The Civil War Adventures of a Blockade Runner

The Civil War Adventures of a Blockade Runner PDF Author: William Watson
Publisher: Texas A&M University Press
ISBN: 9781585441525
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 358

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Book Description
William Watson published his account of the two years he spent evading Union gunboats and dealing with the "sharpers" who fed off the misfortune of war in 1892. Using log books, personal papers, and business memoranda, he sought to write a "plain, blunt" account of "events just as they happened." Instead, he wrote a classic adventure tale whose careful description of seafaring in the 1860s gives us a glimpse into a world now closed to us. Watson is the protagonist, but he shares his story with his ship, the Rob Roy, a center-board schooner whose shallow draft and wide beam made it the ideal vessel for slipping over shoals and dashing in and out of blockaded ports. He peoples his account with the good, the bad, and the unlucky, from the likeable and irrepressible Captain Dave McLusky to the loathsome and dishonest Mr. R. M. He takes his reader from Havana, where land sharks greeted incoming sailors, to Galveston, where sharp businessmen and corrupt officials connived to confiscate both profits and ships. He stops at Matamora, a dusty place on "a bare and barren coast," and he visits General Magruder in Houston. His crew brave gales and a hurricane that drives the Rob Roy back thirty miles; and he survives plots against his ship and his life. Through it all, Watson enjoys himself. Blockade running, he declares, was not "unlawful or dishonourable." Rather, it was "a bold and daring enterprise," an "exciting sport of the higher order," like racing yachts, and an almost obligatory act of defiance of a blockade "maintained by no other right than by the force of arms." The "commission merchants" did better than the blockade runners. But Watson recalled his years dodging federal gunboats and outwitting petty officials, treacherous crew, and dishonest businessmen as "much more congenial than the extortions and deceitful wheedling and trickeries of the legitimate trade." This is an adventure story held together by the nuts and bolts of sailing. Watson's discussion of why sail was superior to steam for running blockades is superb; his detailed accounts of surviving gales and outrunning Federal cruisers are fascinating. He takes yellow fever and high sea chases in stride. Through it all, he maintains his honor and guards his profits. For the reader who wants to ply the Gulf of Mexico under sail, play the lottery in Havana, and visit Texas when it was "a new country," Watson is the perfect guide to run the blockade that time imposes on posterity.

The Civil War Adventures of a Blockade Runner

The Civil War Adventures of a Blockade Runner PDF Author: William Watson
Publisher: Texas A&M University Press
ISBN: 9781585441525
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 358

Get Book Here

Book Description
William Watson published his account of the two years he spent evading Union gunboats and dealing with the "sharpers" who fed off the misfortune of war in 1892. Using log books, personal papers, and business memoranda, he sought to write a "plain, blunt" account of "events just as they happened." Instead, he wrote a classic adventure tale whose careful description of seafaring in the 1860s gives us a glimpse into a world now closed to us. Watson is the protagonist, but he shares his story with his ship, the Rob Roy, a center-board schooner whose shallow draft and wide beam made it the ideal vessel for slipping over shoals and dashing in and out of blockaded ports. He peoples his account with the good, the bad, and the unlucky, from the likeable and irrepressible Captain Dave McLusky to the loathsome and dishonest Mr. R. M. He takes his reader from Havana, where land sharks greeted incoming sailors, to Galveston, where sharp businessmen and corrupt officials connived to confiscate both profits and ships. He stops at Matamora, a dusty place on "a bare and barren coast," and he visits General Magruder in Houston. His crew brave gales and a hurricane that drives the Rob Roy back thirty miles; and he survives plots against his ship and his life. Through it all, Watson enjoys himself. Blockade running, he declares, was not "unlawful or dishonourable." Rather, it was "a bold and daring enterprise," an "exciting sport of the higher order," like racing yachts, and an almost obligatory act of defiance of a blockade "maintained by no other right than by the force of arms." The "commission merchants" did better than the blockade runners. But Watson recalled his years dodging federal gunboats and outwitting petty officials, treacherous crew, and dishonest businessmen as "much more congenial than the extortions and deceitful wheedling and trickeries of the legitimate trade." This is an adventure story held together by the nuts and bolts of sailing. Watson's discussion of why sail was superior to steam for running blockades is superb; his detailed accounts of surviving gales and outrunning Federal cruisers are fascinating. He takes yellow fever and high sea chases in stride. Through it all, he maintains his honor and guards his profits. For the reader who wants to ply the Gulf of Mexico under sail, play the lottery in Havana, and visit Texas when it was "a new country," Watson is the perfect guide to run the blockade that time imposes on posterity.

The adventures of a blockade runner; or, Trade in time of war

The adventures of a blockade runner; or, Trade in time of war PDF Author: William Watson (of Skelmorlie.)
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 364

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Book Description


Running the Blockade

Running the Blockade PDF Author: Thomas E. Taylor
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : United States
Languages : en
Pages : 316

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Book Description
A Civil War personal narrative that presents to us from the pen of a principal actor the most complete account we have of a great blockade in the days of steam.

Lifeline of the Confederacy

Lifeline of the Confederacy PDF Author: Stephen R. Wise
Publisher: Reaktion Books
ISBN: 9780872497993
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 436

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Book Description
One of the finest original works on the Civil War. -- Civil War News

A Scottish Blockade Runner in the American Civil War

A Scottish Blockade Runner in the American Civil War PDF Author: John F. Messner
Publisher: Whittles
ISBN: 9781849954822
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 264

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Book Description
The untold story of Joannes Wyllie, son of a gardener from Fife, one of the most successful blockade runners of the American Civil War Features his life of adventure and action; he was once declared dead, survived shipwrecks and shark attack, and successfully commanded ships across the globe The most comprehensive history of the Ad-Vance is provided, from departing Glasgow until capture off the Carolina coast

Jenkins~

Jenkins~ PDF Author: A.V. Harrison Publishing
Publisher: AV Harrison Publishing
ISBN: 9780982971352
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 320

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Book Description
Born into a prominent Baltimore family in 1811, C.T. Jenkins defies his father's demands that he continue the Jenkins' family enterprise and makes a dash into the pages of Confederate history. After his capture by Union forces off Florida's Gulf Coast for the crime of blockade running and facing a life sentence, Jenkins realizes that to survive his ordeal he must face the challenge of realigning with his Baltimore family.

The Narrative of a Blockade-runner

The Narrative of a Blockade-runner PDF Author: J. Wilkinson
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Blockade
Languages : en
Pages : 260

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Book Description


The Adventures of a Blockade Runner

The Adventures of a Blockade Runner PDF Author: William Watson
Publisher: Рипол Классик
ISBN: 5878530880
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 353

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Book Description


Never Caught

Never Caught PDF Author: Augustus Charles Hobart-Hampden
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 140

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Book Description


Civil War Blockade Running on the Texas Coast

Civil War Blockade Running on the Texas Coast PDF Author: Andrew W. Hall
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
ISBN: 1625850247
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 145

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Book Description
In the last months of the American Civil War, the upper Texas coast became a hive of blockade running. Though Texas was often considered an isolated backwater in the conflict, the Union's pervasive and systematic seizure of Southern ports left Galveston as one of the only strongholds of foreign imports in the anemic supply chain to embattled Confederate forces. Long, fast steamships ran in and out of the city's port almost every week, bound to and from Cuba. Join author Andrew W. Hall as he explores the story of Texas's Civil War blockade runners--a story of daring, of desperation and, in many cases, of patriotism turning coat to profiteering.