Timby and the Monitor Blog

Also included in the Timby and the Monitor blog was a drawing of what Theodore Timby believed his revolving turret would look like on a ship.  The one he designed also had a low freeboard and looked a whole like Ericsson's Monitor.  Only, the pilot house was on top of the turret instead of on the deck.

This was sent to China in 1842 at the suggestion of Caleb Cushing, whom I have written about in this blog as the name of the U.S. Revenue Cutter Charles Read was going to attack in Portland, Maine, was named after him.

Another drawing in the blog showed how the turret was to turn.  Also a cutaway of the turret tower which had three levels.

There was also a patent for an  improvement in Timby's Revolving  Battery-Towers.

--Old B-Runner

The Alabama Claims

From Wikipedia.

The Alabama Claims were a series of  demands for damages sought by the government of the United States from the United Kingdom in 1869, for attacks on its merchant shops by commerce raiders of the Confederate Navy built in British shipyards during the war.

The claims were against all such Confederate ships, but took the name Alabama after the most famous of those vessels.  At one time the Confederates had essentially driven U.S. shopping from the world seas.

Caleb Cushing was involved with these.  The U.S. Revenue Cutter Caleb Cushing was named after him.  This is the ship that Charles W. Read captured in Portland Harbor, Maine, which I have been writing about.

An international arbitration endorsed the American position in 1872.    Britain settled the matter by paying the United States $15.5 million and ending the dispute.

--Old B-Runner

Revenue Cutter Caleb Cushing-- Part 2

It was Charles Read's plan to capture the cutter and get it away from the Union shore batteries before daylight and then set fire to shipping in the Portland, Maine, harbor.  As it was dawn before he cleared the Union guns, he found it impossible to carry out his plan and instead he put out to sea.

Lt. "Savez" Read intended to send his prisoners back on the Archer after transferring his supplies to the Caleb Cushing.  However, when twenty miles out to sea, he was overtaken by two steamers.  he ran out of ammunition and was unable to put up further resistance.

Ordering his men and prisoners onto small boats, he set fire to the Caleb Cushing after setting a powder train to the ship's magazine.  Read, his men and prisoners were captured by the steamer Forest City.  The Archer was captured later and the Cushing soon exploded and was destroyed.

So Read would have had his fourth raider had he had enough time.

Essentially, He Was the Confederate Navy's Answer to William Barker Cushing.  --Old B-Runner

Revenue Cutter Caleb Cushing-- Part 1

 Naval History and Heritage Command.

CALEB CUSHING

Schooner

LENGTH:  100 feet 4 inches

BEAM:  23 feet

DRAFT:  9 feet 7 inches

ARMAMENT:

one 32-pounder

one 12-pdr. Dahlgren

**********************************

The Caleb Cushing was a  revenue cutter also known as the Morris, which was quietly boarded and seized early in the morning hours of 27 June 1863 while in then harbor at Portland, Maine, by Lt. Charles W. Read, CSN.

He and his men had quietly entered the harbor undetected on their  prize schooner Archer.

--Old B-Runner

CSS Archer-- Part 2

When the people of Portsmouth realized the Caleb Cushing was missing, ships were sent out in pursuit of Read.

Due to a falling wind (the Archer was a sailing ship), they were able to catch up to Charles W. Read, but not before Read was able to set fire to the magazine of the Cushing and cause her destruction.

Officers and Crew of the Archer

Lt. Charles W. Read, commander

Billups, Matthewson and pride:  master's mates

Brown, engineer

16 men

--Old B-Runner

 

CSS Archer: Read's Third Raider

From Wikipedia.

The CSS Archer was originally a fishing schooner captured by the Confederate cruiser Tacony commanded by Lt. Charles W. Read, who converted her into a raider.

The Tacony captured the Archer on June  25, 1863, off the coast of New England.  Knowing that the Union was on the hunt or his ship, the Tacony, Read transferred his men and armaments from the Tacony to the Archer.  (The same as he had done with the Clarence).

Read then decoded to try to capture the U.S. Revenue Cutter Caleb  Cushing on his way down the New England coast.  On June 27, 1863, the Archer sailed into Portland, Maine's harbor and docked, disguising itself as a fishing schooner.

That night, Read and his crew boarded the Caleb Cushing and took it over.  They confined the crew below deck.  The Archer and Cushing then sailed out of the harbor as day was dawning.  When the disappearance of the Cushing was noticed, ships went out in pursuit.

--Old B-Runner

Lt. Charles Read's Great Adventure from the Clarence to the Tacony to the Archer

 All this started when I wrote about the Edward H. Faucon was ordered to take his ship, the USS Montgomery, and search for the Confederate raider Tacony which was capturing Union ships off New England.

That had started when the CSS Florida, under John Newland Maffitt had captured the American ship Clarence and set  Charles W. Read up as a raider.  Read had captured several ships before he captured the Tacony and then decided that was a better ship for his purposes and transferred his men and armament to that vessel.

He had captured several more ships  when he captured the Archer and again decided that ship would be better suited and once again transferred his men and armament.

So, this was his third ship.

--Old B-Runner

CSS Clarence

In the last post I mentioned that Charles Read had captured the Tacony while in command of the CSS Clarence.  Deciding the Tacony to be a better ship than the Clarence, he transferred to that ship and continued.

From Wikipedia.

The CSS Clarence, also known as the Coquette , was originally a brig from  Baltimore that was captured by the CSS Florida which converted it into a raider.  It was transporting a cargo of coffee from Brazil when the Florida, under the command of John Newland Maffitt, captured it off the coast of Brazil.

Lt. Charles W. Read was placed in command of the Clarence and enough of the Florida's sailors were transferred to the new ship to man it.

Read suggested that with the ship's papers that he might be able to enter the Chesapeake Bay and sail into Hampton Roads, Virginia, and perhaps capture or destroy a Union gunboat.  Maffitt armed the Clarence with one cannon.

On its brief career as a Confederate raider, the Clarence captured a number of ships.  The Whistling Wind, Kate Stewart, Mary Alvina and Mary Schindler were burned.  The Alfred H. Partridge was bonded.

The Clarence's final capture was the bark Tacony on June 12, 1863, which being a better ship for commerce raiding, the crew and armament of the Clarence were transferred to the Tacony and the Clarence destroyed.

--Old B-Runner

Edward H. Faucon Ordered to Search for Confederate Raider Tacony in 1863

From Official records War of the Rebellion Navy Operations of the Cruisers Union, Page 286.

Boston Navy Yard Commandant ordered Edward H. Faucon to take  his USS Montgomery out to look for and capture the Confederate raider Tacony June 16, 1863.

He was to search for the bark Tacony and to cruise off the Nantucket  Shoals from Little Georges Shoals to Block Island.  he was to engage and capture the Tacony if found and bring it to a Union port.  While searching for the Tacony, he was to speak to all vessels he met and gather as much information as he could.

Faucon was to cruise as long as his coal held up. or 14 days.

******************************

From Wikipedia.

The CSS Tacony was a bark ship captured by the Confederate raider CSS Clarence, commanded by Lt. Charles W. Read on June 12, 1863.  Since it was a better ship for   commerce raiding, Read and crew transferred to the Tacony and destroyed the Clarence.

In its brief career as a raider, the Tacony captured 14 ships.  The final one was  the schooner Archer on June 25, 1863, and it was decided this was a better ship for commerce raiding and Read again transferred to another ship and the Tacony was burned.

Armament of the Tacony was one  6-pounder boat howitzer.  Read had 20 men with him.

Just Looking for That Really Good Commerce Raider.  --Old B-Runner

John Newland Maffitt-- Part 4: "Won a Place for Itself in History"

Maffitt also astutely commented on the lasting contributions made by the navy he represented.  "The Confederate Navy, minute though it was, won a place for itself in history.  To the Confederates the credit belongs of testing in battle the invulnerability of ironclads and of revolutionizing the navies of the world.  The Merrimack did that.

"And though we had but a handful of light cruisers, while the ocean swarmed with armed Federal vessels, we defied the Federal Navy and swept Northern commerce from the sea."

For this latter achievement, Maffitt personally merited a large share of the credit.  As captain of the CSS Florida during her 1863 cruise he captured 24 American merchant ships and he commissioned the tender Clarence, Lt. Charles W. Read, whose subsequent exploits accounted for an additional 23 merchantmen.

--Old B-Runner

CSS Webb Makes a Run For It-- Part 2

His cutting the telegraph wires was a lesson in futility as his run had generated a lot of activity along the Mississippi River.  Union ships and shore batteries had been alerted and everyone was ready to stop him.

About ten miles above New Orleans, Read hoisted a United States flag at half mast in mourning for Lincoln's death and brought the Webb's steam pressure up to maximum.  He passed the city at about midnight April 24th, going full speed.  Federal gunboats opened on him, whereupon Read broke out the Confederate flag.  Three hits were scored, the spar torpedo rigged at the steamer's bow was damaged and had to be jettisoned.

But, the Webb continued on its run to the sea..  Twenty-miles below New Orleans, Read's luck ran out, for here the Webb encountered the USS Richmond.  Thus trapped between the Richmond and pursuing gunboats, Read's audacious and well-executed plan came to an end.

The CSS Webb was run aground and set on fire before her officers and men took to the swamps in an effort to escape.  Read and his men were captured within a few hours and taken under guard to New Orleans where they were placed on public display but were subsequently paroled and ordered to their respective homes.

Following the restoration of peace, Read became a pilot of the Southwest Pass (Mississippi River) and pursued that occupation until his death.

One Valiant Confederate.  --Old B-Runner

CSS Webb Makes a Run For It-- Part 1

APRIL 23-24TH, 1865:  The CSS Webb, Lt. Read, dashed from the Red River under forced draft and entered the Mississippi River at 8:30 at night in a heroic last-ditch effort to escape to sea.

Before departing Alexandria, Louisiana, for the bold attempt, Read wrote Secretary Mallory:  "I will have to stake everything upon speed and time."

The sudden appearance of the white-painted Webb in the Mississippi caught the Union blockaders (a monitor and two ironclads by surprise.  She was initially identified as a Federal ship; this mistake in identification gave Read a lead on his dash downstream.

A running battle ensued in which the Webb shook off the three Union pursuers.  As Read proceeded down the Mississippi, other Union ships took up the chase, but were outrun by the fast-moving Webb, which some observers claimed was making 25 knots.  At one point, Read felt safe enough to stop and cut telegraph lines on shore.

This attempt to prevent word of his run from spreading downstream was futile.

--Old B-R'er

Read takes Command of Ram CSS William H. Webb in Red River

MARCH 30TH, 1865:  Lt. Charles Read took command of the ram CSS William H. Webb in the Red River, Louisiana.  Read reported to secretary Mallory that he found the ship "without a single gun on board, little or no crew, no fuel, and no small arms, save a few cutlasses,:

Characteristically, the enterprising officer obtained a 30 pound Parrott rifle from general Kirby Smith and readied the Webb for a bold dash out of the Red River, intending to go down the Mississippi River 300 miles, past New Orleans and out to sea.

What You Going to Do With Lt. read?  --Old B-R'er

Last Confederate Attempt to Control James River-- Part 3

Read directed the rest of the expedition to retrace its steps to about a mile, then he ventured forth alone to confirm the report of the young Confederate.  Late in the afternoon of the 13th, Read, "cool and collected as ever" returned to the campsite where his men were, informed them that the intelligence of the day before had been correct, and that they would have to fall back to Richmond.

Thus, the bold Confederate plan failed.

Moreover, the exposure to the inclement weather took a heavy toll on the men.  Shippey later wrote that "of teh hundred and one men, who composed this expedition, fully seventy-five were in te naval hospital in Richmond, suffering from the effects of their winter march, on the sad day on which we turned our backs upon that city."

--Old B-Runner

Last Confederate Attempt to Gain Control of the James River-- Part 2

FEBRUARY 11TH-12TH, 1865:    On the night of Feb. 11th, Read and his men endured bitter cold as the weather worsened.  On the 12th, sleet slowed and finally stopped the expedition only a few miles from the place they were to ford the Blackwater River and rendezvous with Lt. John Lewis, CSN, who had been reconnoitering the area ahead of the main body of sailors.

Master W. Frank Shippey wrote that while the men sought refuge from the storm in a deserted farmhouse, "a young man in gray uniform came in and informed us that our plan had been betrayed, and that Lewis was at the ford to meet us, according to promise, but was accompanied by a regiment of federals lying in ambuscade and awaiting our arrival, when they were to give us a warm reception.

"Had it not been for the storm and our having to take shelter, we would have marched into the net spread for us...."

--Old B-R'er

A Last Confederate Attempt to Control the James River-- Part 1: Lt. Read to Lead It

FEBRUARY 10-13, 1865:   The Confederate Navy began its last attempt to gain control of the James River and thus force the withdrawal of General Grant's army by cutting its communications at City Point.

The expedition of 100 officers and men was led by the audacious naval lieutenant, Charles W. Read.  He loaded four torpedo boats on wagons and started overland from Drewry's Bluff.

The plan called for marching to a place below City Point on the James River where they would launch the boats, capture any passing tugs and steamers, and outfit them with spars and torpedoes.  The expedition would then ascend the river and sink the Union monitors, leaving the wooden gunboats at the mercy of the Confederate ironclads.

The James River, without which Grant would be denied transport and supplies, would be under Confederate control from Richmond to Hampton Roads.

--Old B-R'er

CSS Tallahassee Having a Field Day Off New Jersey

AUGUST 10-11TH, 1864:  Cruising within 80 miles of Sandy Hook, New Jersey, the CSS Tallahassee, Commander Wood, took seven prizes, including schooners Sarah A. Boyce and Carrol, brigs Richards and Carrie Estelle, pilot boats James Funk (No.22) and William Bell (No. 24) and bark Bay State.

All were scuttled and burned except the Carrol, which was bonded for $10,000 and sent to New York with the passengers and crews of the other ships.

Rear Admiral Henry Paulding, Commandant of the New York Navy Yard, immediately wired Secretary Welles" "Pirate off Sandy Hook, capturing and burning."

By evening, Paulding had three ships in pursuit of the Tallahassee.  Welles, hoping to prevent another cruise similar to the June 1863 raid by Lt, Charles Read of the CSS Tacony, telegraphed naval commanders at Hampton Roads, Philadelphia and Boston to begin a large-scale search for Wood.

--Old B-R'er

New England Coast In Full Consternation

JULY 18th

A delegation from Portsmouth, New Hampshire, meets with Secretary Welles seeking additional defense for the city.  Welles writes in his diary: "Letters from numerous places on the New England coast are received to the same effect..  Each of them wants a monitor, or cruiser, or both."

He then pointed out that shore defense belonged to the War Department rather than the Navy, and that coastal communities should bear some responsibility for their own defense.

Lt. Read's suvvessful raid on the New England coast had really stirred up the populance along with continuing rumors of other Confederate raiders.

Old B-R'er

Naval Happenings 150 Years Ago: June 26-27th-- Lt. Read Attacks Portland, Maine

JUNE 26TH-27TH

Lt. Charles Read, the intrepid Confederate raider in his new ship, the CSS Archer (his third ship in just a few weeks time, made the Portland Light and tricked two fishermen who piloted them into Portland Harbor.  He learned that the U.S. Revenue Cutter Caleb Cushing and passenger steamer Chesapeake were there as was the steamer Forest City.  Two gunboats were also being built..

Read immediately made plans to eneter the harbor and seize the revenue cutter and steamer.

At sunset, he sailed in, past the forts, anchored and discussed the plan with his crew.  His engineer said he doubted he could get the steamer's engines going without assistance from another engineer so decided to go after the Cushing.

At 1:30 AM, the morning of the 27th, Read's crew boarded and captured the Caleb Cushing "without noise or resistance."  Luck and time was running out for Read, however.  Incoming tide and light breeze left the Cushing still under the fort's guns at daybreak.

By midmorning, the Caleb Cushing had managed to get twenty miles off the harbor when Read saw "two steamers and three tugs...coming out of Portland."  He cleared for action and opened fire on the lead steamer, the Forest City, with his pivot gun, but found after five shots that he was out of projectiles.

About to be caught in a crossfire and now defenseless, Read ordered the cutter destroyed and men to the lifeboats.  "At 11:30 I surrendered myself and crew to the steamer forest City."  At noon, the Caleb Cushing blew up. 

Thus ended the gallant cruise by Charles Read and his crew.  From his first capture to the destruction of the Caleb Cushing, they had captured 22 oprizes.

The Confederacy needed More Charles Reads.  --Old B-Runner

Naval Happenings June 20th to 24th, 1863: A Command Change

JUNE 23-30TH

Union Navy and Army gunboats escorted and covered Army landing at White House on Pamunkey River in Virginia.  This place was later used as a supply base for Grant in the Overland Campaign and Petersburg.


JUNE 24TH

Rear Admiral Dahlgren detached from duty at Washington Navy Yard and Chief of Bureau of Ordnance and ordered to relieve Rear Admiral Du Pont in command of the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron.  originally this post slated for Rear Admiral Foote, but he had a relapse of his wound suffered at Fort Donaldson..

CSS Tacony, Lt. Read, captured the ship Shatemuc and bonded it.  Then captured fishing schooner Archer.  Read reported he was about out of ammunition and intended to switch command over to Archer and burn the Tacony as many Union ships were looking for it.  The next morning he did so and set off for the New England coast.

USS Sumpter collided with transport steamer General Meigs in heavy mist near Hampton Roads and sank.

Old B-Runner