While looking up stuff on the USS Wissahickon, I came across information that it and the USS America ran the blockade runner Georgiana ashore by Charleston Harbor. I'd also never heard of the Georgiana, so looked it up.
The Georgiana was a 580-ton, 205.6 feet long, 25.2 beam, brig-rigged steamer built in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1862. In 1863, it ran the blockade into Charleston harbor with 140 crew, 18 cannons, 10,000 Enfield rifles, and $90,000 in gold.
It was to be converted into a Confederate warship and under the command of Br. Commander A.B. Davidson.
It flashed the Confederate flag in Maffit's Channel and was attacked by the USS Wissahickon and USS America early on the morning of March 19, 1863 and run aground. The gold was supposedly removed. Union troops boarded it and removed some of the cargo. Attempts to refloat her failed and the ship was burned.
Later, the blockade-runners Norseman, Mary Bowers, and Constance Decimer ran into the submerged hull and sank.
Further salvage occurred in the 1870s and more recently artifacts have been recovered from it.
Never Heard of It. --Old B-Runner
The Battle of Fort Fisher, N.C.
Showing posts with label USS Wissahickon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label USS Wissahickon. Show all posts
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
USS Wissahickon
I'd never heard of the USS Wissahickon before, especially as an ironclad. I am somewhat familiar with many of the Union ironclads names, but not this one, so I went to good old Wipkipedia for some more information.
It turns out that the Wissahickon was not an ironclad, but a 691-ton Unadilla Class screw steamer gunboat built in Philadelphia and commissioned in November, 1861. It took part in the campaign to capture New Orleans that year, in the bombardment of Grand Gulf, and made two runs past Vicksburg.
Later, it was transferred to the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron and took parts in bombardments of Fort McAllister three times in 1862 and 1863 and participated in the destruction of the Rattlesnake/CSS Nashville on February 28, 1863, along with the Monitor USS Montauk, USS Seneca and USS Dawn.
It mounted an 11-inch Dahlgren gun, a 20-pdr. and 2 X 24 pdrs. It was 158.4 feet long and had a 28-foot beam.
A Ship By Another Name. --Old B-Runner
It turns out that the Wissahickon was not an ironclad, but a 691-ton Unadilla Class screw steamer gunboat built in Philadelphia and commissioned in November, 1861. It took part in the campaign to capture New Orleans that year, in the bombardment of Grand Gulf, and made two runs past Vicksburg.
Later, it was transferred to the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron and took parts in bombardments of Fort McAllister three times in 1862 and 1863 and participated in the destruction of the Rattlesnake/CSS Nashville on February 28, 1863, along with the Monitor USS Montauk, USS Seneca and USS Dawn.
It mounted an 11-inch Dahlgren gun, a 20-pdr. and 2 X 24 pdrs. It was 158.4 feet long and had a 28-foot beam.
A Ship By Another Name. --Old B-Runner
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