On the night of October 16,1863, a hundred man Union naval landing party landed at Ballast Point along Tampa's Hillsborough River and marched north along the bank to what is today Lowry Park where they found the Kate Dale, a sloop made of live oak and pine, loaded with cotton and preparing to run the blockade to Cuba.
This ship was owned by maritime pioneer and future Tampa mayor Captain James McKay.
The USS Tahoma and USS Adela first shelled Confederate Fort Brooke near present downtown Tampa as a diversion.
The force captured and then burned the Kate Dale and nearby Scottish Chieftain, sinking both.
TODAY
For years, the Kate Dale's wreck stayed right there, with its ribs exposed sometimes at low tide. Most people thought it was an old dock. According to legend, the Scottish Chieftain was towed downriver where its engines were taken for use on another ship.
About a third of the Kate Dales 80 foot length remains in anywhere from a few feet to 15 feet of water. The rest has either rotted, been swept away by currents, or salvaged by local residents.
Two years ago, the Florida Aquarium started an underwater mapping project and "found" the Kate Dale again. For two weeks in May, a team of divers led by marine archaeologist Billy Morris, carefully mapped the remains in zero visibility water. There are no plans to raise the wreck.
In 1982, the Tampa Tribune had an article about Calvin "Poppa" Taylor, a local treasure hunter who got inside information from a McKay descendant. He posed with a steering wheel from either the Kate Dale or Scottish Chieftain.
From May 22nd Tampa Bay Online by Keith Morelli of the Tampa Tribune.
And, I Never Thought of Blockade-Running From Tampa. --Old B-Runner
The Battle of Fort Fisher, N.C.
