It’s been a year – and what an exciting year. Since launching this series, it’s been a “high seas adventure” every week, bringing you historical details about many different aspects of 19th Century American Maritime History. Let’s celebrate the end of a voyage… Continue reading
19th Century Maritime
5 Famous Blockade Runners
Famous is a relative term. Someone who is famous in his hometown might be unknown in the next state. Choosing just five blockade runners to discuss today was a challenge. Some lists of “famous” blockade runners are lengthy, leaving me wondering what qualified as “famous.”
In the end, I decided to just choose five ships that illustrate interesting details about blockade running during the Civil War. If you’d nominate other runners, leave me a comment with the story!
Blockade Runners: If Captured
So…what happened if a blockade runner was captured? What happened to the ship? The crew? And what would a captain do to prevent capture?
Today, we’ll continue our discussion of blockade runners bringing supplies to the Confederacy during the Civil War, focusing on a relatively common circumstance, but one that every Southern captain wanted to avoid. A captured ship meant loss of supplies entering the Southern states and loss of profit for the owners, captain, and crew. Continue reading
Voyages Of Blockade Runners
As we’ve discussed different aspects of blockade and blockade runner history during the American Civil War, perhaps you’ve wondered about the actual voyages. What was a typical “run” or voyage like for a runner?
I’ve collected some notes about challenges just getting in and out of Southern Harbors and details about voyages. We’ll talk about some of the typical aspects of the secretive trips, the Union’s countermeasures, the port of Wilmington, blockade runner destinations, and tricks used to escape capture. Continue reading
Blockade Runners: Running The Confederate Economy?
It’s the post that some of my readers have been waiting for…
Let’s talk about Blockade Runners’ role in the Confederate economy and their economic impact. These unarmed merchant vessels – owned privately or by the state or Confederate governments – carried cargoes worth thousands of dollars in and out of the blockaded Southern states. Today, we’ll do a “twenty-thousand” foot overview of King Cotton, the gross value of the cargoes, who was paying for the cargoes, and what happened (economically) when they were captured. Continue reading
Blockade Runners’ Cargoes
What did blockade runners bring to the Confederate states? Or maybe a better question: what didn’t they bring? In previous posts, I’ve briefly mentioned some of the cargoes, but I thought it might be worthwhile to devote a whole post to the subject and dispel a myth or two created by a famous (or infamous) movie about the Civil War. Continue reading
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