The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-02-21
TALES OF BLOCKADE RUNNERS
STORIES OF THEIR ADVENTURES
OF NARROW ESCAPES.


the First Trip of the Banshee No.
2-Mr. Walter Coney Tells How the
Little Hattie Used to Fool the Fed
eraI Fleets.
The recent article in the Morning News
on blockade running has brought up many
"reminiscences on the part Of those who
participated in the stirring scenes which
made up the existence of the blockade
runner There are some in Savannah be-
sides the old pilots who participated in
these scenes, among them being two prom
inent business men, President Henry Blum
of the Germania Bank, and Mr.. Walter
Coney, manager for Paterson, Downing
& Co.
Capt. Blum gives an interesting account
of his experience. April l. 1864, he left
Savannah on the sloop Maggie Blum, nam
ed after his daughter, having a six
months furlough and carrying dispatches
Tor the confederate government The lit
tie sloop was only twenty-seven feet long
and very frail craft with which TO brave
the seas between Savannah and Nassau,
and outrun federal cruisers as well. For
crew he had Capt Peter Doyle, brother
OF Capt. NJ. j. Doyle of this city, and
Mr.. Teal, both good and brave men. There
was another member of the crew whose
name Capt. Blum could not recall. The
little vessel was loaded with all the cot
ton she could carry, about twenty-five
which caused the big northern liners to
lay to. From Savannah, they got safely
to Ossabaw, where they were kept for two
days by the storm. The wind came from
the southeast and blew the vesesl back
towards the Georgia coast.
While pumping. the water out of the
Sloop capt. Doyle and Teal were both
knocked overheard by the jibing of the
boom Capt Blum, with his one man,
was was s unable to render any assistance in
Instead Of putting back to port, as many
men would nave DONE Capt. Blum headed
his little craft for Nassau as soon as the
| weather permitted. Being unwilling to
| rely on his single assistant, he remained
at the helm himself until he reached
| Grand Bahama Island, where he secured
| assistance and then made the run to Mas
| sau through the Hole in the Wall" ar
| irving eight days after the loss of Doyle
This was not the story that Capt. Blum
| started out TO tell, however, his trip back
to Charleston on the Banshee No. be-
| 2 was built especially for blockade run.
| ming, IN which she proved most success
tbei; ana capt Blum had the pleasure of
| Delng passenger on her first trip out
shaa came Am oyer on the new steamer Ban
shee NO; z; ne said. we started from
Holyhead, England for Kingston, ireland,
on trial trip, with a bet of f5, 900 to
peat the mail boat running between these
Two points We won the race by four
TOUR miles in three hours and twenty-five
minutes. We steamed NEXT day for
queenstown, ireland, where we coaled,
anu started for the port of Funchao Ma
oefia again 70 replenish our supply OF
| coal II TOOK us several days there to
get coal enough in, and with Capt. Steele
VISITED the island and its mountain
rldlng up on horseback and coming down
IN sIedges, guided, by native runners. OF
course, we tasted real Madeira From
Funchao we sailed for Bermuda. with Inn
one incident, heavy squall coming up
WIN hardly minutes notice and threat
ehlng destruction to vessel and crew He
roic labor saved us. We arrived at Der
muda IN August to find the yellow fever
raging. We took in as cargo 1000 barrels
OF new YORK mess pork and !, 500 cases of
| Lynn, Mass, army shoes. The balance
| was made up of cases of rifles ammuni-
ton, quinine and medical stores. The
| evening before we left Bermuda the new
| steam propeller Coquet left for Whining
{ ton we LETT the next night and after two
Gays quiet sailing we begun at midnight
TO make out the blockading fleet off Will
I mngton. We steamed right through,
| safely as we thought, when Pilot Hill in
formed Capt. Steele that we were lost,
belng about couple of miles to the north
of the entrance to Cape Fear river The
| pilot lost heart. His family was in Will
| mlngton and he thought the chances of
seeing them again very slim We were
| close in shore and nearly aground. Capt.
| steele gave orders to back, and back out
| we did until the fleet was again surround
ing us,and the blockading vessels begun fir
lng rockets to make out our whereabouts
| Capt. Steele asked the pilot If he thought
| we could make the turn now. Being an
| sWered in the affirmative he gave the or
der and we started in. The vessels be-
gun firing on us and it was quite lively
| Tor time, but not a shot struck home.
| we safely rounded Fort Fisher and by
| O'Clock in the morning let go anchor I'M
der the walls of the fort. General Whit
| ney, then in command at Fort Fisher.
came aboard and, among other things re-
| lated how on the night before the CoQuet
had been sunk with all her crew and pas
| sengers, not man escaping We were
| kept in quarantine a couple of weeks be-
fore being allowed to come up to the city.
| While at Bermuda / took John Lynch and
Richard Welch, both of Savannah, aboard
| our vessel as stokers."
MIR. Walter Coney, manager of Pater-
| son, Downing & Co.'s naval stores house
| can truthfully claim to be one of the
| youngest blockade runners surviving. Mr..
| Coney ran the blockade on the Little Hat
| tie, the last ship to leave Charleston be-
| fore the surrender of the port. The Little
| Hattie arrived safe at Nassau and the
crew heard there that Charleston was
| captured. They took on cargo, how
/ ever and started for Galveston, but ran
| into bark and suffered considerable dam
| age, which made 1t necessary to put into
| Gen. Lees surrender, and abandoned the
blockade running business for good
Mr.. Coney ran the blockade eleven
| when the war closed. He and several
| other youths from Wilmington were at
| Timmonsville, S. c., where their families
! to join the army, but their
parents thought they were too young
|
| away from Timmonsville Mr.. Coney's
| father allowed him to go on a blockade
runner. lie was probably in more dan
| ger there, however, than he would have
| been in the army i'm Virginia. He was
| both spectator and actor In some very
! exciting scenes. Mr.. Coney said that once
| he knew Capt. Lobby TO run the Little
| Hattie into Wilmington at II o'clock in
| the day, with seventeen federal cruisers
| chasing her down the beach, but they
| got in safely. This was not a piece Of
| toolhardiness on Capt Lebbys part. He
! had arrived at the entrance too late TO
| come in during the night, and there was
| no chance of escaping the federal fleet ex-
| cept by long run. He chose 10 run in
! instead OF out, and was successful.
Another neat trick of Capt. Lebby's was
the time the federal fleet made its first
attack on Fort Fisher The Little Hattie
| arrived off Wilmington at night just as the
| federal fleet was moving in to attack the
| fort. Capt. Lobby Joined his vessel to the
| fleet and went In with IL, the Little Hattie
passing in the darkness as one OF the fed
! eral fleet. When the row commenced how
| ever, the little blockade runner was be-
| tween the fire of both the feet and the
| fort, but managed to get in unhurt. She
| made her last run into Charleston under
severe fire. The man at the wheel had his
| hand shot away and Mr.. Coney received