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

Some More on the USS Emma

Last month, I was writing about this ship that was at both battles of Fort Fisher.

From Civil War Navies 1855-1883

The Emma was launched just four days before her sister ship, the Gertrude, both named for the daughters of owner Thomas S. Begbie.    Both built by  Barclay Curle of Glasgow, Scotland.

Both had relatively short careers before being captured.  The Emma was captured 24 July 1863 by the USAT  Arago and the Gertrude by  the USS Vanderbilt  off Eleutrea on 16 April 1863.

Both were condemned in prize court and bought by the U.S. Navy and used in the blockade.

The Emma was involved in both battles of Fort Fisher and on  11 Feb 1865 bombarded Masonboro Inlet.  She captured the blockade runner Ella 3 December  1864.  Became the merchant ship Gaspe  in 1866 and wrecked  at Longlois, Canada on  14 Jan. 1872.

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Rear Admiral S.P. Lee reported that the USS Emma had arrived at Newport News from New York on the afternoon of  November 7, 1863.

--Old B-Runner

Wreck of Blockade Runner Fanny and Jenny-- Part 2: Was It Carrying a Sword for Robert E. Lee?

The Fanny and Jenny's cargo list  had bacon,  coal and liquor aboard it, but legends abound that it also carried a gold sword with inlaid jewels, that was supposed to be presented to General Robert E. Lee, a present from British admirers.

William Keeler, the paymaster of the USS Florida (who was also  on the USS Monitor at the famous battle with the CSS Virginia and the Monitor's sinking) related that he had heard from a sailor that the Fanny and Jenny's captain had been seen carrying a sword off the vessel, but as he was being rowed ashore, the boat was swamped by a wave and the sword lost.

The wrecks of two other blockade runners, the Emily of London and the Dee, are located off Wrightsville Beach between Crystal Pier and the jetty at Masonboro Inlet.  These two have been sanded over and are not  visible on the seabed.

More about the Fanny and Jenny can be found  in  Ray MacAllister's book, "Wrightsville Beach: The Luminous Island."

--Old B-R'er

Confederate Troops Stationed By Masonboro Sound, N.C.-- Part 2

The largest Confederate  encampment in the general area was Camp Davis, located on the north side of Hewlett's Creek, above Masonboro.  Thousands of troops moved into and out of that camp with their regiments or battalions between 1861 and late 1864.  Most of the troops were North Carolinians, but also South Carolinian and Virginian.

Camp Davis was the largest Confederate  encampment between Fort Fisher and Wilmington's outer defenses at Virginia Creek, 25 miles north of the city.  Camp Davis was located about half way between  Fort Fisher and Virginia Creek.

A great fear of Confederate authorities was that Union forces would attack Wilmington by way of Masonboro, Wrightsville or Topsail Sounds.  They could use the major creeks like Whiskey, Hewlett's, Bradley, Pages, etc. to assault Wilmington from the east, thus bypassing the strong defenses, including Fort Fisher, at the mouth of the Cape Fear River.

Thus Confederate forces were deployed along the sound to contest  an enemy landing and delay their advance until reinforcements could arrive.

The reported Confederate battery that was shelled by the Niphon and Monticello in Tuesday's post would have been part of this defense system.

--Old B-Runner

Confederate Troops Stationed By Masonboro Sound-- Part 1

Since I wrote about action by Masonboro Inlet and Sound yesterday, here is some more information about the area.

From the November 12, 2012 Wilmington (NC) Star-News  "My Reporter:  How Many Troops were stationed in the Masonboro Sound area during the Civil Wart" by Si Cantwell.

According to Wilmington in the Civil War expert Chris Fonvielle, it is impossible to know exactly how many Confederates were stationed there.  Records do not exist to answer that.  Some itineraries for Confederate units do document stations in the Masonboro Sound area but do not tell how many soldier there were.

Two Confederate encampment sites have been located at Masonboro Sound.  One large early war one was Camp Hedrick at the headwaters of Hewlett's Creek and there was a small picket camp  at Grainger's Point.

There might have been others, but their locations have been long lost to time and present-day development.

--Old B-Runner

August 27, 1864: Action At Masonboro Inlet, NC

AUGUST 27TH, 1864:  The USS Niphon, Acting Lieutenant Joseph B. Breck, and the USS Monticello, Acting Master Henry A Phelon, conducted an expedition up Masonboro Inlet, North Carolina, to silence a Confederate battery which was reported to have been erected in the vicinity.

The two screw steamers shelled the shoreline and a number of buildings at Masonboro; landing parties went ashore and captured a quantity of rifles, ammunition and foodstuffs.

--Old B-Runner

Blockade Runners Sunk at Masoboro Inlet and Wreck of USS Columbia

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

Three other wrecks of blockade runners believed to be the Dee, Fanny and Jenny and  the Emily were discovered between the inlet and Crystal Pier.  A recent dredging project by the U.S. Army Corps of Enhineers disturbed the Columbia shipwreck.

Adding to the evidence that that wreck is that of the Columbia,  three wooden sabots that cushioned 24-pdr. cannonballs washed ashore at Masonboro Island, just south of the inlet in 2010.  They were discovered by a Southport resident who turned them over to  the North Carolina Division of Archives and History Underwater  Archaeology Branch at Fort Fisher in Kure Beach for conservation.  The Columbia's armament included six 24 pdr. cannons.

--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 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

USS Columbia-- Part 3: A Short Union Service, Ran Aground At Masonboro Inlet

The U.S. government purchased the Columbia at the Key West Prize Court in November and armed her and assigned her to the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron after fitting her out at  as a blockader at Hampton Roads, Virginia.  She was armed with six 24-pdr smoothbore cannons and one 30-pdr. rifled cannon and had a crew of 100.

Lt. Joseph Pitty Couthouy was placed in command.

In late December 1962, the USS Columbia headed south and joined the Wilmington, N.C. squadron.  Its new duty was to cruise up and down the coast and intercept blockade runners.  Shortly after dark on January 14, 1863, Lieutenant Couthouy ordered his ship to anchor for the night near what is today Wrightsville Beach.  Unfortunately the leadsman miscalculated the depth until the ship was almost in among the breakers.

Couthouy ordered the engines reversed but it was too late.

The Columbia ran aground full and hard in eight feet of water at Masonboro Inlet.

--Old B-Runner

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

USS Columbia (1862)-- Part 1: A Captured Blockade Runner

From Wikipedia.

The screw steamer Columbia was a 168-foot blockade runner captured by the USS Santiago de Cuba off the coast of Florida on 3 August 1862.  It was purchased by the U.S. Navy at the Key West Prize Court on 4 November 1862 and commissioned in December under command of Acting Volunteer Lieutenant Joseph Pitty Couthouy.

It had a complement of 100 and mounted six 24-pdr. smoothbore cannons and one 30-pdr. rifled gun.

While serving with the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron off Wilmington, North Carolina, it ran aground and was wrecked off Masonboro Inlet. on 14 January 1863.  Forty of her crew and her commanding officer were captured by Confederates.

A Short U.S. Navy Career.  --Old B-Runner

N.C. Sesquicentennial, April 1864: Siege and Capture of Plymouth by Confederates and CSS Albemarle

All events in eastern part of state unless (West).

APRIL 17-20--  Engagement, Siege and Capture of Plymouth and Fort Williams, with the aid of ironclad CSS Albemarle (Hoke),  Sinking of the USS Southfield by Albemarle  --  Operations in defense of Plymouth, including naval  actions.  Casualties roughly 2,834 on both sides.

APRIL 21-- Destruction of Confederate salt works at Masonboro  Inlet, near Wilmington.

APRIL  25--  Skirmish at Plymouth.

APRIL 26-30--  Confederate siege of Washington and Federal evacuation.

APRIL 27-28--  Skirmishes at Washington.

APRIL 27-29--  Affair at Masonboro Inlet between USS Niphon and Confederate batteries, near Wilmington.

APRIL 29-30--  Expedition from Newport Barracks to Swansborough.

--Old B-Runner

Blockade Runner Merrimac/ USS Merrimac-- Part 1

In the last post, I mentioned the capture of the blockade runner Merrimac near Masonboro Inlet on July 24, 1863.  It later became the USS Merrimac (not to be confused with the steam frigate USS Merrimac which became the CSS Virginia.

From Wikipedia.

230 feet long, 30 foot beam.  116 crew,  two 30 pdr. Parrott rifles, four 24-pdrs., two 12-pdrs.

Purchased in England by the Confederate government for use as a blockade runner in 1862.  Had a successful career as a blockade runner, but captured by the USS Iroquois off Cape Fear River 24 July 1863.  Purchased in prize court by U.S. Navy 10 March 1864.

Commissioned at New York  1 May 1864 Acting Master William P. Rogers in command.  Joined East Gulf Blockading Squadron in June 1864  Captured a Cuban sloop sailing with cotton from Florida to Havana.  In July, yellow fever broke out on the Merrimac and she sailed north to New York and disembarked her sick sailors, then cruised northward as far as St. John's, Newfoundland.

--Old B-R'er

Action in North Carolina, July 1863-- Part 3: Battle of Potecasi Creek

Most of these actions took place in the eastern part of the state, near the coast.

JULY 21--  Skirmish at Street's Ferry   3rd, 12th, 23rd New York Cavalty.  1st Mounted N.C. Infantry.

JULY 22--  Skirmish at Scupperton   Same units as above.

JULY 24--  Capture of Merrimac 40 miles north of Masonboro Inlet

JULY 25-31.  Expedition from New Bern to Winton   26th, 27th Mass. Infantry; 3rd Light Artillery, 158th Infantry.

JULY 25 to AUGUST 3--  Expedition from Portsmouth, Va. to to Jackson, N.C.

JULY 26--  Action at Pottecassi Creek, Mt. Tabor Church.  ist R.I. Light Artillery.  Union losses:  3 killed, 17 wounded.  Also called the Battle of Potecasi Creek.

JULY 26-29--  Expedition from Plymouth to Foster's Mills   12th NY Cav,  24th N.Y.Independent Battery, 85th and 96th N.Y. Infantry; 101st and 103rd Pennsylvania

JULY 27--  Skirmish at Foster's Mills   12th NY Cavalry

JULY 28--  Skirmish at Jackson  7th NY Cavalry;   11th Pennsylvania Cavalry.  Called the Battle of Boon's Mill.

--Old B-Runner

North Carolina Timeline, January 1863: Coastal

These are more the coastal part of what was happening.

JANUARY 5--  Expedition to capture Wilmington pilots.

JANUARY 14--  Loss of USS Columbia off Masonboro Inlet.

JANUARY 17-21--  Reconnaissance from New Bern to Pollocksville, Trenton, Young's Crossroads and Onslow.

JANUARY  19--  Skirmish at White Oak Creek.

JANUARY  20--  Skirmish near Jacksonville

JANUARY 27-28--  Reconnaissance on Neuse and Trent rivers.

JANUARY 30-FEBRUARY 3--  Naval expedition to Hertford on Perquimans River.

--Old B-Runner

Action in North Carolina November 1862-- Part 2

NOVEMBER 11--  Demonstration on New Bern.

NOVEMBER  17--  Destruction of British schooner J.W. Pindar at Masonboro Inlet.

NOVEMBER 18--  Skirmish at Core Creek.

NOVEMBER 23-25--  Naval expedition on New River to Jacksonville  (Cushing)  This resulted in the capture and destruction of the USS Ellis.

NOVEMBER 29--  Capture of the schooner Levi Rowe.

--Old B-Runner

Another Recon of Masonboro Inlet, NC

Acting Ensign Elamson Semon made his second reconnaissance expedition to Masonboro Inlet and Wilmington, North Carolina, gathering more important information concerning blockade-runners, the defensive dispositions of forces in the area, and made arrangements to procure pilots for the upcoming operation against Wilmington.

He learned for the first time that the CSS North Carolina, one of the ironclads built for the defense of Wilmington, had sunk at her pier at Smithville (Southport today).  her bottom was eaten out by worms.  The North Carolina drew too much water to pass over the bars at the mouth of the Cape Fear River, and had spent most all of her short career at Smithville.

I am wondering about how Semon would obtain pilots if they were Southerners?

Getting Ready for the Attack.  --Old B-Runner

Boat Expedition to Masonboro Inlet, N.C.

SEPTEMBER 19, 1864:  A boat expedition commanded by Acting Ensign Elamson Semon in the USS Niphon, landed at Masonboro Inlet, North Carolina, to gain intelligence on the defenses of Wilmington and the strength of its garrison.

In planning for the forthcoming attack on Wilmington, Semon also learned the raider Tallahassee was at Wilmington, along with several blockade-runners.

Getting Ready.  --Old B-R'er

Expedition to North Carolina's Masonboro Inlet

AUGUST 27TH, 1864:  The USS Niphon and USS Monticello conducted an expedition up Masonboro Inlet, N.C., (near Wilmington) to silence a Confederate battery which was reported to have been erected in the vicinity.  The two steamers shelled the shoreline and a number of buildings in Masonboro.

Landing parties went ashore and captured a quantity of rifles, ammunition and foodstuffs.

--Old B-Runner