That Blockade Runner Historian guy is back

[Phantom]

Hi Paddleducks,
This is Kevin Foster back after several years off line.  I called myself Phantom this time because I couldn't remember my old password.  I took a day to read over the many posts that show up when you search for "blockade." Wow, there are some beautiful models of several of my favorite runners.  There are other things to talk about too but I'll save them for posts under proper headings.
I am back working on a proper design history of blockade running steamships adapted from my Master's thesis.  My completed manuscript was lost in a hard drive crash and theft of my backup discs and thumb drives shortly thereafter. Anyone else that needs records of your work on the computer save your work in multiple media and keep some off site. I am assembling more drawings of blockade runners and assessing which ones have publication rights permissions in a range that I can afford. Most of the drawings are in British repositories and a few are located in the United States.  Photographs have been gathered from at least twelve countries.  I really have to just stop looking for much more and concentrated on working with what I have.  I hope to get advice from some of you in places that are difficult for me to visit.  That's all for now, Kevin Foster

[Harold H. Duncan]

welcome back,
I can really feel for you loosing your data, nearly happened to me just before Christmas last, when my computer decided to sleep, permanently. Lost a little, but managed to recover most and build another data base on a new computer. Still have 3 backups, 2 off site.
cheers
kiwi

[Ptarmigan]

Hi Kevin , I have come across your name during my research in London . I have collected quite a large amount of information on blockade runners  myself over the years having bought every book I could obtain on the subject .  I now have  a database listing   round  250 names  of British built runners  and  obtained  pictures  or descriptions  for  around  100 of  these  vessels with the intention of making pen and ink  reconstructions similar to the ones  ones in  Stephan  Wise's book .  Sorry to hear about your Thesis, what a nightmare , needless to say I have backed my work up threefold and still kept my fingers crossed.  Don't give up looking for new runners , only the other week I discovered a picture of another runner Prince Albert  and am  confident of turning up even more .

[AlistairD]

I have: PRINCE ALBERT (1850)
Built: 1850
109 tons. Length 142.2 ft
Builders: W Denny & Bros., Dumbarton
Engine builders: Caird & Co., Greenock..  Engine type: 2-cylinder diagonal; 60 HP
Hull Material: iron; flush decked
Owners: Loch Lomond Steamboat Co
1850: Entered service on Loch Lomond from Balloch to Inverarnan
1862: Sold to the Dumbarton Steamboat Co. Moved out of the Loch and operated fropm Glasgow to Dumbarton.
1863: Sold to Henry Gough, Liverpool. Operated as a ferry from Liverpool to Eastham. Renamed Richmond.
1864: June: Became a blockade runner. Regained the name Prince Albert. Made one return trip from Nassau to Charleston.
1864: August 9: Ran onto the wreck of Minho on her second trip entering Charleston Harbour and was destroyed by fire by the Union shore batteries.
1873: Wreck removed and broken up
Alternative sources say:
1871: Purchased by Thompson & Gough, Liverpool, after the death of Henry Gough.

from "Directory of Clyde Paddles, published 2013 by Amberley Publishing