NORTH CAROLINA NAVY.

By ADAM TREDWELL, Acrinc Paymaster N. C. Navy, ASSISTANT
PayYMASTER CONFEDERATE States Navy. d

The State of North Carolina, more than a month (14 and
15 April) before passing the ordinance of secession, took
possession of the forts at Beaufort and below Wilmington
and immediately after its passage began the defences of her
inland sounds by the construction of forts at Hatteras and
Ocracoke Inlets, and by the purchase of several small steam-
ers, which were converted into gun-boats. After the ordi-
nance of secession was passed, her sons, who were in
the United States Navy, tendered their resignations, and
placed their services at the disposal of their native State,
prominent among them was William T. Muse, who was or-
dered by the Naval and Military Board, of which Warren
Winslow was Secretary, to Norfolk, Va., to take charge of,
and fit out, as gun-boats at the navy yard at Norfolk, the
steamers purchased by the State.

The first of them to be placed in commission was the Wins-
low, formerly the J. EH. Coffee, a side-wheel steamer, plying
between Norfolk, Virginia, and the eastern shore of Vir-
ginia, under command of Captain Patrick McCarrick. When
the Coffee was purchased by the State of North Carolina,
Captain McCarrick was commissioned a Master in the North
Carolina Navy, and remained attached to her until she was
sunk in Ocracoke Inlet in November, 1861. She mounted
one short 32-pounder, and was commanded by Lieutenant
Thomas M. Crossan, formerly of the United States Navy.
Acting under orders he proceeded to Pamlico Sound, N. C.
Upon the outside of Hatteras and Ocracoke Inlets he preyed
on the commerce of the North, and captured a number of ves-
sels loaded with different kinds of merchandise. From the
Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies, Series

Ly whet: Capa, OO d Volume t; the names of the following — oy jem
5 Sees hee er one i a ack f Brig Itasca, brig William McGilvery, schooners Seawitch,
4 sieut., Commanding the ‘* Shenandoah.
5,

y James Knight Wood, Sailor, on Gunboat ** North Carolina.”’
. Gilbert Elliott, Builder of the ‘* Albemarle.”’

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