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DERELICTS
THE CHASE OF THE LILIAN
DERELICTS
AN ACCOUNT OF SHIPS LOST AT SEA INGENERAL COMMERCIAL TRAFFIC ANDA BRIEF HISTORY OF BLOCKADERUNNERS STRANDED ALONG THENORTH CAROLINA COAST 1861-1865
BY
JAMES SPRUNT
Author of "CHRONICLES OF THE CAPE FEAR RIVER"
WILMINGTON, N.C.
1920
Copyright 1920
BY
James Sprunt
The Lord Baltimore Press
BALTIMORE, MD., U.S.A.
To
J. G. deROULHAC HAMILTON
ALUMNI PROFESSOR OF HISTORY
UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA
WHOSE GENIUS FOR THINGS HISTORICAL INSPIREDME WITH A DESIRE TO CONTRIBUTE SOME REMINISCENCESOF A STRANGE TRAFFIC THROUGH A BELEAGUREDCITY TO THE HISTORY OF THE LOWER CAPE FEAR.
"Some night to the lee of the land I shall steal,
(Heigh-ho to be home from the sea!)
No pilot but Death at the rudderless wheel,
(None knoweth the harbor as he!)
To lie where the slow tide creeps hither and fro
And the shifting sand laps me around, for I know
That my gallant old crew are in Port long ago—
Forever at peace with the sea!"
The Song of the Derelict.
Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae.
FOREWORD.
About twenty-five years ago I wrote for the Southport Leader a seriesof stories of the Cape Fear blockade from my personal experiences asa participant in the blockade runners Advance, Eugénie, NorthHeath, Lilian, Susan Beirne, and finally in the Alonzo, wh