Archaeology Magazine - January/February 1990 - 21

Letters
Those
Blockade

Daring
Runners

YOUAREDESERVING
OFMUCH
PRAISE
FOR
the splendid article in your September/
October issue "Runners of the Union
Blockade."I grew up in the Deep South
and in my boyhood talked to some Confederate veterans, but I never knew
anyonewho had been a blockaderunner.
However, I did know the daughter of
Commander Sinclair, who had been the
executiveofficerof CSSAlabama,a blockade runner commanded by the famous
Wr-r
Rafael Semmes. Years later
Captain
'-¿rr
**>®.
when I visited some of the ports that had
been havens for transshipment of blockade runner cargoes, I often thought of
those daring seamen who brought muniUncirculated
tions and the medicines to the ConfedU.S. Peace Silver Dollars
eracy; such ports as Nassau, Havana,
Bermuda, and Halifax.
As I read of the wide variety of goods
loaded in the ships running the blockade,
I wondered how the people in the Confederate states financed the purchase of
such luxuries? One presumes that cotton
Whyare wegivingawayguaranteed
factors in England may have extended
mint-statePeacediver dollarsat our
cost?Simple:
togetyoutotryus.Because
credit during the period prior to the Batonceyou'reacquainted
withthewaywedo
tle of Sharpsburg (Antietam), but after
business- our strictgrading,prompt
that, with the increased difficultyof getservice,
delivery,
personalized
money-saving
ting cotton out of the southern ports and
discount
and
free
research
catalogs
reports
an end to Britain's overt support of the
- we'rebettingthat you'll want to
Confederate
continue
from
us.
States, it is hard to underordering
stand the financialarrangements for such
Anunbeatableoffer . . .
commerce. One remembers the anguish
Historic
U.S.Peacesilverdollars
192I-I935
aremuchscarcer
thanMorgans
andinour
expressed in A DiaryfromDixieby Mary
viewundervalued
Chestnut when at war's end she fled her
today.Throughthis
specialoffer, you can now acquire
house in South Carolina, leaving a halfBrilliant
Uncirculated
guaranteed
original
pound of tea on the mantelpiece ... I like
dollarsatourcost.Even
90% silverPeace
to think of it as Earl Grey tea.
ifyouhada friendor relative
in thecoin
BenScottLuster
business,
youcouldn'tgeta betterdeal
RearAdmiralUSN(Ret)
or getcoinsselectedwithgreatercare.
While
Rye, NY
last,we'llsellnewcustomers
supplies
Mint-State
Brilliant
Uncirculated
guaranteed
U.S.Peacesilverdollarsforthefollowing
Further
Research
1coinfor$20,5for$95,20for$340
prices:
or60for$900($15
Limit
60
coins.
percoin!).
I WAS
VERY
INTERESTED
INTHEARTICLE
BY
orderaccepted.
(Order#7530).Nodealer
Gordon
P.
on
"Runners
of
the
Watts,
Jr.,
Allcoinsareearly1922-1924
dates(atleast
Union Blockade"in the September/Oc65yearsold),conservatively
graded
byour
tober issue, for I have done a great deal
ANA-trained
expertsandcomewitha certificate
of research on this subject, both here and
ofauthenticity.
Youhavea 30-day
returnprivilege.
Tb
in Bermuda.
no-questions-asked
order by credit card, call toll-free
The, presumably new,painting on the
at any time.
1-800-451-4463
coverby Brian Baileyof the sinkingof the
Orsendyourcheckormoneyorderto:InMary Celestiais clearly based upon the
ternational
Coins&Currency,
Inc.,11E.
StateSt.,Box218,Dept.1252,Montpelier, watercolor drawing by Edward James,
part of whichyou illustrateabovethe map
Vermont
. Asourwayofsaying
thank
05602
on page 33. James was an Englishman
you,yourorderwillbeshipped
postpaid.
You'll
nevergeta betterdealon mint-state and longtime resident of Bermuda and
Peace
dollars.
Don'tmissthisopportunity! made his painting shortly after the event,
Allorders
toacceptance
subject
and from this angle correctly shows the
10 Archaeology

coast of Southampton Parish and Gibbs
Hill Lighthouse, with a calm sea, for the
steamer was moving in toward the land
through the reefs to drop offthe Bermudian pilot and the ship's owner, Colonel
Crenshaw, who had come on board for a
visit. Bailey'spainting showsno land and
a stormy sea.
The oil painting on pages 38-39 representing blockade runners and supply
ships at St. Georges is by William Torgerson, and is owned by the Chicago
HistoricalSociety.A similarpainting, but
differing in many details, is also by
Torgerson and is in the West Point
Museum Collection. Both were painted
about ten years after the end of the Civil
War and are fancifulartisticversions,not
representing any specific steamers or
situation.
Strictly speaking, the Nolahad not yet
become a blockaderunner. Shewasarriving in Bermuda for coal, having sailed
from Greenock, Scotland, with a cargo
for the Confederacy, and after a rough
passage apparently overran the Islands.
Her captain, Robert A.S. Pittman, who
should have known better since he had
been to Bermuda before, apparently
thought that he could reach port from the
west, not realizing that the reefs extended severalmilesout from the coast on this
side.
The speed of the blockaderunners has
often been somewhat exaggerated. The
fastest blockade runner to come to Bermuda was the Atalanta, later the CSS
Tallahassee
and finally
, then the CSSOlustee
the Chameleon.
When new,her maximum
speed was 17 knots, but she could not
maintain this for very long. Though she
made the fastest run from Wilmington,
North Carolina, to Bermuda, approximately 674 miles, she did this in 63 ^
hours, at less than 11 knots. However,
the report of this voyagedid not say how
long it took her to get past the blockading
ships offWilmington, nor whether or not
she had to take any evasive action, increasing the distance she had to steam.
M.H. Ludington
SilverSpring,MD
Disappointed
Unlike your reviewer, who is effusive in his praise, I found the video program Testament:The Bible and History
[reviewedJuly/August1989]unsatisfying.
Indeed Mr. Romer does show us many
sites which presumably represent pieces
of some sort of mosaic. However, in his

Archaeology Magazine - January/February 1990

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