Part 6

Soon there is added to the incessant noise of wind and waves the ominous roar of the breakers, as the surf complains to the shore, and the deep sea lead gives warning of shoaling water. "Half-speed" is muttered through the speaking tube; a hurried parley; a recognized landfall, for Reed is a fine navigator, and "Are you ready to take her, Pilot?" "Ready, sir," comes from Jim Billy in the darkness. Then the whispered orders through the tube: "Slow down," as there looms ahead the first of the dread monsters of destruction; "Starboard," "Steady." And the little ship glides past like a phantom, unseen as yet. Then "Port," "Port," "Hard a'port," in quick succession, as she almost touches the second cruiser. She is now in the thick of the blockading squadron; and suddenly, out of the darkness, close aboard, comes the hoarse hail, "Heave to, or I'll sink you," followed by a blinding glare of rockets and the roar of heavy guns. The devoted little Confederate is now naked to her enemies, as the glare of rockets and Drummond lights from many men-of-war illuminate the chase. Under a pitiless hail of shot and shell from every quarter, she bounds forward full speed ahead, every joint and rivet straining, while Jim Billy dodges her in and out through a maze of smoke and flame and bursting shells. The range of Fort Fisher's guns is yet a mile away. Will she make it? Onward speeds the little ship, for neither Reed nor Jim Billy has a thought of surrender. A shell explodes above them, smashing the wheelhouse; another shell tears away the starboard paddle box; and, as she flies like lightning past the nearest cruiser, a sullen roar from Colonel Lamb's artillery warns her pursuers that they have reached their limitations, and in a few minutes the gallant little ship crosses the bar and anchors under the Confederate guns. The captain and his trusty pilot shake hands and go below, "to take the oath," as Reed described it--for the strain must be relaxed by sleep or stimulation. "A close shave, Jim," was all the captain said. "It was, sir, for a fact," was the equally laconic answer.

The "Ranger" and the "Vesta."

These two fine ships were stranded on our coast upon their first voyage and as I had no personal knowledge of either of them, I have copied in full the Federal official reports, and a letter dated Wilmington, N.C., January 27, 1864, by Lieutenant Gift of the Confederate Navy, who was in command of the _Ranger_.

"U.S. Flagship 'Minnesota,' "Off Lockwood's Folly Inlet,

"_January 11, 1864_.

"Sir: At daylight this morning a steamer was seen beached and burning one mile west of this inlet. Mr. O'Connor, from this ship, boarded her with the loss of one man, shot under the fire from the enemy's sharp shooters occupying rifle pits on the sand hills, which were high and near, and got her log book, from which it appears that she is the _Ranger_; that she left Newcastle [England] November 11, 1863, for Bermuda, where, after touching at Teneriffe, she arrived on the 8th of December; that she sailed from Bermuda January 6, 1864, made our coast January 10, about five miles northeast of Murrell's Inlet, and landed her passengers. The next morning at daylight, intercepted by this ship, the _Daylight_, _Governor Buckingham_, and _Aries_, in her approach to Western Bar, she was beached and fired by her crew, as above mentioned. The attempts of the _Governor Buckingham_, aided by the _Daylight_ and _Aries_, to extinguish the fire and haul the _Ranger_ off were frustrated by the enemy's sharpshooters, whose fire completely commanded her decks. This ship, drawing about twenty-four feet, was taken in four and one-half fathoms of water in front of the wreck, and the other vessels stationed to cross fire on the riflemen on the sand hills opened a deliberate fire with a view to dislodge the enemy and allow an attempt to haul off the _Ranger_ at high water at night. Meanwhile, the _Ranger_ was burning freely forward and the commanding officers of the _Governor Buckingham_ and _Daylight_, who had a good view of her situation, thinking that it was not practicable to get her off, she was also fired into, which, as her hatches were closed, had the effect of letting the air in, when the fire burned freely aft and doubtless burned the _Ranger_ out completely. Meanwhile, black smoke was rising in the direction of Shallotte Inlet, and the _Aries_, withdrawn last night from her station there, was ordered to chase. She soon returned, and Acting Volunteer Lieutenant Devens reported a fine-looking double-propeller blockade runner, resembling the _Ceres_, beached and on fire between Tubb's and Little River Inlets, and that the enemy's sharpshooters prevented his boats from boarding her. This was probably the same steamer that was chased the previous evening by the _Quaker City_, _Tuscarora_, and _Keystone State_, and escaping from them made the western shore, where, communicating and learning of the presence of the blockaders in force, and perhaps being short of coal, was beached by her crew and fired rather than be captured.

"The Department will perceive that this is the twenty-second steamer lost by the rebels and the blockade runners attempting to violate the blockade of Wilmington within the last six months, an average of nearly one steamer every eight days. These losses must greatly lessen the means of the rebel authorities to export cotton, obtain supplies, and sustain their credit, and thus dispirit and weaken them very much.

"I have the honor to be, Sir,

"Very respectfully yours,

"S.P. Lee,

"_Acting Rear Admiral_, "_Comdg. North Atlantic Blockading Squadron_.

"Hon. Gideon Welles,

"_Secretary of the Navy_, "_Washington, D.C._"

"U.S.S. 'Aries,' "Off Little River,

"_January 12, 1864_.

"Sir: I would most respectfully report that the steamer stranded between Tubb's Inlet and Little River is the blockade runner _Vesta_. Boarded her this a.m.; made a hawser fast to her, but on examining her found her whole starboard side opened and several of the plates split; took two anchors from her, which was all we could save.

"The _Vesta_ was exactly like the _Ceres_.

"I left her a complete wreck, with five feet of water in her. Her boats lay on the beach badly stove.

"Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

"Edward F. Devens, "_Acting Volunteer Lieutenant, Commanding_."

"Wilmington, N.C., _January 27, 1864_.

"My Dear Sir: In Bermuda I took command of a splendid merchant steamer, called the _Ranger_, for the passage to Wilmington. I had very heavy weather and no observation for the first three days out. On the fourth got sights which put me at noon eighty miles southeast from lightship off Frying Pan Shoals. I went ahead full speed in heavy sea to sight the light early in the night, but the Yankees had put it out, and fearing the drift of the Gulf, I determined to run inshore and anchor during the next day (10th instant) and ascertain my position accurately, which I did, and landed my passengers and baggage. On the morning of the 11th, at 12.25 a.m., I got underway and ran along the coast for the bar near Fort Caswell. When eight miles from the fort I made the _Minnesota_ about one mile off, and whilst observing her motions the pilot (who had charge of the ship) suddenly sheered her inshore, and in an instant she was in the breakers. I made every effort to get her off, but unavailingly, so you see a couple of turns of a wheel in the hands of a timid man lost a fine ship and a valuable cargo. She was destroyed. I was loaded for Government.

"Your obedient servant, "George W. Gift."

The "Spunkie."

Many blockade runners were given corresponding names, _Owl_, _Bat_, _Badger_, _Phantom_, _Lynx_, but none seemed to be more appropriate than that given to a little toy steamer from the Clyde named _Spunkie_. She was not fast but she managed to make several successful runs. When I saw her in Nassau I could scarcely believe that this little cockleshell of a boat had crossed the North Atlantic and had run through the blockading fleet. The commander of the Federal cruiser _Quaker City_ reported to Admiral Lee February 13, 1864, that he had discovered the _Spunkie_ ashore at daylight on the 9th on the beach a short distance west of Fort Caswell, but he could not determine whether she was attempting to run in or run out. Two tugs belonging to the blockading fleet made repeated but ineffectual efforts to float the _Spunkie_ and she still lies near Fort Caswell. As the _Spunkie_ was loaded with blankets, shoes, and provisions for the Confederate soldiers, there is no doubt she was trying to come into the river by the Western Bar when she ran ashore.

The "Phantom."

This was a new Confederate steamer built abroad on the most approved lines for the Confederate Government. She was a handsome iron propeller of about 500 tons, camouflaged, as were all blockade runners, to decrease her visibility. The usual method was to paint the hull and smoke funnels a grayish green to correspond with the sea and sky and the coast-line sand dunes, which often made them invisible even at close range. There were two Federal cruisers most dreaded by the blockade runners because of their great speed: the _Connecticut_ and the _Fort Jackson_. The former made many prizes. At daylight, the morning of September 23, 1863, when about fifty miles east by north of New Inlet, the _Phantom_ was discovered by the _Connecticut_ standing to the eastward. The _Phantom_ was bound from Bermuda for Wilmington with a very valuable cargo of Confederate arms, medicine, and general stores. She had evidently made a very bad landfall too far to the northward and eastward at daylight and was running away from the land until darkness would help her into Cape Fear River, when she would face the fleet again. But the _Connecticut_ gave chase at her top speed and after four hours' vain effort to escape, the _Phantom_ suddenly hauled in and ran ashore near Rich Inlet, where she still lies. The crew escaped in their own boats, after setting the _Phantom_ on fire. The Federals attempted to put out the fire and salve the _Phantom_, but failed to do so.

The "Dare."

This steamer was built abroad in 1863 for the Confederate Government. At daybreak on the morning of the 7th of January, 1864, the cruiser _Montgomery_ saw the _Dare_ with Confederate colors flying near Lockwood's Folly, heading for Cape Fear. The _Montgomery_ and her consort the _Aries_ gave chase, the latter heading off the _Dare_, which endeavored to escape, but being in range of the guns of both pursuers for about four hours, she headed for the beach, and was stranded at 12.30 p.m. a little to the northward of North Inlet, near Georgetown, S.C. The weather was very stormy and the surf very high so that one of the Federal boats, in attempting to board the _Dare_, was capsized and her crew made prisoners by the Confederates behind the sand dunes. Other Federal boats reached the stranded vessel and set her on fire.

The officers and crew of the _Dare_ escaped to the shore.

The "Bendigo."

In 1863, when the demand for suitable merchant steamers to run the Wilmington blockade could not be met, even at enormous prices, the eager buyers began to bid on the Clyde River steamers. Some of extraordinary speed but of frail construction were lost on the long and often tempestuous voyage across the Atlantic via Madeira and Bermuda, while others succeeded in passing the blockade with almost the regularity of mail boats. Of such was the _Bendigo_, previously named the _Milly_. Her description was as follows: Topsail yard schooner _Bendigo_; steamship of Liverpool, late _Milly_, 178 tons, built of iron, hull painted green, three portholes on either side fore and aft of paddle boxes. Elliptic stern, carriage and name on same painted white, bridge athwartships on top of paddle boxes; after funnel or smokestack, with steam pipe fore part of same, fire funnel or smoke stack with steam pipe fore part of same; draws eight feet six inches aft and eight feet forward.

I am putting this description (now obsolete) on record because it was a type of many other blockade runners in 1863-64.

The _Wilmington Journal_ of January 11, 1864, described the stranding of the blockade runner _Bendigo_ at Lockwood's Folly Inlet, from which it appears that the wreck of the blockade runner _Elizabeth_ was mistaken by the _Bendigo_ for a Federal cruiser, and in trying to run between the wreck and the beach the _Bendigo_ was stranded. The _Bendigo_ was discovered at 11 a.m. January 4, 1864, by Acting Rear Admiral S.P. Lee on his flagship _Fahkee_, who attempted with the assistance of the _Fort Jackson_, _Iron Age_, _Montgomery_, and _Daylight_ to haul off the _Bendigo_, in which they failed because the Confederate batteries on shore drove them off with the loss of the _Iron Age_, which got aground and blew up. The _Bendigo_ was set on fire and abandoned and her hull may be still visible at Lockwood's Folly Bar.

The "Antonica."

This Confederate blockade runner I remember as a fine ship and very successful. She was of the old American type of passenger and mail boat, 516 tons, known previously as the _Herald_. So regular and reliable in her runs was she that I recall a remark of one of her officers that it was only necessary to start her engine, put her on her course for either Wilmington or Nassau, lash her wheel, and she would go in and out by herself.

She ran several times in and out of Charleston, where she was registered carrying 1,000 to 1,200 bales of cotton and some tobacco. She was commanded on her last voyage by Capt. W.F. Adair, who reported that on the night of the 19th of December, 1863, the _Antonica_ made the land at Little River Inlet, the dividing line between North Carolina and South Carolina, and stood to the eastward of Lockwood's Folly Inlet and waited until the moon set at 2.30 a.m., when he attempted to run the blockade at Cape Fear Bar, but in trying to pass the blockader _Governor Buckingham_ was forced ashore on Frying Pan Shoals, and he and his crew, twenty-six all told, were captured while making for the beach in their own boats.

The _Antonica_ was loaded and bound for Wilmington with a very valuable cargo of war supplies when she was lost. The wreck still remains on Frying Pan Shoals.

I recall an interesting episode with reference to the _Antonica_ which nearly caused a rupture between the British and Federal Governments while I was with my ship in the British port of Nassau. The incident was referred to by the late Capt. Michael Usina of Savannah in his most interesting address many years ago before the Confederate Veterans, and I repeat it in his words:

"On one occasion I was awakened by the sound of cannon in the early morning at Nassau, and imagine my surprise to see a Confederate ship being fired at by a Federal man-of-war. The Confederate proved to be the _Antonica_, Captain Coxetter, who arrived off the port during the night, and, waiting for a pilot and daylight, found when daylight did appear that an enemy's ship was between him and the bar. There was nothing left for him to do but run the gauntlet and take his fire, which he did in good shape, some of the shot actually falling into the harbor. The Federal ship was commanded by Commodore Wilkes, who became widely known from taking Mason and Slidell prisoners. After the chase was over Wilkes anchored his ship, and when the Governor sent to tell him that he must not remain at anchor there he said: 'Tell the Governor, etc., etc., he would anchor where he pleased.' The military authorities sent their artillery across to Hog Island, near where he was anchored, and we Confederates thought the fun was about to begin. But Wilkes remained just long enough to communicate with the consul and get what information he wanted, and left."

The "Florie" and the "Badger."

These two fine boats were well known to me. The former was named after Mrs. J.G. Wright, of Wilmington, the beautiful daughter of Capt. John N. Maffitt, who commanded my ship the _Lilian_, a sister boat.

The _Florie_ was owned by the State of Georgia and by some of its prominent citizens, Gov. Joseph Brown, Col. C.A.L. Lamar, and others. She made several successful runs to Wilmington, but her end is clouded in mystery. There is no record of her fate except a report by some "intelligent contrabands" to the Federal fleet that she was sunk inside the bar in Cape Fear River; whether by accident or by shell fire I am unable to ascertain. It was said that the _Badger_, sister ship to the _Lynx_, came to her end the same way after making several runs through the fleet.

* * * * *

The following order of the Confederate Secretary of the Navy to Capt. John N. Maffitt, who was then in command of the _Owl_, will explain why so many valuable ships were run ashore rather than surrendered into the hands of the Federals:

Order of the Secretary of the Navy to Commander Maffitt, C.S. Navy, repeating telegram of instructions regarding the command of the blockade runner _Owl_.

"Confederate States of America, "Navy Department, Richmond, "_September 19, 1864_.

"Sir: The following telegram was this day sent to you:

"It is of the first importance that our steamers should not fall into the enemy's hands. Apart from the specific loss sustained by the country in the capture of blockade runners, these vessels, lightly armed, now constitute the fleetest and most efficient part of his blockading force off Wilmington.

"As commanding officer of the _Owl_ you will please devise and adopt thorough and efficient means for saving all hands and destroying the vessel and cargo whenever these measures may become necessary to prevent capture. Upon your firmness and ability the Department relies for the execution of this important trust. In view of this order, no passenger will, as a general rule, be carried. Such exceptions to this rule as the public interests may render necessary, embracing those who may be sent by the Government, will receive special permits from this Department.

"Assistant Paymaster Tredwell has been instructed to pay over to you, taking your receipt for the same, 5,000 pounds in sterling bills. You will please keep an accurate account with vouchers in duplicate of all your expenditures, one set of which you will submit to Mr. W.H. Peters, our special agent at Wilmington, upon each round trip you may make.

"I am respectfully your obedient servant,

"S.R. Mallory, "_Secretary of the Navy_.

"Commander John N. Maffitt, _C.S. Navy_, "Care W.H. Peters, Esq., "Wilmington, N.C."

The "Cape Fear."

A notable blockade runner called the _Virginia_ was bought by the Confederate Government during the war and renamed the _Cape Fear_. She was put under the command of Captain Guthrie, a Cape Fear pilot of recognized ability, who was succeeded by an English gentleman, a fine sailor, Captain Wise, who cast his lot with our people and ran the _Cape Fear_ up and down the river for several years as a Confederate transport. She was destroyed in the river when the Federals captured Fort Fisher. Captain Wise married a Miss Flora McCaleb, of Wilmington, and for years after the war conducted a lumberyard here. He was a most courteous, attractive gentleman, generally respected in the community. He died here many years ago.

The "North Heath."

During the third year of the War between the States, I was appointed at the age of seventeen years purser of the blockade-running steamer _North Heath_, under command of Captain Burroughs, who had successfully run the blockade twelve times in charge of the Confederate steamer _Cornubia_, later named _Lady Davis_, after the wife of the President. I believe that under God, Captain Burroughs, by his fine qualities as a cool and capable seaman, saved this ship from foundering at sea when we ran into a hurricane shortly after our departure from St. George, Bermuda, bound for Wilmington. For two days and nights we were in imminent danger of our lives--tossed upon a raging sea, every man of our crew of 48 except those at the wheel was lashed to the vessel, while we bailed with buckets and the use of hand pumps the flooded fireroom of our sinking vessel. For an entire night she wallowed like a log in a trough of mountainous waves, which broke over us in ever-increasing fury. I can never forget this frightful scene. It seems photographed upon my memory in all its fearsome details.

The water had risen in our hold until every one of our fourteen furnaces was extinguished. There was no steam to run our donkey boilers and steam-power pumps. Lashed to one another, in the blackness of darkness, relieved only by the intermittent flashes of lightning which illuminated the giant waves towering around us and threatening to overwhelm and sink the laboring, quivering fabric, we held on in despair until morning, when we began to gain on the leaks until our steam pumps could be used in relieving the boiler room, and our brave captain got the ship under control. Then we succeeded in putting her about and headed back to Bermuda.

The strain of this exposure resulted in an attack of fever, which confined me to bed for a long time on shore, and Captain Burroughs reluctantly left me behind when the ship was ready for sea. After we repaired our badly damaged hull and machinery, the _North Heath_ proceeded again toward Wilmington, passing the blockading fleet safely. When she was about to load cotton for the outward voyage, the Federal expedition against Fort Fisher arrived off Cape Fear and presented such a formidable appearance that the Confederate Government seized the _North Heath_, loaded her with stone and sank her at a point below Sunset Park where the river channel is narrow, as an obstruction to the Federal fleet which subsequently captured Wilmington. For many years after she was an obstruction to peaceful commerce, but the wreck was finally removed by the River and Harbor Improvement Engineers.

The "Kate."

There were two blockade runners named _Kate_, but they were quite different as to origin and enterprise. The first one of that name was an American-built steamer, previously in the coast trade. She was commanded by Capt. Thomas J. Lockwood, and it was this vessel that brought to Wilmington on the 6th of August, 1862, the fearful plague of yellow fever, which raged for ten weeks and carried off 446 of our people. After several successful voyages she ran ashore above Fiddler's Dreen, near Southport, and went to pieces.

About twenty years ago I related in Justice Clark's _North Carolina Regimental Histories_, published in five volumes, 1901, an incident in the career of this steamer _Kate_ which may be worth repeating: