Post-war disposition of Blockade Runners and Cargoes

USS ALASKA

Captain
Joined
Mar 16, 2016
Savannah Daily Herald March 21, 1865

A despatch from Nassau of Jan 26th says

The following vessels, Flamingo, Falcon, Hansen, Banshee (II), Stag, Emily, Dream, Secret,
Night Hawk, Wild Rover, Susan Bierne, Badger, Star, Rothsay Castle, Ellen Denma, Kenitworth,
Marimon, Mars, Little Hattie, Mory and Ella, Colonel Lamb, Watson, Alice, and General Clinch are all
lying here idle, part of them having never made a run. The Vulture and Evelyn have gone to Havana for repairs, It is reported that Will of The Wisp has been captured off Galveston.

Reading @Republican Blues post #12 from thread https://civilwartalk.com/threads/blockade-runner-mary-celestia.152247/ brought up 2 questions.

First up - what became of the purpose-built blockade running ships after the war? Very fast, lightly built, shallow draft vessels aren't going to be very profitable in a peace-time commercial environment. They could be used as speedy mail / packets / dispatch ships but was there that large of a market for them to all be employed after Appomattox?

Second - What became of all the cargo that couldn't make it through the blockade? Civilian goods can be sold back into the market but what about the military goods? Were there any readily available, (and politically acceptable ), customers who wanted / needed these supplies even if sold at a loss?

Thanks for the help,
USS ALASKA
 
The ORs include information on commercially owned vessels?
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Cheers,
USS ALASKA
Yes sir. If the vessel was bought by either Government, and owned during the war, their final sale and disposition is accounted for in most instances. The most complete listings I found were in the second series of the Navy records, toward the beginning of Volume 1, 2, and 3 if my memory is correct. Purely commercial runners, no, I don't believe so. I misunderstood you, sorry.
Lubliner.
 
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At least one of the Confederate government runners ended up post war carrying die-hard refugees to Brazil which still had slavery. There are still people in Brazil known as Confederados and interesting enough most are of African descent. The former runner Virgin, captured above Mobile was captured by the Spanish Navy gun-running into Cuba in the 1870's and a number of her crew including her former Confederate Navy captain (Fry) were shot. The Cuban run was made under the name Virginius.
 
enough most are of African descent.


Not being argumentative, I don't think that's true? ' Google ' " confederados Brazil ", click on ' images '. Awful lot of photos of Anglo-Saxon looking people wearing ball gowns and Confederate uniforms. Not saying there are zero, have no clue. Most look very pale to me.

@USS ALASKA , we all know I'm terrible with all-things-ships, just from reading here and there, would swift vessels have been valuable for any number of uses? You'd think the government would require ' fast ' when it came to diplomats, mail, heck, maybe an ' Air Force One ' when elected officials had to be elsewhere in a big hurry? Or just for impatient businessmen and wealthy folks, remember Concord setting of sonic booms at huge price tags for a seat? ( I miss Concord, always got a kick out of someone not chewing their kneecaps on a 747 for 8 hours )

Would hope such elegant ships had a less ignominious fate than some - always wince at this image of Planter. No uniforms on board, quite a few bowler hats- has to be post war. Planter seems to have been everywhere, doing everything between 1861 and 1865, now staggering along loaded to the waterline. @LoyaltyOfDogs , do you have this one, seems to be a wonderful dog/boy partnership behind the wheelhouse?

planter post war.jpg
 
Many of the early blockade runners had been fast packets from Britain, often from the Irish Sea, so some of the survivors might have gone back there. Of course the war-built ships emphasized cargo capacity over passenger accommodations, which would make them less desirable.

The war-built ships were also not built to last. They were basically expendable, with the hope that they would get in a few profitable voyages. No one knew how long the war was going to go on, so there was no point in building top-quality ships. After their first transit to Bermuda or Nassau, they would be making short trips in relatively calm waters (side question, did blockade running fall off during hurricane season?). They were lightly built and may well have used soft woods like pine which were easier and cheaper to work than oak or teak. So there may not have been that much of an after-market for them.

One exception might be their engineering plants. These needed to be compact but powerful and also reliable, probably the one area in which a builder or owner might make a substantial investment. It might be interesting to know if any of the power plants were reused in new ships or if ex-blockade runners might have been purchased just for their engines.
 
The former runner Virgin, captured above Mobile was captured by the Spanish Navy gun-running into Cuba in the 1870's and a number of her crew including her former Confederate Navy captain (Fry) were shot. The Cuban run was made under the name Virginius.

The Virginius Affair - could have started the Spanish-American War some 20 years earlier...when the USN was not prepared...
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Cheers,
USS ALASKA
 
@USS ALASKA , we all know I'm terrible with all-things-ships, just from reading here and there, would swift vessels have been valuable for any number of uses? You'd think the government would require ' fast ' when it came to diplomats, mail, heck, maybe an ' Air Force One ' when elected officials had to be elsewhere in a big hurry? Or just for impatient businessmen and wealthy folks, remember Concord setting of sonic booms at huge price tags for a seat? ( I miss Concord, always got a kick out of someone not chewing their kneecaps on a 747 for 8 hours )

@Carronade replied before I could and said all I would have said. Before the purpose-built blockade runners began splashing down the ways, already built, shallow draft, speedy vessels from the British Isles were being snapped up where they could be found. Depending upon their original configuration, they were modified and put to use on the blockade run.

Cheers,
USS ALASKA
 
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