Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 21.djvu/272

 264 Southern Historical Society Papers.

noise was allowed on board, the only exception to the rule being a splendid Arabian steed brought in for President Davis. No precau- tion was omitted to prevent discovery. During my stay on Confede- rate Point at least one hundred different steamers were engaged in running the blockade in the Cape Fear river, and very few were captured before making one round trip. The squadron off Wilming- ton reported sixty-five steam blockade runners captured or destroyed during the war. The most skillful sailors were secured as com- manders, and Confederate and British naval officers were engaged when practicable, the latter being on leave under assumed names. One thousand pounds sterling was paid to a captain for a successful trip. The pilots, who were most essential to success, received as high as R> 750 for the round trip. It was usual to pay half the sum in ad- vance. The most fortunate of the commanders of my acquaintance was Captain John N. Wilkinson, of the Confederate States Navy, who in ten months made twenty-one trips in the British side-wheel steamer " Giraffe," which was purchased by the Confederate Govern- ment and named the R. E. Lee. Captain Roberts, whose real name was Hon. Augustus C. Hobart Hampden, and who afterwards as Hobart Pasha commanded the Turkish Navy until his death, was also most successful, running the " Don" between Nassau and Wilming- ton, with the regularity of a packet boat. Captain Murray, who was C. Murray Ay nsley, now a retired admiral in the British Navy, and who re- ceived rapid promotion for distinguished and gallant service from the government, after our war, was not only successful, but forced to show more skill and pluck than the others, having to run the gauntlet of the blockade squadron by daylight on two occasions, receiving shot in his vessel each time.

As blockade-running was of such vital interest to the Southern cause, I did everything to foster it, and New Inlet, protected by Fort Fisher, became the most popular entrance to the South. Wilming- ton was the last gateway closed, and during the last year that I com- manded the fort, there was scarcely a dark night that I was not called upon the ramparts to admit a friendly vessel. Had I time I would dwell on some of the many interesting events in blockade running at Fort Fisher, but it is quite impossible in the limit necessarily put upon this narrative. The running through the squadron and safely over the bar in daylight of the powder-laden " Cornubia," in 1862, and the " A. D. Vance," with a party of ladies and Dr. Hoge, of