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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
805 KIDDER BREESE SE -- WASHINGTON NAVY YARD
WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060

Photo # NH 54434:  Blockade runner Banshee.  Artwork by R.G. Skerrett

Online Library of Selected Images:
-- CIVILIAN SHIPS --

Steamship Banshee (Blockade Runner, 1862).
Later USS Banshee (1864-1865); civilian steamship T.L. Smallwood (or J.L. Smallwood?) (1865-1867) and civilian steamship Irene (1867-1895 or later)

Banshee, a 533-ton (burden) side-wheel steamship, was built in Liverpool, England, in 1862 for employment running the Federal blockade of the Confederate coast. Her trans-Atlantic maiden voyage, in April 1863, was a "first" for a steel-hulled ship, though her innovative construction proved troublesome in service. During the next seven months, Banshee was very successful in her intended trade, making seven round-trip voyages between Bermuda or the Bahamas and Wilmington, North Carolina. She was captured by USS Grand Gulf and the U.S. Army Transport Fulton on 21 November 1863, while en route to Wilmington.

Sent North for adjudication by the New York Prize Court, she was purchased in March 1864 by the U.S. Navy, which converted her to a gunboat and, in June 1864, placed her in commission as USS Banshee. The steamer served for the rest of the year with the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron. In December she took part in the abortive attempt to capture Fort Fisher, N.C. Banshee was reassigned to the Potomac Flotilla in mid-January 1865 and spent the rest of the Civil War operating on the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries. Decommissioned after the fighting ended, she was sold in November 1865.

Her new owners placed her in commercial service under the name T.L. Smallwood (or J.L. Smallwood). Sold to British interests in 1867, she was renamed Irene and remained in use at least until the 1890s.

This page features our only views of the blockade runner Banshee and of USS Banshee.

If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."

Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.

Photo #: NH 54434

Blockade Runner Banshee
(1862)

Halftone reproduction of an artwork by R.G. Skerrett, 1899.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 103KB; 740 x 435 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 63867

USS Banshee
(1864-1865)

Watercolor by Erik Heyl, 1951, painted for use in his book "Early American Steamers", Volume I.
Built in 1862, this steamer was the blockade runner Banshee until captured on 21 November 1863.

Courtesy of Erik Heyl.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 56KB; 740 x 390 pixels

 


If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."


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Page made 26 October 2002
Link added 10 November 2002