David And Goliath
Th«il'*« the kind of match it waK in 1861 when
“Beaufort.** of th€* \orlh C arolina Navy,
dueled “U.S.S. Albatross.**
By
КЛ1.1М1
W. DONNELLY
With Ihc fall of Fort Sumter on April
14. 1X61. followed ihc ncxl day by
President Lincoln's call for iroops —
which was emphatically rejected by
North Carolina’s Governor John W.
I- II is it seemed increasingly obvious
that North Carolina would secede from
the Federal Union and would again be¬
come an independent State. Following
the example set by the State during the
Revolutionary War. the State Gov¬
ernment had to take steps to provide
for its own defense.
The need to raise Army troops was
obvious to all. Less obvious to the
general public was the need to create a
State Navy sufficient to protect the
public interests along the State’s long
coast and particularly the shallow wa¬
ters of the Albemarle and Pamlico
Sounds, the port of Beaufort, and the
port of Wilmington. In the event of
war. the North Carolina 4avy could be
used to harass Federal coastwise ship¬
ping.
The North Carolina Navy probably
had its beginning in mid-April 1861
when Marshall Parks. President of the
Chesapeake and Albemarle Canal Co.,
suggested to Governor Jo»n W. Ellis
that various steamers operating on the
canal could be equipped on short
notice as gunboats and render good
service to the State. A few weeks later,
he furnished the Governor with a list of
Albemarle Sound steamers suitable for
service as gunboats and Army trans¬
ports. All those named could go to
Norfolk via the Canal, or to Beaufort
through Core Sound.
Governor Ellis was able to report to
the North Carolina State Convention
on May 27. 1861. that a State naval
force was being organized with three
armed steamers already afloat and
others to be placed in service. Less
than two months later, the Confeder¬
ate Secretary of the Navy. Stephen R.
Mallory, requested the allocation of
$75.000 to pay the state of North Caro¬
lina for five small steamers. Ultimately
taken into Confederate service were
the Winslow (formerly the / E. Coffee.
of Norfolk), the Ellis, the Raleigh, the
Beaufort (formerly the Caledonia).
22
and the Forrest (formerly the Ed¬
wards).
During the brief time of its existence
— before the defense of North Caro¬
lina’s coast was joined with the Con¬
federacy's effort — the small vessels of
the Stale Navy gave a good account of
themselves in native waters, seizing a
good number of merchant craft with
substantial cargoes and even engaging
much larger warships of the Federal
fleet, as we shall see in the case of The
Beaufort.
Outfitting "The Beaufort"
Among the first officers appointed
for the North Carolina Navy was
Robert Carson Duvall, a native of
Iredell County and a graduate of the
U.S. Naval Academy, who was ap¬
pointed a lieutenant on May 16. 1861.
Duvall had been in the U.S. Navy for
over 18 years until he was separated in
December 1859.
Going to Norfolk. Lieutenant Duvall
supervised the fitting out of the ship to
which he had been assigned. She was
the Caledonia, an iron propeller ship
built at Wilmington. Dcla.. which had
been operating on the Roanoke River
before being purchased by the State of
North Carolina for $10.000. She was an
85-ton tug. 85’ long, with a beam of
17' 5”. and a depth of 6’ 1 1". (A later
commander was to say she was 94'
long with a beam of 17'.) While having
an iron hull, it was only one-fourth of
an inch in thick. ..ss. a matter of con¬
struction only, and certainly of no
value as armor.
In preparing her for possible war
purposes, her deck had been strength¬
ened and shored up. and a long 32-
pounder gun mounted on her deck.
This was afterwards exchanged for a
banded and rifled 57 cwt.. 32-pounder.
She would have been very vulnerable
in a stand-up fight as her magazine was
located just forward of her boiler, and
both the magazine and boiler were
above the water line and exposed to
shot.
Beaufort, the new name of Cale¬
donia. was commissioned at Norfolk.
Va.. on July 9. 1861. and immediately
prepared to sail for New Bern. N.C..
following the permissive orders from
the North Carolina Board of Military
and Naval Affairs to proceed on a
cruise without further instructions
whenever ready.
Defending Outer Banks
The day of her commissioning, 300
pounds of powder and some pieces of
equipment were taken on board, and
the remainder of her crew came on
board the next morning. After hoisting
up her small boats and weighing an¬
chor. Beaufort entered the Albemarle
and Chesapeake Canal. A fire was dis¬
covered shortly afterwards in the for¬
ward bulkhead, but this was soon ex¬
tinguished without real damage. She
got aground close to sundown at a
point off and to the southw ard of Cur¬
rituck Court House, but was freed
about 8 o’clock when she stood for the
entrance of the North Carolina Canal.
It was then discovered that the ship’s
coal was on fire again, so Beaufort
dropped anchor and all hands turned to
and extinguished it again.
The next morning. July II. Beau¬
fort passed several ships carrying guns
and gun carriages consigned for the
defenses of the Outer Banks. The
steamer Roanoke passed the word that
the Federals had fired about 40 shells
at the Oregon Inlet battery.
For several days. Beaufort remained
off Oregon Inlet while the Army
working parties continued their efforts
to strengthen the defensive works.
On the morning of July 22. 1861. a
Federal ship, described as "a large,
three-masted propeller w'ith a crew of
at least 175 men. and carrying a battery
of eight guns, one rifled cannon for¬
ward and one aft. working on pivots."
showed up off Bodic’s Island on the
ocean side. She was sighted by a look¬
out on shore about 8:20 a.m. and word
was relayed to Beaufort which cleared
for action. The guns on shore were not
ready to go into action and even the
landing of 100 soldiers from Roanoke
Island, under a Captain Martin, pro¬
duced nothing in support of Beaufort.
With a crew- of but 26 men. and only 1 3
of these constituting her gun's crew .
THE STATE. September IM2
