Admiral Porter Writes About the Exploding Parrot Rifles-- Part 1

From the December 30, 1864, New York Times  Admiral Porter's report on the First Battle of Fort Fisher.

"I regret, however, to report some severe casualties by the bursting of six 100-pounder Parrott cannon.  One burst on board the Ticonderoga, killing six  of the crew and wounding seven others;  another burst on board the Yankee, killing one officer and two men; another on the Juanita, killing two officers and wounding and killing ten others; another on the Mackinaw, killing one officer (John Griscom) and wounding five men; another on the Quaker City, wounding, I believe,  two or three; another on the Susquehanna, killing and wounding seven."

So, the ships and casualties:

Ticonderoga, 13
Yankee,   3
Juanita,   12
Mackinaw,  6
Quaker City,   2 or 3
Susquehanna,   7

--Old B-Runner

155 Years Ago: Ships Captured Running the Blockade

MAY 5TH, 1861:  The USS Niagara, Captain McKean, captured schooner Aid at Mobil.

**  Flag Officer Perdergast reported the capture of bark General Green by USS Quaker City, Commander Overton Carr, at Capes of the Chesapeake.

--Old B-Runner

155 Years Ago: USS Merrimack Is Raised at Norfolk Navy Yard

MAY 30TH, 1861:  The USS Merrimack, scuttled and burned at Norfolk Navy Yard, is raised by Confederates.  And, we know what they did with it.

**  USS Quaker City, Acting Master S.W. Mather, seized schooner Lynchburg, en route Richmond with cargo of coffee.

MAY 31ST, 1861:  USS Perry, Lt. Enoch G. Parrott, captured Confederate blockade-runner Hannah M. Johnson.

--Old B-Runner

Action in the Gulf and Albemarle Sound

MARCH 17TH, 1865:  The USS Quaker City captured blockade running schooner George Burkhart in the Gulf of Mexico with cargo of cotton bound from Lavaca, Texas, for Matamoras, Mexico.

The USS Wyalusing, while engaged in clearing and opening  the tributaries of Albemarle Sound, removed 60 nets and captured a Confederate schooner in the Scuppernong and Alligator rivers.

--Old B-Runner

Blockade-Runners Captured

MARCH 16TH, 1865:  The USS Pursuit captured British schooner Mary attempting to run the blockade into Indian River on the east coast of Florida.  Her cargo consisted of shoes, percussion caps and rum.

The USS Quaker City captured small blockade running sloop Telemico in the Gulf of Mexico with cargo of cotton and peanuts.

--Old B-Runner

Rear Admiral Lee Reports Capture of the Blockade-Runner Elsie

I wrote about the capture of this ship on Sept. 5th  and 6th.

From the September 13, 1864, New York Times.

"Rear-Admiral LEE, in a dispatch dated Beaufort, Sept. 7, says: 'The Elsie ran out of Wilmington on the 4th inst., and was captured the next day by the Keystone State [???] Quaker City.  The Elsie was seen and fired upon when she ran out by the Niphon and Britannia, and was chased off by the Santiago de Cuba until lost in the darkness.

'At 10:30 the next day she was seen and captured, without papers or flag.  A shell from the Quaker City exploded in the foothold of the Elsie, and destroyed about 150 bales of cotton.  Part of the cargo was thrown overboard in the chase and there are now about 250 bales on board.

'The prize will be sent to Boston.  The Elsie is a new steamer of light draft and fair speed, of the Rothesay Castle class, and this is her first trip.

'She will be made a useful vessel on blockade duty.  The blockade is close and vigilant, but it is impossible to prevent its violation on dark nights by steamers built for the purpose.'"

What better ship to catch a blockade-runner than another blockade-runner.

I was unable to find out if the Elsie did become a Union ship.

--Old B-Runner

New York Times Announces Arrival of Captured Blockade-Runner Elsie in New York

From the September 13, 1864: IMPORTANT NAVAL NEWS.; The Prize steamer Georgia at Beaufort, N.C..  Another Pirate Ready to Leave Wilmington.  A Fleet at Halifax.

I wrote about its capture in yesterday's post.

"The prize steamer Elsie, (British flag) in charge of Richard Wilkinson, Prize master, from Beaufort, N.C., on the 9th inst., arrived yesterday.  She is bound to Boston, and after obtaining a Hell Gate pilot, proceeded.

"She was captured by the gunboats Quaker City and Keystone State on the 5th inst., in lat. 33 degrees 10' lon. 77 degrees 02' from Wilmington N.C. for Nassau, with cargo of 320 bales of cotton."

This gives a good description of what happened to blockade-runners after they were captured.  The Elsie was captured on Sept. 5th, sent to Beaufort, leaving there on the 9th under a prize master and crew.  Arrived in New York City on the 12th and was eventually going to Boston for prize court.

I'm not sure whether or not the Elsie was taken into Union service or sold to a private party.

--Old B-Runner

Second Time No Charm for the Blockade-Runner Elsie at Wilmington

SEPTEMBER 5TH, 1864:  The USS Keystone State and USS Quaker City captured the British blockade-runner Elsie off Wilmington with a cargo of cotton.  The Elsie had been chased the previous night by blockaders after standing out from Wilmington, but had escaped in the darkness.

This date, however, the two Union ships spotted her and opened fire.  The Elsie came close to escaping, but a shell exploding in her forward hold forced her to surrender.

--Old B-Runner

Action Off Wilmington This Date

MARCH 6TH, 1864:

The USS Grand Gulf captured the blockade-running British seamer Mary Ann which had run out of Wilmington with cargo of cotton and tobacco.

**  The USS Peterhoff was run into by the USS Monticello and sunk off New Inlet, NC. The following day, the USS Mount Vernon destroyed the Peterhoff to prevent possible salvage of the ship by Confederates.

--Old B-Runner

USS Nansemond-- Part 1: A Fast Ship

From Wikipedia.

Yesterday, I wrote about this Union ship chasing the blockade-runner Venus ashore and later burning it. So, I looked it up to find out more about the ship.

The Nansemond was a sidewheel steamer built in 1862 in Williamsburg, New York as the James F. Freeborn, but purchased by the U.S. Navy on 18 August 1863, and commissioned in Baltimore 19 August under Lt. Roswell H. Lamson.

It was a fast ship, able to go 15 knots, 146 feet long with a 63-man crew and mounting one 30-pdr. Parrot rifle and two 24-pdr. guns.

It joined the North Atlantic Blockading Fleet 24 August 1863 and chased the Douro ashore near New Inlet 11 October and destroyed the blockade-runner with a cargo of cotton, turpentine, tobacco and rosin. The Douro, as I previously mentioned earlier this month, had been captured earlier by the USS Quaker City and had been condemned and sold and found itself back in the blockade running business.

Two Times Not the Charm. --Old B-Runner

Blockade-Runner Duoro: Captured Once, Then Destroyed the Second Time

OCTOBER 11TH

The USS Nansemond, Lt. Roswell Lawson, chased ashore and destroyed the steamer Douro near New Inlet, NC. It had a cargo of cotton, tobacco, turpentine and rosin. (Outbound) The Douro had been previously captured running the blockade on 9 March 1863 by the USS Quaker City, but after being condemned and sold by the prize court, its new owners made her a blockade-runner again.

Noting this, Commander Almy, senior officer off New Inlet, wrote, "She now lies a complete wreck...and past ever being bought and sold again." Rear Admiral S.P. Lee wrote Fox: "The Nansemond has done well off Wilmington. She discovered, followed & destroyed the Douro at night, the first instance of the kind, I believe." I'm not sure if here Lee is referring to the ship's second time as a blockade-runner or the fact that it was destroyed at night.

How Did This Happen? Have to Be Careful Who You Sell It To. --Old B-Runner

Naval Happenings 150 Years Ago: January 31, 1863-- Confederate Ironclads Attack at Charleston

JANUARY 31ST

Rams CSS Chicora and CSS Palmetto State at Charleston, SC, attack Union blockading fleet on a foggy morning.  The Palmetto State rammed the USS Mercedita and fired into her, causing the ship to surrender in a "sinking and perfectly defenseless condition." 

The Chicora engaged and crippled the USS Keystone State suffering 20 killed and 20 wounded  The USS Memphis took it under tow in a sinking condition.  The USS Quaker City was damaged by a shell exploded in the engine room.

The USS Housatonic engaged the two rams before they withdrew.

Confederate General Beauregard claimed that the blockade had been broken.


US Major General Wright wrote Commander Pennock at Cairo request that an ironclad be stationed on the Cumberland River to keep that waterway open between its mouth and Nashville.  The ironclad would be able to stand up against the field artillery that Confederates were forever putting along the banks.

A Confederate Success at Charleston.  --Old B-Runner