9. Several Southern states purchased their own blockade runners
The shallow draft steamers built for the packet service in British waters were especially suitable for blockade running. The packets carried passengers and cargo, were built for speed, and were iron-hulled for the most part. They were built at shipyards all around Britain, though the yards at Liverpool and Scotland’s Clydebank produced most of them destined for service in American waters. One such, Lord Clyde, was inspected by representatives of Alexander Collie, who in turn was working for the governor of North Carolina, Zebulon Vance. Vance wanted to obtain blockade runners for the state, to ensure its troops were well equipped and its coffers filled.
Lord Clyde was purchased from the Dublin and Glasgow Sailing and Steam Packet Company in 1863, and arrived in Wilmington in June. Renamed Advance, the ship hid in the complicated waters around Cape Fear when in port, and successfully cruised between Nassau or Bermuda and its homeport throughout the remainder of the year and well into 1864. It was so successful that shares in the ship were sold to raise money to purchase similar ships. The British shipyards were most obliging. As long as British mills needed Southern cotton there was a market for their products in America, and despite Union protests, blockade runners from British ports were the lifeblood of the Confederacy.
