"Sir: Inclosed I forward to the Department a list of those of the crew of the blockade runner Pevensey, which ran on shore and was destroyed by her crew near Beaufort, N.C., on the 9th ultimo, who are now detained at Camp Hamilton, Fort Monroe, and at Point Lookout. The late master of the Pevensey was detained by Captain Gansevoort as a witness, he supposing that a portion of the cargo of the blockade runner was saved and would be sent North as a prize.
"The others are detained as habitual violators of the blockade under the instructions of the Department, dated May 9, 1864, to Rear Admiral Farragut, forwarded to me for my information May 16, 1864.
"The examination of these men took place in presence of Commander Peirce Crosby and Lieut. Commander Chester Hatfield. The chief officer of the Pevensey, Joseph Brown, is detained at Camp Hamilton as an habitual violator of the blockade; all the others are detained at Point Lookout. I have requested the commandant of the post at Fort Monroe to discharge the master of the Pevensey, as there is no longer any reason for detaining him, the vessel and cargo having proved a total loss.
"I have the honor to be, Sir,
"Very respectfully,
"S.P. Lee,
"Acting Rear Admiral,
"Comdg. North Atlantic Blockading Squadron.
"Hon. Gideon Welles,
"Secretary of the Navy."
The "Ella and Annie."
The chief purpose of this book was to record the incidents leading to the stranding of blockade runners upon the Cape Fear coast while endeavoring to elude the Federal cruisers in the War between the States. There were more than three times as many captured or sunk at sea; and a recital of some of these exciting chases would make another volume.
I am tempted, however, to include in these stories of derelicts, an official account of the attempt of the Confederate steamer Ella and Annie, in command of Captain Bonneau, with whom I was comparatively intimate, to run down the Federal cruiser Niphon, which opposed her entrance into the Cape Fear River, on the 9th of November, 1863, because this incident was of unusual daring on the part of Captain Bonneau, who was liable to be hanged as a pirate for such temerity.
The Ella and Annie was subsequently armed and equipped as the U.S. flagship Malvern and served that purpose until the end of the war.