|
1863
- 1864
During the Civil War the Confederate States Navy commissioned an ironclad named NORTH CAROLINA. Beery and Brothers Shipyard, located here on Eagles Island (the Battleship Memorial is also on Eagles Island), constructed this ship. It was the first ironclad built in Wilmington and the largest ship built at Beery and Brothers, renamed the Confederate Navy Yard. She cost $76,000 to build and outfit. The bulkheads above the waterline were slanted inward and covered or clad with railroad iron similar to the Confederate Ship Ironclad VIRGINIA (MERRIMAC). She had two gun ports on each of her four sides and carried six 8-inch guns that could be moved from one port to another. There was one pivot gun on her bow. However, her service was hampered because she was outfitted with old, defective engines confiscated from the United States' tug UNCLE BEN. She participated in one engagement. At 8 o'clock on the evening of May 6, 1864, Commodore Lynch of the Confederate Fleet decided to send forth NORTH CAROLINA and two wooden gun boats, YADKIN and EQUATOR, to take reconnaissance of the blockading federal ships off New Inlet. The Commodore needed the federal ships to be dispersed or lured towards the guns of Fort Fisher. At this point in time, Wilmington stood as the only open Confederate port able to supply the rest of the Confederacy via blockade runners. Therefore, it was critical to bust this blockade of federal ships. Thirty minutes after the three vessels disappeared from view of Fort Fisher, several shots from seaward were heard. The Confederates spent an anxious night wondering what had happened. Dawn finally came and they saw NORTH CAROLINA and the gun boats returning with the enemy following in the distance. The combatants exchanged gunfire. NORTH CAROLINA fired a shot through the smokestack of a charging federal ship. When the federal ships began to close in on the little confederate flotilla to finish them off, the three ships headed for the protective guns of Fort Fisher. The federal ships wisely kept their distance while the three confederate vessels steamed safely up the Cape Fear River. NORTH CAROLINA was then stationed near Smithfield, present day Southport, as a guard vessel commanding the entrance to the Cape Fear River. While anchored there, she fell victim to the toredo, a sea worm that gradually destroyed her hull. She sank in 1864 after less than a year of service.
|
