USS Columbia (1862)-- Part 2: Captured on Maiden Blockade Runner Voyage

From the Wrightsville Beach (NC) Magazine  "Wrightsville Wreck of the USS Columbia" by Dr. Chris E. Fonvielle.

Boats cruising through Masonboro Inlet in North Carolina may not know it, but they are passing over a piece of Wrightsville Beach history.  Buried under 15 feet of sand are the remains of the USS Columbia, a Union gunboat that accidentally ran aground in Mid-January 1863 and sank.

It is one of the more than 80 Civil War shipwrecks along the Cape Fear coast, the highest concentration of these shipwrecks anywhere. Most of them are blockade runners.  And, the Columbia was originally a blockade runner.

It was built by Archibald Denny in Dumbarton, Scotland in July 1862.  The ship was 168 feet long, 25 feet wide with a 14-foot draft.  Unfortunately for her, she was captured on her maiden voyage by the USS Santiago de Cuba off Florida on August 3, 1862.

A Real Short Career As a Blockade Runner.   No Money Made Here.  --Old B-Runner