The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-11-24


blockade at night The federal fleet saw
the VIII o. the Wisp coming down the
river ana supposed, of course, she would
ahCnor, but instead she shaped her course
right through the fleet. They had MOTH
ING that could catch her. They fired two
shots at her, one passing through her
cabin above the water line and the other
carrying away her Flagstaff. Capt. Capers
won his 10000 and became the hero or
Showing the systematic manner in
which the blockade was run, i remem-
Der the Virginia Importing and Exporting
company OF Petersburg, Va, who owned
a hne line Of two ships named the City
or Petersburg and the Old Dominion,
which for over two years, ran the block
ade out of the port of Wilmington ana
port of St Georges, Bermuda, on regular
schedule advertised time. Each of these
shlps cost $4,000, and after the war
they were taken to Liverpool, England,
and made a daily line between the city
Of Liverpool England, and the city Of
Dublin, Ireland.
Many strange names were given to ships
running the blockade. Among them was
a line of three funnel boats belonging to
London blOckade-running firm. These
boats were christened Letter b. Letter
Go, and Letter Rip. The finest vessel in
the business only made one voyage; she
was christened Col Lamb and was built
to carry 1900 bales of cotton. The war end
ed soon after she was built and put an
end to her career as a blockade runner.
"One of the sad incidents in running the
blockade was connected with ship be-
longing to James II. Crenshaw of Rich
mOnd. Va. His shin cleared in '63 for St.
Georges Bermuda. and her pilot, named
Davis, had had yellow fever and was jus,
recovering from ii. The captain asked him
if he would take the ship in. He replied
that he would, if II was the last shin he
ever plotted. The night the ship made the
coast he took a relapse and was carried
on the bridge in a chair and successfully
plotted the ship into port, and when the
ship dropped anchor his spirit went alOft.
Another distressing incident was when
the Greyhound, Capt. Beard. was running
In h. a~mH l4..e ..NT
ashore. Mrs. Greenhow, who was SO long
kept a prisoner in her residence at Wash
ington by the federal government and
guarded by a negro. was a passenger on
board this ship with her daughter. In
stepping into a boat to go ashore she made
misstep and was carried down by the
weight of gold that she had in two belts
around her body. He's body was recovered
next day.
THE Greyhound, in running the block
ade out of Wilmington. was captured by
the United States slOop-Of-war Connect
cut Ensign Harding was put in command
Of her with orders to take her to New
York. She had as passengers Mr.. Pollard,
editor and proprietor of the Richmond Elk
aminer ana the famous Belle Boyd.
THE confederate government built the
first steel ships at Lalrd'S yard in Liver
pool. England. that We're ever built
These were for the purpose of running
the blockade, and were christened the
owl, the Bat and the Wren. The Bat
and the Wren were captured on their
first or second voyage in running the
blockade. These ships were so fine that
the Bat, after her capture by the fed
erals was fitted up and put in cOndi-
ton as n yacht for Mr.. Lincoln, and was
used for that purpose all through the
war. The owl, which was commanded
by Capt. J. n. MOffctt, was one of the
most successful blockade runners of the
war. After landing me with dispatches
for the confederate government in jan
uary, 1865 al Lockwood's Folly Tor Windy
HID, and not being able to find out
whether Fort Fisher was captured, or
no her np Wilmington
Capt. Moffett undertook to ascertain this
information himself. He ran in under
Fort Fisher which had fallen, and an
chored with a hawser off Smithville. He
sent the pilot ashore with orders, in case
the yankees were in possession, to bring
Mrs. Moffett and their children and re-
turn to the ship The pilot was gone
about ten minutes, when he returned
with his wife and children and reported
The men were standing by with tackle,
and Immediately hitched onto the boat
and swung it aboard with its precious
burden. Capt. Moffett had a man sta
toned at the bits, and as soon as all were
safely on board passed the word to cut
the hawser, which was done, and the
ships head swung around and she stood
out to sea. Three or four other blockade
runners entering port that night, unaware
of the enemys possession of the fort,
were captured as they were in the act
Of drinking their wine while jollifying over
the delusiOn of having successfully run
Capt. Moffett returned to st. Georges
Bermuda, where he coaled up his ship and
cleared for the port of Havana, Cuba,
where he took in cargo for the Trans
Mississippi department. Safely running
the blockade into the port of Galveston,
after discharging his cargo. he loaded
up with a return cargo of cotton. which
was the last cargo of cotton carried out
of the port of Galveston during the war
He returned to Havana and laid there
some time, and was ordered to take the
ship TO Liverpool, England, which he did,
and his vessel soon went TO the boneyard.
These blockade runners were useless as
merchantmen because they were too light
that is, their capacity was too small
and they consumed too much coal They
Were speedy, and We're soon out of the
reach of any war vessel.
IN May, 1864, / was in command of the
blockade runner Annie, a government YES
sci. One Saturday night fourteen of us at
tempted to run the blockade and twelve
of us succeeded in getting in / had forty
boxes of lemons and ten boxes of oranges
for the hospitals, $4,000 in government
gold, arms, bacon pig lead iron, and val
liable stores. In 1863, when the confeder-
ates were hard up for salt a Capt. McMil-
Ian of Charleston, S. c., ran blockade to
the port of Nassau, where he purchased
a large fOre-and-aft centerboard schooner
and loaded her with salt, clearing her
from the port of Nassau to the port of
Baltimore. mis- purpose being, of course,
to run the blockade in Charleston. capt.
Mcmillan kept two Ogs-a false log and a
true log; his false log showed that he was
between HatteraS and Cape Henry when
he was really off Charleston. He dropped
both his anchors overheard. damaged his
sails, and appeared very much surprised
when he sighted the federal feet off
Charleston. He appealed to the federal ad-
miral for assistance. He being kind-heart-
ed man, supplied him with anchors and
sent a sailmaker and his crew aboard and
repaired his sails. Capt. Mcmillan spent
two days with the federal fleet. When he
went aboard the flagship he Dade the adj
Tniral goOdby and thanked him for his
kindness. The admiral offered him a tow
boat to tow him to the windward This
was what the captain didn't want, but he
couldn't refuse it, so he was towed short
distance, when he got rid of the tug, hoist
ed his centerboard, and commenced drift
ing back into the fleet AS soon as he drift
ed as far as he thought safe. he dropped
his centerboard and ran the blockade Az
ter loading up with cotton, he attempted
to run the blockade out. but he was can
tured. The admiral said Il have got YOU
now, my boy. You played me a sharp trick
but l will treat you well. l will send Won ~
New York And he did; he treated him
well"
BURIED ALIVE.