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1864 GLENAVON, Barque, 789t, Ardrossan to New York, Cargo: Pig Iron,
Glenavon, caught by the (Confederate Cruiser Ship)
CCS TALAHASSE, (a confederate merchant raider) (see details of Tallahasse on site)
During the American civil war.
The Glenavon, was burned and Scuttled,
22 Officers, Crew, and Passengers transferred to the ATALANTA, Barquentine, (Russian)
CCS Tallahassee: (Commander Wood)
Report from ships log
August 13th.--
It was scarcely daylight before two sail were reported, and in a few moments both were alongside.
One was an English vessel, which, of course, we could not touch; the other, the Barque Glenavon, of Thomaston, Maine, from Ardrossan to New York, with a cargo of Pig-Iron and Passengers.
This was a fine, new barque, with splendid spars and double topsail yard.
The captain had his wife on board,--a brave, good woman,--and a female servant. There were two passengers in the cabin, an old sea captain and his wife, the latter a perfect termagant, and very offensive to all on board.
Her tongue was never idle, and her time about equally divided between abusing her husband, who bore it like a lamb, and distributing testaments and tracts among our men. The art of making everybody disagreeable was carried to perfection with this horrible woman, and the scoldings she gave the poor captain who was tied to her apron string struck every one dumb with astonishment.
The last act of revenge on the poor man was just as she was leaving the side, when the old lady, in a fit of anger, tore off her new bonnet and threw it in the sea.
We got a quantity of mess stores from the Glenavon, a few luxuries, some hams, a coop of chickens, and two pigs.
After removing all things of immediate service to us, Lieutenant Ward had her scuttled, and she sank rapidly. Before we were out of sight she went down by the head, and sank forever beneath the ocean.
It seemed a pity to destroy such a noble craft, and I looked upon our work with sorrow
Foot note:
August 1864. After a successful career attacking Union shipping (as many as 35 vessels sunk or captured as far north as Maine), the CCS Tallahassee was damaged with a broken mainmast and put in to Halifax for repairs.
Despite official British neutrality, many loyalist Maritimers were sympathetic to the Confederate cause, and when Union cruisers closed in on the CCS Tallahassee, a local pilot named Jock Flemming lead the ship out through supposedly impassable channels late at night to make an escape.
The CCS Tallahassee returned to North Carolina, successfully running the Union naval blockade, and the daring escape made the ship the subject of local legends. The aura of mystery surrounding the escape is heightened by the fact that it was locally considered an impossible feat to maneuver a 500 ton steam ship through this narrow channel in the dead of night.
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