"It had been a hard week for me, as I had no clothes except what I had on when we were boarded, my servant very cleverly, as he imagined, having thrown my portmanteau into the man-of-war's boat when he thought I was going to be captured, and all I had in the world was the old serge suit in which I stood. Being without a change and wet through every day and night for six days consecutively, it is little wonder that I caught fever and ague, of which I nearly died in Richmond, and which distressing complaint stuck to me for more than eighteen months. I shall never forget, on going to a store in Wilmington for a new rig-out (which by the by cost $1,200), the look of horror on the storekeeper's face when I told him the coat I had purchased would do if he cut a foot off it; he thought it such a waste of expensive material."
The Three-Funnel Boats.
In the latter part of the War between the States, the experience of the blockade runners evolved a superior type of construction for great speed, shallow depth of hold, and increased furnace draught, for which three funnels were provided. A very interesting and unusual sight were these three-funnel boats. I recall their names, Falcon, Flamingo, Condor, Ptarmigan, Vulture. Mr. Taylor in his book says that Admiral Hewett commanded the Falcon on an ill-fated voyage, but I remember it was the Condor and also that one of the passengers was the celebrated and unfortunate lady Mrs. "Greenhow" or "Greenough," who lost her life when the Condor ran aground near the bar. The Condor went to pieces when she was stranded, the crew escaping to the shore.
The "Pevensey."
The last stranded steamer on my list, the Pevensey, was probably named for the Earl of Wilmington, who was also Viscount Pevensey.
Her chief officer, who gave his name to his captors as Joseph Brown, was undoubtedly Joseph Brown Long, who ran the blockade many times in the Cornubia as chief officer with Captain Burroughs, and as the right-hand man of Maj. Norman S. Walker, the Confederate agent at Bermuda. He was greatly esteemed by all Southerners. I recall his many kindnesses to me with gratefulness.
I quote in full the official reports of the stranding and destruction of the Pevensey.
Destruction of the Blockade Runner "Pevensey,"
June 9, 1864.
(Report of Acting Volunteer Lieutenant Harris,
U.S. Navy.)
"U.S.S. 'New Berne,'
"Hampton Roads, Va., June 16.