Curved timber found decades ago on North Carolina beach may have belonged to a Civil War blockade runner

(NC Office of State Archaeology)

Forty years ago, someone walking North Carolina’s Kure Beach found a curved piece of timber pocked with holes and containing a piece of iron. 

Eventually, the finder tired of keeping it at home. A friend on Friday donated the “old piece of wood” -- which may have an exciting past -- to the state. 

Experts are speculating it may have been used to fashion the hull of a Civil War blockade runner. There is no way to know for sure; it's possible the timber dates to the 20th century.

Assistant state archaeologist Stephen Atkinson, who wrote about the donation in a Facebook post, tells the Picket the timber could be from a small coastal fishing and trading schooner. Such vessels were used to run the Union blockade on Southern ports.

Swift blockade runners carried a mix of war materiel and goods to the port in exchange for exported cotton and other items.

The ships carried items to and from Europe, largely via the Bahamas and Bermuda.

Enterprising owners took the risk of running the gauntlet of U.S. Navy ships trying to keep them away from vital ports, including Wilmington, which is about 15 miles north of Kure Beach. But most of the runs succeeded and it was a lucrative business.

Wilmington was ideally situated for blockade-running. Located 28 miles up the Cape Fear River, it was free from enemy bombardment as long as the forts at the mouth of the river remained in Confederate hands.

In his post, first reported by the Charlotte Observer, Atkinson detailed an initial analysis of the timber.

(NC Office of State Archaeology)

“While it may seem like just an old piece of wood, these frames can be a wealth of information by assessing a few key features. Its width, length, and curvature suggest that we have nearly the whole profile of the vessel, and the transverse holes near its base indicate where it had been fastened to a floor timber…

“The sporadic and numerous trunnel holes show that the vessel may have been planked and replanked numerous times, suggesting a long working life. Finally, the wild and tight grain appears to be live oak, which lends to the resiliency of the timber throughout time, regardless of the huge knot in it, and also could indicate local construction. All of this fits the bill of a coastal trading schooner, used in North Carolina for a lengthy span of time for activities from fishing to running blockades in the Civil War.”

(NC Office of State Archaeology)

Assistant state archaeologist Nathan Henry told the Picket such schooners were called “corn crackers” and were used to haul farm produce to Wilmington.

“During the Civil War, small schooners were occasionally used for coasting voyages to the Bahamas to acquire salt for sale in the blockaded states," Henry said. "There are numerous accounts in the ORN of schooners being caught, or nearly caught in route by the blockaders. Invariably when the Navy visited the smaller towns adjacent the inlets, small schooners were discovered.”  (ORN is an abbreviation for "Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion.")

Interestingly, few blockade runners were owned by Southern entrepreneurs.

The trade “was monopolized by English and Scottish merchants who had ships and capital to invest in this hazardous but lucrative trade,” according to NCPedia.com. “British firms dispatched both luxury items and war matériel to the West Indies in regular merchant ships for transfer to blockade-runners, which would arrive in port loaded with cotton.”

In mid-1863, the Confederacy ordered captains to carry 50 percent in war goods, such as uniforms, rifles, artillery and munitions.

The Cape Fear Shipwreck District contains the remains of 21 Civil War-era ships, 15 of which were steam-powered blockade runners, according to the state. Among the wrecks is the Agnes E. Fry, site of dives and research in recent years.

Wreck of the Agnes E. Fry (NCDNCR)

The other five wrecks are four Union military vessels and one Confederate ship.

“Nowhere in the world is there a comparable concentration of vessel remains,” says the Office of State Archaeology.

(NC Office of State Archaeology)

“The majority of the blockade runners were lost when they were stranded along the beach or on inlet shoals and sank in shallow waters. Upon wrecking, a vessel became the focus of furious attempts to save it and its cargo,” according to the Office of State Archaeology.

“The Federals had the decided advantage in efforts to recover the total vessel since they could approach from the sea with tugboats. The Confederates concentrated on a wreck's cargo, which was not only more important to their specific needs but could be unloaded with ease onto the beaches which they controlled.”

Officials say the remains of these vessels help tell the story of the transition from sail to steam and from wood to iron.

(January 2021: I asked Stephen Atkinson, assistant state archaeologist, for an update. His reply: “Seeing as the timber was/is in stable condition and an isolated/out-of-context donation, no further research is being pursued at this time as our office has since shifted to other emerging finds and donations.”)

• Blockade runner dioramas rich with detail