The Nashville daily union. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1862-1866, 1862-10-16
alas arillr aluiOu.
THURSDAY MORNING, OCT. 10. 1862.
The Rebel Coast.

The Port Royal correspondent Of the
Philadelphia Press wrote as follows on
the Goth September:
learn that the Nashville is at present
penned up by three gunboats at the rail
road wharf on the Great O1eechee river.
! There is no possible chance for her to
escape, one OF the gunboats being stations
ed at He'll Gate, another at Buzzard's Is
land, and another in the centre of the
river channel.
John M. Susson late chief officer of
the steamer Nashville, and more recent
ly of the Kate, has been captured at last
on pilot boat, while attempting to run
| the blockade. He will be sent North
to-day by the keystone State which
vessel will also take out Admiral Dupont
and Commodore Rogers, who go directly
TO Washington for special instructions
relative to the management of the fleet
now greatly increasing in our Gulf sta
tions.
/ have had a conversation with SussOn,
and he states that he had command of
the Nashville, and run the blockade with
her several times. She only carries one
| gun on her forecastle, and generally a
crew of from thirty five to forty men.
Captain Gooding, merchant seaman,
has command of the Nashville and is
daily watching for an opportunity to es-
cape with her. SussOn, previous to his
capture, left Osseba, on the Georgia coast,
in command of the Kate, having been
transferred from the Nashville on the
24th of last July, and went to Nassau,
p. He ran out at high noon, in the
sight of three blockading vessels. On
reaching Nassau he abandoned the Kate,
and taking command of a pilot boat,
attempted to run into Charleston, when
he and his party were captured. They
were taken to Port Royal as prisoners of
war.
The ram Fingal, building at Savannah,
will soon be completed, and when her
iron plating is finished she will be fully
equal in point of strength to the Merri-
mac. She was an English iron steamer,
and ran the blockade early last spring,
and on this account is much stronger
than ordinary vessels, being iron braced
in every part. She was built at Green :
ock, in England. The rebels have cut
this vessel down, razeeing her some eight
feet, and widening her by the introduce
ton of eight feet Of white oak on either
side, bolted on, and the iron plating is
bOlted and riyeted TO this. The whole
vessel is rooted over with iron, on the
same principle as that evident in the con-
structiOn of the Merrimac.
She is provided with 800 horse power
double oscillating engines, and will be a
troublesome customer if she is ever al
lowed to get out from the Savannah river
+ The ram Georgia, also building at Savan'
, nah, and the Palmetto State, commonly
called the Ladies' Gunboat, and thirC
(name unknown) building at Charleston
will probably prove failures. The reason
why one of these gunboats has the cog
nOmen of the Ladies' Gunboat is, that j
has been built chiefly from small contri
Q buttons by the Southern ladies. Tn
. rebels report that these gunboats were 0
Q little account all along, but it must b
9 remembered that they cried Failure" u
Q to the very day that Buchanan brough
o the invulnerable Merrimac out into tn
Hampton Roads, and spread cOnsterna
> tion over the whole country.
Charleston and Savannah are bein
% newly fortified continually. The wor
Q in the trenches is done by thousands G
o poor slaves, the white men having all en-
. listed and are now under arms. TIL
q whole quarter of the city Of Charlesto
o which was destroyed by fire last sprinl
" and the squares and streets, are all de
70 Tended by the pits, so that the peopl
y may have the impression that the cit
o itself would be defended TO the las
70 even after the national troops may ente
n It, All the corner houses of the street
- are fitted up as block houses and baTi
IN cades, from which rihemen will fire upo
Nd the Yankees, provided they do not she
X the city in advance and burn il down.
~ Charleston Bay is obstructed directl
across the shipway with piles, fire raft
&c, in order TO keep vessels from enter
ing. When a vessel runs the blOckad
be one of the RATS is removed and she is a
lowed TO pass in, when the vacuum is
once filled up with the raft removed.
Il is impossible 10 tell the exact nun
90 Der Of men forming the garrison Of 70
90 SUMTER as it is used as a sort of scho
for the instruction of green troops, an
,s the force is continually being change
from the fort TO other points. The pet
officers and priyates in the fort are, +
a.. the most part, composed Of Germans al
~ Frenohmen, together with criminals
all sorts
Three gunboats are also guarding 4
harbor of Charleston, mounting thr
nine-inch guns and one rihed pivot ca,