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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
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WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060
Photo # NH 85810: Engraving of the blockade runner Columbia and her cargo, 1862

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

Steamship Columbia (Blockade Running Steamship, 1862).
Later USS Columbia (1862-1863)

Columbia, a 503-ton (burden) iron screw steamer, was built at Dumbarton, England, in 1862 for use running the Federal blockade of the Confederate coast. She was captured off Florida by USS Santiago de Cuba on 3 August 1862, during her first voyage in this trade. The U.S. Navy purchased her in November of that year, fitted her out as a gunboat and placed her in commission as USS Columbia. Assigned to the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron, she ran aground off Masonboro Inlet, North Carolina, on 14 January 1863. Efforts to get her off were unsuccessful and many of her crew was captured by the Confederates. She was destroyed by fire on 17 January.

This page features our only view of the blockade runner Columbia and of USS Columbia (1862-1863).

For a report on the capture of the blockade runner Columbia, and a detail view of one of the guns taken with her, see:

  • Report ... concerning the capture of the Confederate blockade runner Columbia...; and
  • Austrian 6-pounder Howitzer captured on board the blockade runner Columbia.


    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 85810

    Blockade Runner Columbia


    Line engraving published in a contemporary magazine, showing the ship being unloaded at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, New York, following her 3 August 1862 capture by USS Santiago de Cuba. The print features individual views of her cargo of field and naval artillery, Enfield rifle muskets, artillery ammunition and equipment, and of the interior of one of her cabins.
    This ship served as USS Columbia in 1862-1863.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 267KB; 850 x 1225 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 17 July 2002
    Links added 8 August 2002