Civil war blockade runners - the Clyde connection

[Paulrjordan]

Well..it seems I'm always learning SOMETHING new..and this one's a
beaut...although I'm sure this "revelation" is hardly news to our UK
paddler experts. It also makes me feel exceptionally "DUH!" for not
having realized this obvious connection before.

While I was looking at the stamps mentioned in my previous post I
noticed a sleek looking Civil War Blockade Runner positively leaping
through the waves! Take a look..it's the last stamp on the page and
depicts a sidewheeler called "Banshee".

She caught my eye because of her similarity to William Stroudley's
19th Century Cross Channel side paddlers with her twin stacks and
beautiful "turtleback" foredeck. I did a little more searching and
found that "Banshee" was British registered, owned and crewed. What
struck me was that she LOOKS like she'd have been right at home on the
English channel!

Looking further it wasn't long before I found dozens of other British
and Scottish built side paddlers either purchased or PURPOSE built
specially for Confederate interests because of their speed. (Some of
the famous names will surprise you!)

This subject provides a fascinating connection between Scottish
paddlers and the Confederate Navy and here's an excerpt from the
Glasgow University Archives at:

http://www.archives.gla.ac.uk/arcbrc/resource/lists/social/civilwar.ht
ml
"The economic impact of the American Civil War (1861-1865) on
Scotland and Clydeside in particular was far reaching. The
Confederate need for manufactured goods and ships to run the
blockade provided a great stimulus to shipbuilding and heavy
industry in general. Clydeside firms such as Scott & Co., J. &
G.Thomson, Kirkpatrick and MacIntyre, William Denny & Bros., W.
Simons & Co. and Thomas Wingate & Co., produced a great many
of the ships which ran the blockade, and four ships which served
in the Confederate Navy."

This entire period is breathtaking with exciting sea chases, escapes,
and captures. Take a look at where some of the most famous Confederate
ships of the American civil War came from and to where Confederate
Admirals came shopping for the finest and fastest ships in the world.

http://www.ameritech.net/users/maxdemon/famous.htm

Somebody with intimate knowledge of the Scottish shipyards of the 19th
Century really should write a book on this fascinating subject..(ahem
Alastair!)..and those with an interest in the American Civil War will
find MANY wonderful modeling subjects....sleek hulls with silhouettes
you'd expect to find on Scottish Lochs rather than the dark inlets of
Cape Fear!

PJ

[woodburner]

The Clyde built blockade runners were indeed beautiful, graceful vessels - testimony to the importance of cotton to Britain's industry. It was a shame to destroy them, but I would be the first to do so for any vessel under the rebel flag. Allied pilots felt the same way about bombing the Rex during the second world war - a beautiful ship, but war is war.

[Alistair Deayton]

There were a number of UK paddlers sold for running the blockade, but the
later ones, including Banshee were purpose-built, some of them on the Mersey
by Jones Quiggin.
Some of these later ones had steel hulls, a very early use of this material.
The best book on these is Lifeline of the Confederacy, by Stephen R Wise,
published by South Carolina University Press in 1988, with a later paperback
edition. It is not 100% accurate, but has lists of all the runs made, and a
list of the ships used.
http://nautarch.tamu.edu/PROJECTS/denbigh/denbigh.html is the story of the
Denbigh project, which has been exploring a sunken blockade runner, which
formerly ran on the North Wales coast

Alistair Deayton