The Galveston
Weekly News, February 15, 1865
On the night of February 5, 1865, the new
bockade runner Acadia ran aground and was wrecked several miles west of San Luis
Pass. The next day, the new Laird-built runner Wren ran aground off Fort
Point, on the eastern end of Galveston Island. Wren was refloated and made
port safely, but three days later the famous blockade runner Will of the Wisp was
wrecked on the beach west of Galveston. Not surprisingly, these three incidents
prompted the News to speculate that perhaps something more sinister than poor
navigation was responsible:
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The
loss of three Confederate steamers and on our coast, within the last two or three days
will, probably remind our readers of the following article, which we published on the 25th
ult.: IMPORTANT FROM NASSAU - The Charleston
Mercury, of Dec. 13th says: "The following extract of a private letter from
Nassau conveys a very important hint. 'I am of the opinion that during this winter,
blockade runners will have more to fear from enemies in their own crews than they will
have from the blockading fleet. Hundreds of Yanks are now here, and I suspect that it is a
settled plan to capture vessels by a stratagem at sea. Spies are all around, and it may be
that you will hear of several Roanoke affairs this next moon. An attempt was thus made to
capture the Owl, which failed, and eight of the crew are now in irons, one of
them holding a Yankee commission as Master's Mate. This looks serious, but proper
precautions, on the part of the officers, will render these develish plans abortive. Owing
to the dubious character of English neutrality, these mercenary minions of the tyrannical
Yankee Government will escape punislunent.''
There is hardly any room to doubt that the three steamers
were wrecked on our coast by Yankees in disguise. We learn that they are in the streets of
Havana, disguised as British sailors, seeking an opportunity to ship on blockade runners.
We fear the commanders of these unfortunate steamers have been caught in the trap set for
them. We should never forget that treachery, falsehood and deception are the peculiar
characteristics of Yankees, and we believe we have more to fear from these traits than
from all their power in open and honorable war. It should be remembered that the coast of
Texas is the safest of any on the whole seaboard of this continent. The water shoals so
gradually and so uniformly that, with the lead and line in the hands of any but a Yankee,
no blockade runner could be beached in the thickest fog, unless intentionally. We have no
doubt that the loss of the Wisp, the Wren and the Arcadia
[sic., Acadia] is due to Yankee treachery. The lesson has been dearly bought, but
we hope we shall profit by it.
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| Thanks to Valerie Buford of Galveston, Texas. |
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