The Pet was a diminutive screw steamer built as a speculative blockade runner for Manchester firm of Alexander Collie & Co, in late 1862 she was only 141 feet long and her top speed was not much more than 8 knots but incredibly between April 1863 and February 1864 she made a total of eight round trips through the blockade, to put this into perspective that was the same number of runs as the famed Banshee and one more run than the R E Lee and Gen Beauregard managed, how was this possible?
Pets first blockade running captain was an American named Ross Davis, he knew that Pets only advantage lay in her small size and played to this strength, he also knew that in 1863 the number of blockaders guarding Old Inlet were fewer than those at New Inlet and he recruited a good pilot called Thomas W Craig to navigate the shallow waters off the coast. Knowing that the Union did not possess enough blockaders to patrol 40 miles off the coast he would lie hull down until nightfall then make landfall East of Lockwood Folly Inlet before steaming up the coast entering the Cape Fear River off Fort Caswell. Captain Davis took Pet through the blockade five times but was forced to give up due to failing health. Another American called captain Dennis took over but before he did , captain Davis taught him how a run could be done in such a slow ship, Captain Dennis also succeeded using Davis's method and he made another 6 round trips in her, however, on the night of 16th February 1864 his luck ran out when he was spotted off Lockwood folly inlet by USS Montgomery and captured, before being taken to Boston to be sold. The drawing below shows the Pet sailing past the "Hole in the Wall", it was made using a detailed descriptions of the her made while she was in Liverpool, plus a post war photo and of course, by scaling her known dimensions.
Pets first blockade running captain was an American named Ross Davis, he knew that Pets only advantage lay in her small size and played to this strength, he also knew that in 1863 the number of blockaders guarding Old Inlet were fewer than those at New Inlet and he recruited a good pilot called Thomas W Craig to navigate the shallow waters off the coast. Knowing that the Union did not possess enough blockaders to patrol 40 miles off the coast he would lie hull down until nightfall then make landfall East of Lockwood Folly Inlet before steaming up the coast entering the Cape Fear River off Fort Caswell. Captain Davis took Pet through the blockade five times but was forced to give up due to failing health. Another American called captain Dennis took over but before he did , captain Davis taught him how a run could be done in such a slow ship, Captain Dennis also succeeded using Davis's method and he made another 6 round trips in her, however, on the night of 16th February 1864 his luck ran out when he was spotted off Lockwood folly inlet by USS Montgomery and captured, before being taken to Boston to be sold. The drawing below shows the Pet sailing past the "Hole in the Wall", it was made using a detailed descriptions of the her made while she was in Liverpool, plus a post war photo and of course, by scaling her known dimensions.
Bringing the