The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1914-04-30

ran the blockade even more frequent
" than his father and like him had
the good luck never to be captured
or run ashore. His last ship was the
Alice, which ran the blockade with
the regularity of a packet liner, as he
puts it. Almost every ten days she
was on the go between Charleston or
Wilmington and Nassau or Hamilton,
Bermuda A steamer named Fanny
| ran with equal regularity, but Capt.
Peck cannot recall who commanded
| her.
The Alice was owned by William G.
Bee & Co. and commanded first by
| Capt. James Eagan and Capt. Grant.
The purser of the Alice was Eugene
Jervey, a nephew of Theodore D. Jer-
vey, one of the members of the firm
of William C. Bee & Co.
After the war Eugene Jervey also
became a member of the firm. He is
still living, and now connected with
the Virginia-Carolina Chemical COM
pany. The carpenter of the Alice was
Hugh Ferguson, afterward for sew
eral years sheriff of Charleston coun-
ty. Ferguson died some years ago.
The Alice was fast steamship for
| Of ahnnf
l3 knots an hour. She was about L.
! 600 tons burthen and could carry at
least 1900 bales of cotton. Being
much faster than the majority OF
blockaders, she usually had little diff
| Guilty in eluding them, but on one
VOYAGE she had a narrow and men,
orable escape. It was toward the
close of the war. The Federals, pro-
fitting by their blockading experience,
had posted a second line of cruisers
on the west edge of the Gulf Stream,
so as to intercept blockade runners
leaving port by night at daylight
| next morning. The Alice had left
| Wilmington by night and escaped
the first line of blockaders, but next
morning was menaced by a pursuer
under full press of steam and sailed
away up to windward.
| Cotton Dumped Overheard.
To lesson the chances of detection
steam blockade runners did not car
ry sails. The pursuer, therefore,
held a substantial advantage and was
visibly gaining. Capt. Grant knew
that his main chance of safety was
edging up to windward so as to lead
the enemy into a course where his
sails could not draw, but he had been
caught so far to leeward that he was
in a fair way to be caught before he
could get far enough to windward.
The enemy continued to gain and the
last chance of the Alice lay in throw
ing her cargo overheard. Accordingly
over went the cotton bales. In all
$50 bales were pitched into the sea
and as her burthen was lightened the
Alice began to drop the enemy. The
Gulf Stream was like cotton storage
yard. Every merchantmen in sight,
and there happened to be a good
many, bore down on the floating bales
and lowered boats to pick them up.
However, the Alice escapd with some
thing like 700 bales, which she land
ed safe in Nassau.
The Alice kept out of the clutches
of blockaders to the end, and after
the close of the war was taken across
the ocean from Nassau to England,
with the prestige and glory of an un-
beaten racer.
While Capt. Peck is no longer able
to handle the throttle, he is not Who'll
ly inactive. He owns sleek and
beautiful bay mare, behind which, in
a comfortable landau, he drives about
the city twice day, morning and af-
ternoon. He attributes his rheuma-
tism to the effects of malaria, which
he contracted planting sea island
cotton, after he left the phosphate
company. at Headquarters plantation
on Johns Island: Headquarters is
on the west bank of the Stono River,
not far from Exchange.-News and
Courier