partially successful.

-- Old B-R'er

150 Years Ago-- February 5-6, 1864: CSS Chicora Useless, Blockade-Runner Dee Destroyed

FEBRUARY 5TH, 1864: Captain John Tucker reported that the boiler of the CSS Chicora had given out and she could now only be used as a floating battery in the defense of Charleston Harbor.

FEBRUARY 6TH, 1864: The USS Cambridge found the blockade-runner Dee aground and in flames near Masonboro Inlet, NC. She had grounded the previous night and been set on fire to prevent capture. The Cambrideg completed its destruction with its cargo of lead, bacon and spirits.

--Old B-R'er