Posted inMaritime & Naval History US Civil War

The Affair Off Charleston

The Official Dispatches

Washington. Feb. 9. —A bearer of official dispatches from the fleet off Charleston has arrived here. The following is from rear admiral Dupont concerning the rebel attack on our squadron off that port:—

Admiral Dupont’s report.

Flag Ship Wabash, Port Royal, Feb. 2.

Sir : I have to report that about 4 o’clock on the morning of Jan. 31st, during the obscurity of a thick haze, two iron-clad gunboats came out of Charleston by the main ship channel unperceived by the squadron, and commenced a raid upon the blockading fleet. Most of the latter were of the light class of purchased vessels; two of the heaviest men-of-war, the Powhattan and the Canandaigua, being at this port coaling and repairing.

The Mercedita was the first vessel attacked. Her officers and crew had been particularly watchful during the night to look out for suspected vessels, and at 3 o’clock had shipped her cable and overhauled a troop steamer running for the channel by mistake. She had returned to her anchorage, and Capt Stellwagen had gone to his room for a short time, leaving Lieut. Commander Abbott on deck, when one of the iron-clads suddenly appeared. Her approach was concealed by the haze and mist of the atmosphere. The vessel was immediately hailed, and an order given to fire, but the iron-clad being close aboard and lying low in the water, no guns could be brought to bear upon her.

Posted inMaritime & Naval History US Civil War

February 5, 1863 – The Oreto At Sea

Correspondence of the N. O. Delta.

OFF MOBILE, Jan. 16, 1803.

There was great commotion among the blockading fleet off this harbor last evening. The rebel steamer Oreto, which has been lying in Mobile Bay for some months, succeeded in escaping to sea in presence of seven blockading vessels. The R. R. Cuyler, one of our fastest steamers, immediately gave chase and was gaining on her when the two disappeared in the distance. The Cuyler was firing at her continually during the chase from her long range guns, and as she was gaining rapidly, great hopes are entertained that she will bring the audacious Rebel to. The Oreto is commanded by Maffit, formerly of the United States Navy.

Posted inDaily News Maritime & Naval History

Britishers Acclaim Liner Roosevelt In Rescue Of Antinoe Crew

Plymouth, England. Jan. 31.—(AP)—British conservatism went by the boards when the storm-battered United States liner President Roosevelt entered Plymouth Sound at 10 o’clock this morning carrying 25 members of the crew of the British freighter Antinoe, whose lives the Americans saved after a four days’ battle in mid-ocean.

The whistle and sirens of hundreds of ships and factories greeted the men whose valor transcended national lines and has focused the eyes of the world on Captain Fried and his gallant crew. Their work of mercy succeeded, though it cost the lives of two gallant rescuers.

“Well done,” was the signal hoisted on two tenders which steamed out to meet the Roosevelt coming in with empty davits, indicating the position of the lifeboats which had been battered to pieces in the cruel sea through which the Roosevelt‘s men sought to reach the Antinoe crew clinging to the sinking freighter.

Posted inDaily News Maritime & Naval History

Submarine Disabled Off Florida Coast

T-3 Anchored Six Miles Out—Relief Boat Ordered to Tow Craft to Port.

By the Associated Press.

KEY WEST, Fla., January 30.

The submarine T-3 was reported late tonight as anchored off the Florida coast near where she was disabled today when trouble developed in her fuel line and caused an exhaustion of the oil supply.

The submarine T-3, commanded by Lieut. J. P. Compton, has run out of oil off Florida and is in need of assistance, the Navy Department was informed in a message last night from the commandant of the seventh naval district at Key West.

The first message received said the T-3 was off Bethel Buoy, with her lubricating oil system leaking badly and her supply low. An effort was being made to reach Miami. A later message said:

Posted inDaily News Maritime & Naval History Shipwrecks & Nautical Disasters

Rescue of 54 Men Thwarted By Gale

Two Freighters Sinking. Boats Standing by Helpless in Heavy Storm.

By the Associated Press.

NEW YORK. January 27.—The fate of 54 men, members of the crews of the British freighters Antinoe and Laristan, which have been in distress in a storm at sea for three days, was still In doubt today.

Six men of the were rescued yesterday by the German liner Bremen, leaving 24 aboard. The United States liner President Roosevelt, which has lost two of its crew in efforts to aid the Antinoe, was still standing by today.

Five of the dozen passenger liners that have been battling toward Atlantic ports front one to two days late in the teeth of the storm reached port yesterday. They were the Transylvania, Duilio, Giuseppe Verdi, Mount Royal and Regina.

Posted inAviation Daily News Maritime & Naval History

Hope For Two On Flight To Azores Wanes

Seaplane "Tradewind" as seen from its port side, nose-in to a dock with a rocky shore and trees behind.

Fear Mrs. Hart, MacLaren Perished in Storm.

HORTA, Azores—A strong “northeaster”, bringing stormy weather and vicious winds, whipped over these islands today while an apparently hopeless watch was kept for a man and woman who had challenged the Atlantic on a flight of 2,000 miles from Bermuda to the Azores.

Anxiety that had mounted during the hours in which Mrs. Beryl Hart and Lieut. William S. MacLaren were not heard from in their white seaplane Tradewind turned to a faint hope that they might have missed their mark, a small group of islands in the ocean, and continued to the safety of the European coast. But no word of their progress reached Paris, their ultimate destination, and ships east of the Azores had not reported sighting their plane.