The Washington herald., 1915-02-28

strewed The sands of the harbor chan
| nels when Charleston fell Had not the
! sea and the sand rapidly given them
! burial, they might have been counted
by the score.
Those remaining in sight were
many. On February Is each was dec
GRATED by, navy men, with new
United States flag. Other runners
caught in port were taken charge of
by prize crews. All had been damaged.
but n few were saved from fire or
water, and added to the navy's cap
lures.
Brief references in the official rec
ords TO these prizes betray the eager
ness with which the Federal sailors
worked to save them. Ono of the
steamers in the harbor. the Syren.
was found to be on fire. Il got on
board of her as soon as possible" re-
ported Acting Masters Mate S. Y. By
ram. of the U. S. S. Gladiolus, land
found the flames gaining rapidly. I did
all in my power to preserve the cargo
tof cotton) and the vessel. / found
the vessel making water very fast
and the injection pipes of the engine
cut. She was towed info shoal water,
where she now lies"
This craft eventually was raised and
repaired.
""
Disaster had attended number of
the runners" attempting to leave or
enter Charleston in the last days of
the blockade. Their captains had taken
long chances, knowing well the risk.
One steamer that was wrecked was
the Celt. cotton laden, outward bound.
which on the night of February Is
went on the beach on Sullivans Is
land. The national flag was raised over
her on February is, and il seemed that
she might be gotten aioat: but later
II was found she was badly damaged,
and a final survey resulted in the re-
port that she lay stranded, back
broken, full of water and decks rip
ped up"
Some of the official reports of chases
and wrecks of the blockade runners
in the last days of the war give the
imagination of the reader abundanx
material with which to fill in a stir
ring picture.
Admiral John A. Dahlgren, COM
manding at Charleston, made this re-
port on the case of the steamer Beat
rice, wrecked earlier in the winter at
Charleston:
She made the land at night. to the
southwark of Charleston, and saw the
lightship at Charleston Bar bearing
nearly north: steered for IL. then kept
away to pass around 1t; slowed down
and steered directly for the land: kept
on until in eight feet of water. the
steamer drawing feet S.
About this time the Beatrice was
discovered by one of our steamers,
and fired at repeatedly. The Beatrice
was now running at her utmost speed.
and got away from the chasing
steamer, but soon fell in with another
of our steamers. which chased and
fired on her; one shot went through
her below decks.
The speed of the Beatrice carried
her away from this vessel too, and
she passed into Sullivan's Island chan
mel When well in she touched on a
shoal. backed off and went ahead
again. but soon found herself COM
pletely surrounded by a number of
our barges. which opened a heavy fire
of musketry and boat howitzers. In
the confusion the Beatrice got on the
shoal again. The boats promptly
boarded. The captain and four or five
officers jumped into light boat and
in number, are now in my hands"
The Beatrice was described as "a
fine iron steamer. built at Glasgow.
and on her second trip"
An Exciting Chase.
Early in February a fleet of block
nde runners had steamed from st.
George, Bermuda, for Charleston. in
GLIDING the Owl. Carolina, Dream, Chi
cora and Chameleon. The latter was
formerly the Confederate cruiser Tai
lahassee. She was a double-screw
steamer of English build and was
commanded by a daring captain, J.
Wilkinson, who did history a service
by preserving his experiences in a
book of memoirs In these he describes
his last attempt to enter Charleston.
I'VE passed Abaco Light soon after
dark" he writes, land shaped our
course for Charleston. At early dawn
next morning. while I lay lying awake
in my room on the bridge, ] heard the
officer of the deck give the sharp.
quick order to the helmsman, hard
a-port'
"As never undressed at night
when at sea I was out on deck in a
moment. Then l saw, distant two or
three miles and directly in our for
mer course. a large side-wheel steam
her to be the Vanderbilt; and I was
afraid the Chameleon at last had met
more than her match.
I'VE wore round before We were dis
covered. but as the steamers bow was
pointed in our direction a few mo-
ments afterward. IT was plain we
would have to make good use of our
heels.
THE Chameleon was in fne condition
for the ordeal. and the usual precau-
lions of cleaning fires and raising
steam had been taken before daylight
My stanch old Quartermaster. Mclean.
who had been with me in nearly all
the chances and changes Of blockade
was now placed at the wheel |
Il was a close race for hours, neither |
apparently gaining or losing a foot. |
As the day advanced, the breeze, |
which was very light from northward
at daylight, freshened from that quar- |
ter. !
we soon set all canvas. and so did |
the chaser, but as the latter was
square rugged and we carried fore |
and-aft sails. we weathered upon her
until her sails became useless, and
about noon she furled them.
"As the snowy cloud of canvas was |
rolled up. 1 supposed the cruiser was |
about to retire from the contest: but |
she still followed us with the tenacity /
Of bloodhound.
Suspense and Escape.
About o'clock the chief engineer |
appeared on the bridge with the re-
port that the journals were heated |
and IL was absolutely necessary to |
stop to east the bearings
In a few moments we lay like a /
log on the water. and as the chaser /
was rapidly lessening the distance be-
tween U.S. the suspense became almost Il