From the Clyde to Cape Fear

A recent archaeological find in the Cape Fear River in North Carolina leads right back to Greenock. The remains are of a blockade runner, believed to be the Agnes E Fry which sunk in 1864.  The ship was built by Cairds shipyard in Greenock, originally for the coastal mail service.

Her Captain, Joseph Fry (1826-1873) joined the United States navy as a midshipman in 1841 and worked his way up to the rank of lieutenant.  During the American Civil War he joined the Confederate Navy.  In 1864 he was sent to Scotland to pick up the ship Fox which he renamed Agnes E Fry after his wife Agnes Evaline.

The iron paddle steamer Fox had been built in 1864 by Caird & Company, shipbuilders in their east yard in Greenock.  Here is a report of her launch from the local paper - the Greenock Advertiser.

The ship was bought by Crenshaw & Co of Wilmington, North Carolina.  Captain Fry sailed the ship from the Clyde to the Bahamas.  The Agnes E Fry then made three successful runs into Wilmington before being run ashore and sunk in the Cape Fear River near Oak Island in December of 1864.

Captain Fry is more usually associated with another Clyde ship,Virginius.  Launched from Aitken & Mansell's yard at Kelvinhaugh, Glasgow in 1864 she also became a blockade runner and survived.  In 1873 Captain Fry took command of the Virginius in Jamaica.  He also took on board "war materials" (arms and munitions) and insurgents heading to Cuba.  On the way they were intercepted by the Spanish gunship Tornado (formerly the famous Pampero, built by J & G Thomson at Govan in Glasgow).

Captain Fry surrendered and the Virginius with all on board were taken to Santigo de Cuba.
 

It is a long and complicated story and has been well documented elsewhere - read here.   The upshot was that Captain Fry (who became known as the Cuban Martyr) and 53 others were executed by firing squad.  A British ship, the Niobe under the command of Captain Sir Lambton Loraine steamed into port and Sir Lambton demanded that the executions should cease.  He managed to calm things down, but the incident created a major international outcry.

The Virginius was returned to the United States, but by this time she was unseaworthy and sank off Cape Fear.
Anyone interested in Clyde ships used as blockade runners should read "Clydebuilt" by Eric J Graham.  It is full of information about the ships and their adventures.  I've written about it here.

Blockade Runners from the Clyde

Anyone who has found the recent BBC Scotland series "Clydebuilt: the ships that made the Commonwealth" interesting would do well to look out for the book of called "Clydebuilt"  written by Eric J Graham (ISBN 9781841585804).  First published by Birlinn Limited in 2006 it is a fabulous account of the Clyde built ships which became blockade runners during the American Civil War.

Being a Greenockian, I was particularly interested in the part played by Greenock ship builders and owners in this trade.  Many of the blockade runners started off as mail boats taking mail and passengers around the west coast of Britain.  Shipbuilders were always competing to make their boats faster, so that their owners could win the lucrative mail contracts.  They also had to be strong enough to sail across to Ireland.  The Giraffe was one of these ships built in Glasgow.  Her first trip was from Greenock carrying a group of Glasgow businessmen.  Having proved her worth, she was sent to a Glasgow yard to be converted to a blockade runner.  All this was reported back to the United States by spies who staked out the Clyde shipbuilding yards and kept track of likely vessels.

Giraffe sailed to Nassau, Bahamas at the end of 1862 with a cargo of munitions and machinery as well as some Scottish lithographers.  There her Scottish crew were paid off and a new crew taken on under the leadership of John Wilkinson, a well known blockade runner.  She got through the blockade and arrived at Wilmington.  There she was renamed the Robert E Lee and had a very successful time as a runner.  At the end of 1863 she was captured by USS James Adger, acquired by the US Navy and renamed Fort Donelson.  You can read the fascinating account of Wilkinson's time as a blockade runner here (Narrative of a Blockade Runner) and particularly the exciting trip aboard the Giraffe.

This is just one of the amazing stories told in this book.  Tales of spies, clandestine sailings, and the money that could be made by taking chances on running the blockade make "Clydebuilt" a very interesting read, especially as the many shipbuilders and owners names are very familiar in the west of Scotland.  Eric  J Graham had done a tremendous amount of research and it is refreshing to read about such a fascinating subject purely from a Scottish perspective.

The Greenockian