Blockade runners

[Walter Snowdon]

hi folks, remember that very few ships were purpose built as blockade runners. In the main they were merchant ships from the British merchant fleet, Particularly Clyde ferries which were noted for their speeds. By looking through fleet lists in such books as CLYDE RIVER AND OTHER STEAMERS they will leed you on to possible sources of photos and plans. At one time during the civil war there wqas a drastic shortage of ferries as no sooner were they built then they were bought from the Fleet owners by agents for "The Emperor of China".  Walter.

[PJ]

Another super model, Al.

I'm interested where you found reference for "OWL" and particularly her hull.  I have never been able to find accurate hull lines for these ships although I've contacted the Clyde Museums and researched a number of archives including the Merseyside Maritime Museum in Liverpool.

There's a thesis I'd like to obtain from the Program in Maritime Studies
East Carolina University entitled . "The Search for Speed Under Steam: The Design of Blockade Running Steamships, 1861-1865." by Kevin J. Foster in 1991.

Here is also an intersting Web site I found called "Famous Blockade Runners:
http://www.wideopenwest.com/~jenkins/ironclads/famous.htm

Thanks for the photos, Al and once again, congratulations for a truly lovely model you are making.

PJ
Victoria, BC Canada

[Al Blevins]

Thank you PJ. I think it is going rather well. As for the plans, I took a portside profile illustration from the book "Confederate Blockade Runner 1861-1865" by Angus Konstam. I enlarged the image and then, using proportional dividers, constructed the plans employing dimensions given in the book. A painting of an OWL class runner was also reproduced in the same book and provided more information. Additional information was gleaned from "Lifeline of the Confederacy" by Stephen R. Wise which contained illustrations of several blockade runners.

Thanks for the information of the website. I found it quite interesting and several mentions of OWL class ships were included.

Al

[scotfriend]

Hi paddle ducks,

this year on the German live steam exhibition at sinzheim was a model of the Hope, steam powered and well buildt if I find the photos I will post them to the forum. This exhibition is the biggest in the world and is every year around the second weekend in January

Regards Hans.

[frankmcneilll]

As other members have pointed out, they had clean lines and an absence of details that would make them good subjects for small models that might be "cranked out" and marketed through non-profit groups that need funds for restoring, conserving or studying vessels from the "golden era" when steam engines and paddlewheels were "cutting-edge" stuff. The trick would be to get universities, local schools, teachers and kids involved in a combination of history lessons and machine shop instruction, that might be one of those rare situations where nobody loses, and everybody gains something. Computers and the WWW make travel and long distance phone calls less necessary for complex projects, so perhaps the beginning of something that might go international could begin here, on the Paddleducks forum. I almost forgot, but here's a link to an organization in perennial need of money for mostly underwater archaeology, and one of the most successful blockade runners in a war that never really ended. http://nautarch.tamu.edu/projects/denbigh/ and a link to its history, or should it be herstory for ships?
http://nautarch.tamu.edu/PROJECTS/denbigh/HISTORY1.HTM

[Kevin Foster]

There have been several good plans of American Civil War blockade runners available in different places.  The easiest to obtain are the plans of the near sister ships Fergus, which ran the blockade as Presto, and The Dare, both built by Alexander Stephens on the Clyde.  They are available from the Smithsonian Ship Plan List as a redrawn, single sheet view of both ships.  One caveat, though, these two runners were among  the slimmest (length to beam ratio) steamers of the time and will require care in distributing weights in a working model.  

Several other sets of plans designed for scratch model makers may not still be available.  One was the quite large steel sidewheeler Hope, built by Jones, Quiggin & Co., on the Mersey.  David MacGregor's plan service sold a nice set of plans for her, but I do not know if it is still available.   She is a bit broader and may be a better choice for a working model.

The others were the purpose-built runners Banshee (1), sister ships Mary Bowers and Stormy Petrel, sister ships Will-of-the-Wisp and Julia, and two river steamers taken up from trade, the Iona (1 or 2 depending on who is counting), and Queen of the Orwell.  These were available from Sail and Steam, in Norfolk, Virginia, perhaps fifteen years ago.  I have not been able to trace them recently.

Plans of other blockade runners will be available as illustrations in about two years if my book on blockade runner design is published by then,   we'll see.  In the meantime I am happy to share information about the subject.  

[Eddy Matthews]

Nice to have you with us Kevin - In your message above, you've listed quite a few American sources for plans of blockade runners... Do any of these companies have websites? If so, would it be possible for you to list them for those of us that aren't in the USA?

Many thanks...

[Kevin Foster]

To my knowledge the only regular supplier of blockade runner plans is the National Museum of American History, of the Smithsonian Institution.  They publish plan books for naval vessels and another for the rest.  They have plans for The Dare and Fergus, b) Presto. You could write them for the price or get the catalog.   They have not yet made the jump to the net with the catalogs themselves, but you can learn a bit more at:  
 
<http://americanhistory.si.edu/csr/shipplan.htm>
 
If you live in Britain David MacGregor Ship plans were sold from Bath, but since Mr. MacGregor died perhaps two years ago, I do not know what happened to his plan service.  Several other large model plan services included his plan catalog for sale, but none seem to still list them.    
 
The National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, and the University of Glasgow Archives both have original ship builders plans for blockade runners which can be copied, for a not inconsiderable sum.  They vary in detail, with most leaving off some common fittings, or sketching them in without detail.  Probably someone familiar with British short sea and river sidewheelers could find the missing details without a tremendous amount of research. These ships range over most of the types built in Scotland and England and sold for the trade, as well as some representatives of the roughly 200 ships built with the intention of running the blockade.  The Denny Ship plan collection at Greenwich is particularly rich.  If you live on Clydeside somewhere I would love to have good photos or even offsets of some of the full and half hull models in the Transport Museum in Glasgow.  I will not be able to visit Scotland anytime soon but plan to visit NMM Greenwich next month while in London giving a talk on blockade runners, and another on Thames-built Anglo-Confederate blockade runners and warships.
 
Is there a particular ship in which you are interested?

[PJ]

Hi Kevin:
 Â 
 I very much look forward to your book on Blockade  Runners.  When I first saw your name on Paddleducks, I knew I  recognized it from somewhere.
 You wrote a thesis in 1991 entitled THE SEARCH FOR SPEED UNDER  STEAM: THE DESIGN OF BLOCKADE RUNNING STEAMSHIPS, 1861-1865.  I have been  searching for this thesis for a couple of years now and was recently told I  could obtain a loan copy through my public library. So far I have heard  nothing from them yet.
 Â 
 I am particularly interested in learning more about hull form  (rather than mechanical engineering) of Blockade Runners. During the American  Civil War some of the fastest steamship hulls were produced and  it looks as though the Confederate Blockade Runners were the pioneers of  the fast paddle steamers eventually built along the Clyde and  Mersey during the following 30 years. Whilst some general arrangement/deck  plans and hull profile drawings are available, hull lines and cross  sections from AUTHENTIC builders' plans (rather than modeler's plans) appear to  be almost impossible to find.  The Liverpool Maritime Museum claim to have  original plans of "Bansee" but I'm unclear as to whether or not they show  the cross sections or any lines.
 Â 
 I'd be very interested to hear what thoughts you have on  Blockade Runner hull design and how much hull form was modified during the  American Civil War.
 Â 
 Best regards
 Â 
 PJ
 

  ----- Original Message -----
   From:    Kevin Foster (research@paddleducks.co.uk)
   To: research@paddleducks.co.uk (research@paddleducks.co.uk)
   Sent: Thursday, January 12, 2006 11:16    AM
   Subject: RE: Blockade runners
   

   
There have been several good plans of American Civil    War blockade runners available in different places. The easiest to obtain are    the plans of the near sister ships Fergus, which ran the blockade as Presto, and The Dare, both built by Alexander Stephens    on the Clyde. They are available from the Smithsonian Ship Plan List as a    redrawn, single sheet view of both ships. One caveat, though, these two    runners were among the slimmest (length to beam ratio) steamers of the time    and will require care in distributing weights in a working model.    

Several other sets of plans designed for scratch model makers may not    still be available. One was the quite large steel sidewheeler Hope, built by Jones, Quiggin & Co., on    the Mersey. David MacGregor's plan service sold a nice set of plans for her,    but I do not know if it is still available. She is a bit broader and may be a    better choice for a working model.

The others were the purpose-built    runners Banshee (1), sister ships    Mary Bowers and Stormy Petrel, sister ships Will-of-the-Wisp and Julia, and two river steamers taken up from    trade, the Iona (1 or 2 depending on    who is counting), and Queen of the    Orwell. These were available from Sail and Steam, in Norfolk, Virginia,    perhaps fifteen years ago. I have not been able to trace them    recently.

Plans of other blockade runners will be available as    illustrations in about two years if my book on blockade runner design is    published by then, we'll see. In the meantime I am happy to share information    about the subject.


     
Kevin Foster


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[Kevin Foster]

Hi PJ,
 
Blockade runner hull forms took several basic patterns, but did not differ greatly in general form from earlier designs.  The difference was that they had more extreme proportions than most ocean steamers of the day and less tophamper in general.  The early purpose-built runners were medium sized liners with sail auxiliary rigs, expected to be of use in post war trade to Confederate ports.  When  the "southern trade" switched to the system of using small fast steamers to run between offshore islands and the CSA, the vessels bought and built for the trade generally resembled either coastal/short sea traders or Clyde (and other English River) passenger steamers.  As speed became more important engine horse power and boiler capacity were increased at the same time that hulls were made longer (increased length to beam).  The limiting factor in hulls was draft, most runners were built to draw 10 feet of water or less.    
 
Most hull forms followed one of two general forms.  One was based on the "wave-line" theory of John Scott Russell, which included a sharp bow and stern and smooth transitions and buttock lines.  In a way this was thought to part the water and let it slide back into place from each side.  The other form had the same sharp bow with little flare to cut through waves as the wave line hulls, but in the stern the bottom rose up more - the idea here was that the afterbody should allow the water to flow from beneath the hull.  Length to beam rations, from about 6.5 to 1 to as much as 12 to 1, were sharper than the most extreme clippers, but not far off from later cruisers.  The closest David Taylor standard hull form is one of the destroyer hulls but with a different, more raking transom or "round transom" stern shape.
 
My thesis does not include plans, only descriptions of general hull forms and layouts, so it may not be of as much use to you as it could have if there had been a bit of illustration.  Most blockade runners appear to have been built from models rather than plans but many were drawn as well.  A half hull model for the 1862 Banshee is in the Merseyside Maritime Museum, and if I remember correctly, a full model as well.  The lovely painting on their website is the Banshee (2) built after the first Banshee was captured.  That one was actually built on the CLyde, unlike the first.

[loserboy]

some more ships intersting page
http://www.rootsweb.com/~bmuwgw/ships6.html

[Walter Snowdon]

Avery large proportion of runners were built as Clyde ferries and due to their high speeds they were bought up as quick as they were built and sailed to the Bahamas. A quick look at the fleet lists in such books as CLYDE PASSENGER STEAMERS by Kenneth DAVIES and CLYDE RIVERS AND OTHER STEAMERS by DUCKWORTH andLANGMUIR will give an insight into their usage and name changes etc. Also, there are some models in the Glasgow transport musem of paddlers which later became runners.  Regards, Walter.

[harve202]

In this area(Northeastern NC, Albemarle Sound) there was a thorn in the side of the Union captained by Lafayette Thrower who obtained produce and meat (including grease renderings) and delivered  to the Confederacy at Halifax and Weldon if Roanoke river depths allowed. The Union controlled the Albemarle sound with several large patrolling steam gunboats up to Plymouth on the Roanoke. Thrower was able to elude them for several years before he ran ALICE into the swamp at full speed to evade capture. He waded out to Williamston several days later. He had been the layer of mines in the upper Roanoke for the Confederacy. He built two more river steamers in later years, KALULA then BERTIE in 1872. Point of this is to say that not all successful blockade runners were ocean vessels, some of them were less than 50' long and ran in what some would have described as muddy ditches.

[Ptarmigan]

Kevin , when I visited the  Merseyside  Maritime museum I was was confused by the differences between the builders model of Banshee and the Banshee  painting .  I thought  Banshee 1 would probably  have looked  more like the painting because it shows rounded structures either side of the paddle boxes which were  a hallmark Quiggen  built boats. The builders model is not typical of Quiggens designs so I wondered if this was Banshee 2 .

[the bombus]

Hi there
If anyone out there want's to start on a confederate raider
and if that one may be the CSS Alabamama
this is the book to buy
anathomy of a confederate raider CSS Alabama
anything everything and all you need or want to know is there
i got it as a gift from my son 
Oh ,and don't believe those prices you see on the www around 80€ or up to 250€ or $
he is a student with a student's bank account and payed less than 30€ for it
if someone wants info i can see if i can find it
gr from The Bombus