Birmingham state herald., 1895-12-01


 mnnicatioa wes at once made with Fort Fisher and Fort Caswell to the effect that such vessel with Captain so and so, giving his name, was in the act of running the blockade, and to look out for her and protect her. which was often done when the blockade runner was chased by the enemy.
 The blockade was run only twice dur ing the war in Wilmington in the day time. Once by the Gibraltar, the ex- Confederate war steamer Sumter, which was commanded by Captain Semmes, and which, by the way, was the first war vessel ever fioated by the government. By trick she succeeded in running It from the northward by hoisting the red eral flag. She ran down to the fleet, the federals thinking she was transport from the north She had on board four 200-pound Whitworth guns and other munitions of war for Fort Sumter, Char leston harbor and Fort Fisher. She got under the protection of Fort f1shef De- fore the federals discovered their error The Will O the Wisp, Captain Caper, owner and commander, succeeded on an other occasion in running the blockade in the day time. The captain was Scotchman, and one day some or the blockade runners on the Board or Iraoe were guying him about the inSignlncant appearance of his vessel, which was small, but one of the best for speed in the port She could make eighteen knots an hour. They offered to bet him f1OO,0OO against f50,000 that he could not run the blockade in daytime. He took them up. It was customary for blockade runners to load and run down and anchor OH Smithville, at the mouth of Cape Fear river, under protection of our forts, and then make the blockade at night. Ine federal fleet saw the Will O the W1sp coming down the river and supposed, or course, she would anchor, but instead +, rifrh fleet They had nothing 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. Captain Caper won his HOO 900 and became the hero of the day.
 Showing the systematic manner Tn which the blockade was run, remember the Virginia Importing and Exporting company of Petersburg, Va, who owned a line of two fine ships named the City Of Petersburg and the Old Dominion, which for over two years ran the block ade out of the port of Wilmington and port of St Georges. Bermuda, on reg ular schedule advertised time. Each of these ships cost $250,000, and after the war they were taken to Liverpool, Eng land, and made daily line between the city of Liverpool, England, and the city of Dublin, Ireland.
 Many strange names were given 10 ships running the blockade. Among them was a line of three funnel boats belong ing to a London blockade-running nrm. These boats were christened Letter B, Letter Go and Letter Rip. The finest yes sel in the business only made one voy- age; she was christened Colonel Lamb and was built to carry 15,000 bales of cot ton. The war ended soon after she was built and put an end to her career as blockade runner.
 "One of the sad incidents in running the blockade was connected with ship belonging to James H. Crenshaw of Richmond, Va. His ship cleared in 1863 for St. Georges, Bermuda, and her pilot, named Davis, had had yellow fever and was just recovering from it. The cap tain asked him if he would take the ship in He replied that he would, if 1t was the last ship he ever ploted The night the ship made the coast he took re- lapse and was carried on the bride in chair and successfully piloted the ship into port, and when the ship dropped an- chor his spirit went aloft.
 Another distressing incident was when the Greyhound, Captain Beard, was running into the new inlet. She &C., cidentally ran ashore. Mrs. Greenhow, who was so long kept prisoner in her residence at Washington by the federal government, and guarded by negro, was a passenger on board this ship with her daughter. In stepping into boat to go aSnOre SE6 IHdQe d UllSSlep anu was carried down by the weight of gold that she had in two belts around her body. Her body was recovered next day.
 "The Greyhound, in running the block ade out of Richmond. was captured by the United States sloop-of-war Connecti- cut. Ensign Harding was put in com mand of her, with orders to take her to New York. She had as passengers MT. Pollard, editor and proprietor of the Richmond Examiner and the famous Belle Boyd.
 ''The Confederate government built the first steel ships at Laird's yard in Liverpool England that were 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 feder- als, was fitted up and put in condition as yacht for MT. Lincoln, and was used for that purpose all through-the war. The Owl, which was commanded by Capt. J. N. Moffett, was one of the most successful blockade runners of the war. After landing me with dispatches uary. 1865, at Lockwood's Folly tor Windy HilD, and not being able to find out whether Fort Fisher was captured or whether or not Wilmington had fallen, Captain Moffett undertook to ascertain this information himself.
 He ran in under Fort Fisher which had fallen and anchored with a hawser off Smithville. He sent the pilot ashore with orders in case the yankees were in possession to bring Mrs. Moffet and their children and return to the ship. The pi- lot was gone about ten minutes. when he returned with his wife and children and reported that the enemy was in full pos session. The men were standing by with tackle, and immediately hitched on the boat and swung it aboard with its pre- cious burden. Captain Moffett had a man stationed at the pitts, 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 enemy's posses sion of the fort, were captured as they were in the act of drinking their wine while jolifying over the delusion of hav- ing successfully run the blockade.
 "Captain Moffett returned to St. Georges, Bermuda, where he coaled up his ship and cleared for the port of Ha- vana, Cuba, where he took in a cargo for the transmssissippi department. Safely ruppipp the hlockade into the mort of