The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1903-07-15
WRECKED MONITOR s00RP10N
Might HAVE Altered Restlt Of War If
England Had Delivered it.

England Had Delivered it.
Washington correspondent in the
! New York Sun says the laundering Of
the British monitor Scorpion of
Georges shoals last week while being
lowered from Bermuda to st. John,
n. B., where she was to be broken up
aSold metal, marks, perhaps, the pass
ing Of the last relic Of the navy Of the
Confederate government.
The Scorpion and her sister moni-
tor, the Wivern, were constructed by
Laird Bros. Of Liverpool under the
supervision Of Capt. James D. Bullock
Of the Confederate navy, an uncle of
President Roosevelt. Owing to the
protest Of Mr.. Adams, then minister
to England, acting under orders from
Secretary Seward, the British govern
ment seized the two vessels and re-
fused to allow them to be turned over
to the Confederacy. 1t has always
been asserted by southern naval off,
GERS that the failure Of the Confeder-
ate government to secure these two
monitors, which were then the most
formidable war vessels a1loat, went far
to change the result of the War Be-
tween the States.
These are today living in Washing
ton two or three Confederate naval
officers who were among those sent to
England to bring the Scorpion and the
Wivern to this country, and one Of
them furnished the following account
Of the Scorpion:
Soon after the battle between the
Monitor and the Merrimac in Hamp-
ton Roads in 1862 the Confederate
government ordered from Laird Bros,
two monitors and sent Capt. Bullock
to England to superintend their con-
struction. The contract price wls
e93, $50, or about S46S:750 apiece.
One was to be completed in March,
1868, and the other in May Of the
same year. They were known while
undergoing construction as Ell Tous-
san and El Slounassir.
There was some delay in the work,
and it was not until May 27, 1863,
that the Confederate officers who were
to man the new boats ran the block
ade at Charleston, and started for
England. Those in the party were
Matthew F. Maury, John r. Hamil-
ton, Capt. Littlepage, Dan Trigg, H.
II. Marmaduke and Capt. James
North. Capt. Bullock was to COM
mand one Of the monitors and Capt.
North the other.
The party were beacEed at Eleuth-
era island for two days. Then a
wrecking vessel came to their relief
and towed their ship to Nassau. They
arrived in England in August.
The agents Of the United States
government in England found out the
intentions of the Confederates in re-
gard to the island monitors and re-
ported the matter to Secretary Sc
ward The latter filed protest
through Minister Adams, and Eng
land held up the two vessels.
The Confederate officers then in
yoked the aid Of Bravay Bros, French
bankers, who announced that they
would purchase the monitors from
Laird Bros, and that they were the
agents of the Khedive of Egypt in the
transaction. Their real plan was to
turn them over to the COnfederateS.
The British government sent secret
messenger to the khedive, who denied
all knowledge OF the matter.
Upon Ibis Secretary Seward notified
the British and the French govern
ments that if the LairdS were allowed
to deliver the two boats to Bullock
and North the United States would
consider it an act OF war on the part
Of Great Britain, and, if Bravay Bros.
bought them and delivered them, an
act of war on the part Of France. In
December, 1864, England confscated
the two boats, and reimbursed their
cost to the Confederate government.
The English papers said at the time
that the superiority Of the Scorpion
and the Wivern to the other vessels Of
the British navy was disgrace to
England. The two monitors had the
defective armor Of the Monitor and
the Merrimac and were fitted with re-
volving turrets. If they could have
been secured by the Confederacy the
blockadeS might have been raised and
the effect upon the result Of the war
might have been very great.
In view of the fact that the Scor-
pion hal been used Of late years as a
target for British war vessels in the
West Indies, an old Confederate sailor
wrote to the association Of Conteder-
ate veterans a few weeks ago, suggest
ing that she be bought by the aSsocla-
ton and preserved as a relic. His let
ter reached New Orleans in the last
week of May, two days after the con-
rention had closed its annual session
and too late, therefore, to receive at
tention. 1t was published in the New
Orleans papers and a movement was
Statarted TO carry out the plan.
Molasses and Salt fu.isTCo.
What is said to be an infallible
remedy for sprains and bruises attend
ed with painful Inflammation Is poul-
l. 49, 4Ia