February 17, 2025 • 7 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, The Confederates didn't have the industrial might to build their own ships. As a result, cash crops proved king once again....or at least for a little while. Here's the story of a mystery 'blockade runner' and how it met its demise.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:10):
This is Lee Habib and this is Our American Stories,
the show where America is the star and the American People.
To search for the Our American Stories podcast, go to
the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcast. Up next,
a story from the South Carolina Military Museum in Columbia,
South Carolina, the state's capital, about a little bit of
(00:33):
maritime history, in particular one ship called the Georgiana. Here's
John Freeman with the story.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
It's called the SS Georgiana, not the CSSs Confederates ships
were sometimes called, but the SS because technically at the time,
technically it was a civilian ship. So Georgiana started getting
made in Glasgow, actually in Scotland because it's a neutral territory.
And when the South went to war in the Civil War,
(01:07):
they didn't really have the industrial base to build a
navy that could rival the United States. I mean, that's
a tall feat. So what they did have, though, was
money from selling their cash crops overseas, and so they
would get some of these ports to build them ships
that they couldn't. This boat started getting made, and there
(01:28):
was an interesting spy game that happened between the United States.
Spies were over there watching the development of this boat
because they had suspicions this boat was going to get
sent to the South, and it was a decent boat.
So it was an iron hold, iron clad steamship that
still had two masts, and it was fairly large. It
was supposed to be pretty fast, and they were a
little concerned about it, and they kept an eye on it,
(01:50):
and sure enough, before they could actually go and seize it,
claiming that it was actually going to be delivered to
the South, it had set sail with a crew from
britain Land or the Scottish Ire and it actually was
captained by an ex Royal Navy officer. So their only
job was to bring it overseas delivered to Charleston. That
(02:11):
wasn't fit out as a warship yet, it was still
just a civilian ship with stores actually in the hole.
Because the person who financed it was a profiteer during
the war, a Southern profiteer, and he was going to
smuggle in buttons, pins, anything he could smuggle in. He
wasn't gonna send it over empty, so he put all
of these resources in it. He was gonna smuggle in
with Charleston. He say, really, buttons and pins will make
(02:34):
you rich. Well, if all the metal for pins is
being used for cannons and all the buttons are being
used for uniforms, the civilian population has absolutely minimal access
to these supplies. So he's looking forward to bring them
in and have a payday, and then he's going to
transfer ownership of the vessel to the Confederate Navy and
then they can do with it as they see fit.
Probably be a commerce raider. It's supposed to be pretty fast.
(02:54):
Maybe it would get out and read cavoc on the
whaling fleet or something along those lines. So it's coming
across the ocean with no weapons installed. Supposedly it had
four cannons in the hull. We have two of them
here in the museum. The other two are still mysteriously unknown,
so maybe when they can find them, if I'm lucky enough.
So it's got two cannons at least in the hole,
(03:15):
and it's coming across, and what it has to do
is it has to break through the blockade. The plan
that the North took during the war was called the
Anaconda Plan. They're gonna choke out the South. One of
those is they can mostly afford a blockade around the
bigger southern ports, and then they're gonna control the Mississippi
River and with that they're gonna constrict the South. In
the submission, the harbor at Charleston was blockaded by a
(03:35):
sizable fleet, and so they had to sneak through the blockade. Well,
the main harbor New Charleston comes from, well used to
come from the south. You have to set up from
the south. To get into the city. You'd get over
the sandbar and into an achoring spot called i think
it's called five fathom hole, so to sneak in. You know,
this ship doesn't have a very narrow draft. It's not
(03:56):
like it's a paddle boat that can just go over
just a couple of feet of water, but go it
needs a draft. Well, there's a side channel called Maffitt's
Channel that runs right along an ice scenic beach. Actually,
they're going to try to follow the beach down and
then take Moffitt's Channel and then cut into the harbor
right where near Fort Moultrie is. And so the Confederates
(04:16):
owned the town, they own the forts, so the blockheading
Clee can't get too close. But once you're inside the
system of forts, as a blockade runner, you're generally safe. Well,
they're trying to sneak in, trying to stay dark, but
there's an issue. They get spotted by a lookout ship.
It's not necessarily a military vessel, but what it is
(04:38):
is it's the SS America, I believe is its name.
It's actually a famed racing yacht that took place in
some of the some early races in eighteen hundreds overseas
and actually won them, and it was never expected to
win because America never participated. Well, it actually gets commandeered
by the US Navy and it's a lookout boat in Charleston,
and it spots the Georgiana trying to sneak into the harbor,
and so it raises the lookout and it fires with
(04:59):
a small guy that raises the guns of the larger
ships like the Housatonic and the other ships in the
area have huge tenant rounds that they can fire, and
pretty soon the Gordian is getting pumbled because they don't
have any weapons on board. And also this isn't their fight.
They aren't a Confederate crew. They're just here delivering the ship.
So they summarily turn it towards shore. And run it aground.
They all get off the boat, they paddle ashore, and
(05:22):
the crews gets through relatively safe and scathe. The problem
is you have a boat sitting here now, So the
blockade starts shelling the boat to try to destroy it.
The forts also on the land start shelling the boat
because they don't want anybody to loot it for what
might be on board. So both sides keep shelling the boat,
shelling boat, shelling the boat, and eventually it burns down
(05:42):
about to the waterline. And there was a rumor that
on board this boat was a box of gold. And
it's not you know, treasure or anything like that. But
you have a foreign citizens delivering this, they have to
have some way to pay them, paying them, and your
domestic money is not going to be any help, so
let's just pay them a gold currency. So they would
have had had some way to pay the crew. They
don't know if that gold was ever taken off the boat,
(06:04):
or if it may have been left on the boat
when both sides start are destroying the boats and that
neither side could loot it. That's actually what led to
the boat's discovery was maybe there were still gold on board.
It hasn't been found to the stay.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
But what was.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
Found is millions and millions of buttons and pins and
everything just scattered across the seafloor around this thing, and
they're still there. We actually have some on display next
to our cannons. There's also jugs with medicine on them,
jugs with different various oils or bottles of oil as well.
So all of these were intended to be brought into
the port and then immediately offloaded. So the Georgiana has
(06:38):
unfortunately unceremoniously sunk. The cannons that were supposed to be
mounted on the Georgiana stayed in the hull of the ship,
and there the Georgiana would stay. It wouldn't say undisturbed,
because throughout the war multiple ships would actually run into
it and crash either on top of the Georgiana or
they would get a little bit closer to the city
of Charleston and then sink and shore. But Georgiana really
(06:59):
did a decent job for the Union of actually helping
blockade that blockade, that little blockade Runner channel, so you know,
end up helping them more than the Confederates. But it's
a fantastic history.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
And great work on the production and storytelling by Monty Montgomery.
A special thanks to John Freeman the Confederate Mystery Ship.
Here on our American story Folks, if you love the
stories we tell about this great country, and especially the
stories of America's rich past, know that all of our
(07:40):
stories about American history are brought to us by the
great folks at Hillsdale College, a place where students study
all the things that are beautiful in life and all
the things that are good in life. And if you
can't get to Hillsdale, Hillsdale will come to you with
their free and terrific online courses. Go to Hillsdale dot
edu to learn more.
This is Lee Habib and this is Our American Stories,
the show where America is the star and the American People.
To search for the Our American Stories podcast, go to
the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcast. Up next,
a story from the South Carolina Military Museum in Columbia,
South Carolina, the state's capital, about a little bit of
(00:33):
maritime history, in particular one ship called the Georgiana. Here's
John Freeman with the story.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
It's called the SS Georgiana, not the CSSs Confederates ships
were sometimes called, but the SS because technically at the time,
technically it was a civilian ship. So Georgiana started getting
made in Glasgow, actually in Scotland because it's a neutral territory.
And when the South went to war in the Civil War,
(01:07):
they didn't really have the industrial base to build a
navy that could rival the United States. I mean, that's
a tall feat. So what they did have, though, was
money from selling their cash crops overseas, and so they
would get some of these ports to build them ships
that they couldn't. This boat started getting made, and there
(01:28):
was an interesting spy game that happened between the United States.
Spies were over there watching the development of this boat
because they had suspicions this boat was going to get
sent to the South, and it was a decent boat.
So it was an iron hold, iron clad steamship that
still had two masts, and it was fairly large. It
was supposed to be pretty fast, and they were a
little concerned about it, and they kept an eye on it,
(01:50):
and sure enough, before they could actually go and seize it,
claiming that it was actually going to be delivered to
the South, it had set sail with a crew from
britain Land or the Scottish Ire and it actually was
captained by an ex Royal Navy officer. So their only
job was to bring it overseas delivered to Charleston. That
(02:11):
wasn't fit out as a warship yet, it was still
just a civilian ship with stores actually in the hole.
Because the person who financed it was a profiteer during
the war, a Southern profiteer, and he was going to
smuggle in buttons, pins, anything he could smuggle in. He
wasn't gonna send it over empty, so he put all
of these resources in it. He was gonna smuggle in
with Charleston. He say, really, buttons and pins will make
(02:34):
you rich. Well, if all the metal for pins is
being used for cannons and all the buttons are being
used for uniforms, the civilian population has absolutely minimal access
to these supplies. So he's looking forward to bring them
in and have a payday, and then he's going to
transfer ownership of the vessel to the Confederate Navy and
then they can do with it as they see fit.
Probably be a commerce raider. It's supposed to be pretty fast.
(02:54):
Maybe it would get out and read cavoc on the
whaling fleet or something along those lines. So it's coming
across the ocean with no weapons installed. Supposedly it had
four cannons in the hull. We have two of them
here in the museum. The other two are still mysteriously unknown,
so maybe when they can find them, if I'm lucky enough.
So it's got two cannons at least in the hole,
(03:15):
and it's coming across, and what it has to do
is it has to break through the blockade. The plan
that the North took during the war was called the
Anaconda Plan. They're gonna choke out the South. One of
those is they can mostly afford a blockade around the
bigger southern ports, and then they're gonna control the Mississippi
River and with that they're gonna constrict the South. In
the submission, the harbor at Charleston was blockaded by a
(03:35):
sizable fleet, and so they had to sneak through the blockade. Well,
the main harbor New Charleston comes from, well used to
come from the south. You have to set up from
the south. To get into the city. You'd get over
the sandbar and into an achoring spot called i think
it's called five fathom hole, so to sneak in. You know,
this ship doesn't have a very narrow draft. It's not
(03:56):
like it's a paddle boat that can just go over
just a couple of feet of water, but go it
needs a draft. Well, there's a side channel called Maffitt's
Channel that runs right along an ice scenic beach. Actually,
they're going to try to follow the beach down and
then take Moffitt's Channel and then cut into the harbor
right where near Fort Moultrie is. And so the Confederates
(04:16):
owned the town, they own the forts, so the blockheading
Clee can't get too close. But once you're inside the
system of forts, as a blockade runner, you're generally safe. Well,
they're trying to sneak in, trying to stay dark, but
there's an issue. They get spotted by a lookout ship.
It's not necessarily a military vessel, but what it is
(04:38):
is it's the SS America, I believe is its name.
It's actually a famed racing yacht that took place in
some of the some early races in eighteen hundreds overseas
and actually won them, and it was never expected to
win because America never participated. Well, it actually gets commandeered
by the US Navy and it's a lookout boat in Charleston,
and it spots the Georgiana trying to sneak into the harbor,
and so it raises the lookout and it fires with
(04:59):
a small guy that raises the guns of the larger
ships like the Housatonic and the other ships in the
area have huge tenant rounds that they can fire, and
pretty soon the Gordian is getting pumbled because they don't
have any weapons on board. And also this isn't their fight.
They aren't a Confederate crew. They're just here delivering the ship.
So they summarily turn it towards shore. And run it aground.
They all get off the boat, they paddle ashore, and
(05:22):
the crews gets through relatively safe and scathe. The problem
is you have a boat sitting here now, So the
blockade starts shelling the boat to try to destroy it.
The forts also on the land start shelling the boat
because they don't want anybody to loot it for what
might be on board. So both sides keep shelling the boat,
shelling boat, shelling the boat, and eventually it burns down
(05:42):
about to the waterline. And there was a rumor that
on board this boat was a box of gold. And
it's not you know, treasure or anything like that. But
you have a foreign citizens delivering this, they have to
have some way to pay them, paying them, and your
domestic money is not going to be any help, so
let's just pay them a gold currency. So they would
have had had some way to pay the crew. They
don't know if that gold was ever taken off the boat,
(06:04):
or if it may have been left on the boat
when both sides start are destroying the boats and that
neither side could loot it. That's actually what led to
the boat's discovery was maybe there were still gold on board.
It hasn't been found to the stay.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
But what was.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
Found is millions and millions of buttons and pins and
everything just scattered across the seafloor around this thing, and
they're still there. We actually have some on display next
to our cannons. There's also jugs with medicine on them,
jugs with different various oils or bottles of oil as well.
So all of these were intended to be brought into
the port and then immediately offloaded. So the Georgiana has
(06:38):
unfortunately unceremoniously sunk. The cannons that were supposed to be
mounted on the Georgiana stayed in the hull of the ship,
and there the Georgiana would stay. It wouldn't say undisturbed,
because throughout the war multiple ships would actually run into
it and crash either on top of the Georgiana or
they would get a little bit closer to the city
of Charleston and then sink and shore. But Georgiana really
(06:59):
did a decent job for the Union of actually helping
blockade that blockade, that little blockade Runner channel, so you know,
end up helping them more than the Confederates. But it's
a fantastic history.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
And great work on the production and storytelling by Monty Montgomery.
A special thanks to John Freeman the Confederate Mystery Ship.
Here on our American story Folks, if you love the
stories we tell about this great country, and especially the
stories of America's rich past, know that all of our
(07:40):
stories about American history are brought to us by the
great folks at Hillsdale College, a place where students study
all the things that are beautiful in life and all
the things that are good in life. And if you
can't get to Hillsdale, Hillsdale will come to you with
their free and terrific online courses. Go to Hillsdale dot
edu to learn more.
Host
Lee Habeeb
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