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The last year of the war evolved a superior type of blockade
runner of great speed, many of which were commanded by
celebrated men of nerve and experience. Of these may be
mentioned at random and from memory: the Lilian, Captain

Maffitt ; the Little Hattie, Captain Libby; the Florie, named for

Captain Maftitt’s daughter; the Agnes E. Fry, commanded by
that noble but unfortunat

e naval officer, Capt. Joseph Fry;
the Chicora, still running in Canadian waters ; the Let Her Rip;
the Let Her Be; also the fleet of three-funnel boats, one of

which, the Condor, was commanded by the famous Admiral
Hewitt, of the British N avy, who won the Victoria Cross in
the Crimea, and who was knighted by Queen Victoria for his
distinguished services as special envoy to King John of Abys-
sinia. The Falcon, another, was commanded for one voyage by
Hobart Pasha; the Flamingo, the Ptarmigan, and the Vulture,
were also of the three-funnel type.

Another notable British officer who ran the blockade was the
gallant Burgoyne, who was lost in the iron-clad Captain in the

Bay of Biscay, which vessel he commanded on that unfortunate
voyage.

Capt. Thomas Lockwood, a North Carolinian, was

? ?
haps, the most noted of the commercial class.

His last com-
mand was the celebrated steamer Colonel Lamb, named for the
defender of Fort Fisher.

This was the largest, the finest, and
the fastest of all the ships

on either side during the war. She
was a paddle-steamer, built of steel, 281 feet long, 36 feet beam,

and 15 feet depth of hold. Her tonnage was 1,788 tons. At

the time she was built, 1864, she was the fastest vessel afloat,

ined on her trial a speed of sixteen and three-fourth
, or about nineteen miles an hour. Captain Lockwood
made several successful runs in this fine ship, and escaped to
England at the close of the war. The Colonel Lamb was sold to
the Greek Government, and subseqently, under another name,
was blown up while in the Mersey loaded with war supplies.
Other fast boats » Lox, Dream, Stag, Edith,
Atalanta, Virginia, Charlotte, Banshee and Night Hawk.
Another merchant commander of distinction was Captain

; 53
Blockade Running +

Halpin, who was very skillful and successful. puligr cas
commanded the famous leviathan, — Eastern, while
ing the Atlantic cable.

Ne right FT fact that, although speed a —
the first essential to success, some of the slowest vessels = ov

in the traffic were the most fortunate. The Pet, for re es :
was a very slow steamer, yet she made the — ze =
them, through the blockade with the regularity of am ess

I think this was due to the superior skill of her comma 2 =
who exercised great caution and never became excited re :
place. The Antonica was another slow, lumbering boat, =
was said of her that when she was fairly set on = ree ae
tween Nassau and Wilmington they could simply = = aoa
and she would go in or out “by herself.” The = ae —
hound, and others were equally slow coaches, but ha ,

: h ed life.
" Te lea cee was, like that of the Bat, as related

the part of
iv, a notable example of cowardice on
= poss, fine, large steamer, which had successfully

run into Wilmington, was ordered to be sold in this sie =
she was bought by a number of prominent citizens an =

chants, one of whom was Mr. Edward Kidder. She was laden
with a very valuable cargo of cotton and tobacco and put to =
for Nassau. On the second day out she was chased, as 2
thought, by a cruiser which steadily gained on her, one when
the stranger fired a small gun, the captain of the Merrumac
ignominiously surrendered to an unarined passenger steamer,
whose little popgun, containing a blank cartridge used for ae:
nals in those days, would not have harmed a fly. This inciden

caused much merriment on board the passenger steamer, which
profited largely in the prize money.

THE NORTH CAROLINA BLOCKADE RUNNER
“ADVANCE.”

The following communication, prepared for me by on —
Col. James G. Burr, of Wilmington, will be read with in a :
“In the month of August, 1862, Zebulon B. Vance, then

colonel of a North Carolina regiment serving in omega =
Northern Virginia, and quite a young man, was elected gov

nor of the State by a large majority. He did not seek the

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