Jun 12 at 12:00 PM - Sale 2708 -

Sale 2708 - Lot 70

Estimate: $ 500 - $ 750
(CIVIL WAR--NAVY.) Testimony of the British officers of a captured Charleston blockade runner, Emilie. Contemporary manuscript copy, signed and attested by British consul George Crump. 3 pages, 12½ x 7¾ inches, on one folding sheet, docketed simply "for Flag" on final page; folds, minimal wear. Philadelphia, circa July 1862
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Additional Details

The side-wheel steam Emelie was built in Charleston, SC and sold to a British citizen in June 1862. On 7 July 1862, it ran aground in Bull's Bay, a few miles up the coast from Charleston. Most of the ship's crew were southerners and deserted the ship, fearing capture. That left the British officers to deal with the two federal gunboats Flag and Restless which arrived three hours later. The ship was taken as a prize to Philadelphia, where six of the Emilie's men gave this sworn testimony to the British consul. As they tell it, they were not blockade runners; we find their story somewhat unconvincing.

The Emilie's men asserted that their destination was the large Union base at Beaufort, SC, far to the south of Charleston, which was legally open to trade. How they ended up so far off track and so near one of the main ports of the Confederacy, they did not explain. Their cargo was "dry goods, boots and shoes, 100 lbs of sporting powder, and a few thousand sporting caps." That sounds like military uniforms and gunpowder; there would be little use for imported "sporting powder" at a Union military base. Once captured, the Union boarding party was said to be very rude and abusive, accidentally discharged a pistol and nearly shot someone, and looted the ship: "champagne and other liquors were taken and drunk profusely, causing intoxication & riotous conduct." Well, that part we believe. One of the Union seamen "being intoxicated fell overboard and drowned. An officer in a quarrel with a sailor drew a knife and cut him severely in the arm."

The account of the capture in the Daily National Intelligencer of 16 July 1862 described none of the riotous behavior, but did note that "several boxes of Enfield rifles were found on board"--presumably not for "sporting" purposes.

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