Stone Fleet
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Stone Fleet was a series of aging ships deliberately sunk during the American Civil War by the Union Navy in various places along the coasts of South Carolina and Georgia. The ships were sunk to serve as breakwaters, wharves to land Union troops, and to help block access to the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina, in hopes of delaying blockade runners from supplying Confederate interests.
Contents |
[edit] History
Various old ships, specifically purchased by the Navy for this purpose, were loaded with stone and sand, or filled with dirt, then towed to a designated spot and sunk as a hazard to all craft that passed. Twenty-four whaleships were sunk in Charleston Harbor by Captain Charles Henry Davis, beginning on 19 December 1861. A second fleet of 12 to 20 vessels was sunk in nearby Mafitt's Channel in 1862. The operation was under the direction of Samuel Francis DuPont, Flag Officer commanding the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron. Confederate general Robert E. Lee called the measure "an abortive expression of the malice and revenge" of the North.
Historians disagree as to the success of the Stone Fleet, since other channels of the Charleston Harbor remained open and the ships broke up in a year or two. However, others note that sufficient time was given for the North to build more gunboats to patrol the harbor.
The event inspired Herman Melville to write the poem entitled, "The Stone Fleet".
[edit] List of ships in the Stone Fleet
- Amazon (bark) 318 tons
- American 329 tons
- Archer (ship) 332 tons, possibly grounded on Savannah Bar Shoals
- Corea (ship) 356 tons
- Cossack (bark) 254 tons
- Courier (ship) 381 tons
- Fortune (bark) 292 tons
- Garland 243 tons
- Frances Henrietta (bark) 407 tons
- Harvest (ship) 314 tons, not sunk, kept as a coal scow
- Herald (ship) 274 tons
- Kensington (ship) 357 tons, mentioned in Melville's poem.
- L.C. Richmond (ship), 341 tons, mentioned in Melville's poem as the Richmond
- Leonidas (bark) 231 tons, mentioned in Melville's poem; Master John Howland in command
- Lewis (ship) 308 tons, ran aground near Tybee Island
- Maria Theresa (ship) 330 tons
- Meteor (ship) ran aground 4 December 1861
- Phoenix whaler, 404 tons, sunk as a breakwater for Union troops invading Tybee Island
- Peter DeMill (bark) 300 tons
- Potomac (ship) 356 tons
- Rebecca Sims (ship) or Rebecca Simms or Rebecca Ann, 400 tons
- Robin Hood, East Indiaman (trading vessel), 395 tons, 400 feet
- South America 606 tons
- Tenedos (bark), 245 tons, 300 feet, mentioned in Melville's poem.
- Timor (ship)
[edit] List of ships in the second fleet
- America (ship) 418 tons
- Dove (bark) 151 tons
- Edward (bark) 274 tons
- Emerald (ship) 518 tons
- India (ship) 366 tons
- Jubilee (bark) 233 tons
- Majestic (bark) 297 tons
- Marcia (bark) 356 tons
- Margaret Scott (bark) 330 tons
- Mechanic (ship) 335 tons
- Messenger (bark) 216 tons
- Montezuma (ship) 424 tons
- Newburyport (ship) 341 tons
- New England (ship) 368 tons
- Noble (bark) 274 tons
- Peri (bark) 261 tons, missing off Charleston, SC, January 25, 1862.
- Stephen Young (brig) 200 tons
- Valparaiso (ship) 402 tons
- Wm. Lee (ship), 311 tons, mentioned in Melville's poem as the Lee, a whaler out of Newport, Rhode Island
[edit] References
This article includes text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.
