This is the ship that John J. Guthrie captained many times through the blockade at Wilmington, North Carolina. Guthrie was put in charge of the slaver Nightingale which I wrote about much of this past March.
The A.D. Vance, often written Advance, was the former Clyde packet Lord Clyde, built at Caird and Co. Greenock. She was owned in large part by the State of North Carolina and named in honor of honor of a leading North Carolinian; some portion of her ownership rested in Power, Lord & Co. -- a Fayetteville newspaper reported it at two-thirds -- but she was locally considered a public vessel.
The A.D. Vance was one of the most successful blockade runners and her loss, after more than 20 voyages and 40-odd hair-breath escapes, was a blow keenly felt by the state.
Governor Zebulon B. Vance attributed her capture, 10 September 1864, to use of low grade North Carolina bituminous coal and denounced Secretary Mallory for giving the stockpile of smokeless anthracite to the Tallahassee so that none was left for the Advance to run out of Wilmington safely.
Writing 3 January 1865, Vance complained, "Why a State struggling for the common good, to clothe and provide for its troops in the public service, should meet with no more favor favor than a blockade gambler passes my comprehension."
She was commanded by Captain Tom Crossan when taken by the USS Santiago de Cuba, becoming the USS Advance and eventually the Frolic. Lt. John J. Guthrie, CSB, commander of the Chattahoochee at the time of her disaster, was her earlier captain.
--Old B-Runner
No comments:
Post a Comment