Blockade Runner Thistle
USS Dumbarton
Civil War Union Naval Ship

Steamship Thistle (1863).
Blockade Runner
Served as USS Dumbarton in 1864-1867.
Later: commercial steamer Dumbarton (1867-1868) and City of Quebec (1868-1870)

Thistle , a 636-ton (burden) iron side-wheel steamship, was built at Glasgow, Scotland in 1863. She was operated as a blockade runner during the American Civil War, making a successful round-trip voyage between Bermuda and Wilmington, North Carolina, in March-May 1864. However, another attempt to run into Wilmington was cut short when she was captured by USS Fort Jackson on 4 June.

The U.S. Navy purchased her from the Boston Prize Court in July and, after conversion to a gunboat, placed her in commission as USS Dumbarton in August 1864. After participating in a fruitless search for the Confederate raider Tallahassee , she returned to the Wilmington area, where she served until December as an enforcer of the blockade that she had previously challenged. Dumbarton had flagship duty on Virginia's James River during February and March 1865 and was subsequently decommissioned at Washington, D.C.. Moved to New York in November 1865, she was sold to private owners in October 1867.

Briefly retaining the name Dumbarton , she changed to British registry and was given a new rig and engines in the months after she left Navy ownership. During 1868-1870 she operated under the name City of Quebec , but was sunk in a collision while in Canadian waters on 1 May 1870 (another source gives the date of her loss as 28 April 1870).

Artwork by Erik Heyl, 1957, for use in his book "Early American Steamers", Volume III.
Built in Scotland in 1863, Thistle was a blockade runner until captured on 4 June 1864. She served as USS Dumbarton in 1864-1867 and was the merchantman Dumbarton in 1867-1868. Rerigged and reengined in 1868, she operated under the British flag as the SS City of Quebec until sunk in a collision on 1 May 1870.



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DVD DVD Book Book

Quest for the Monitor
The first group of non-governmental divers to dive the Monitor. All diving operations were conducted under the close supervision of NOAA.This was beautifully photographed by veteran lensman Ric O'Donnell and narrated and written by Jackie Stone. The video shows a lot of action both on the deck of the dive boat as well as wonderfully clear underwater views of the Monitor
Raise the Alabama
Known as "the ghost ship." During the Civil War, the CSS Alabama sailed over 75,000 miles and captured more than 60 Union vessels. But her career came to an end in June of 1864 when she was sunk by the USS Kearsarge off the coast of Northern France, where the Alabama had gone for repairs.RAISE THE ALABAMA! descends into the murky depths of the English Channel with the marine archeology team led by the renowned Gordon Watts. 200 feet beneath these foreign waters, the legendary Confederate ship is surrendering her secrets, despite weather conditions that make it safe to dive only a few days a year. The program also documents the Alabama's extraordinary career, from her construction in Liverpool to the surprise attacks that made her the scourge of Union shipping and the valiant, 90-minute battle with the Kearsarge
War, Technology, and Experience aboard the USS Monitor
David Mindell has combined a sensitive and incisive reading of the documentary evidence with insightful historical analysis to illuminate not only his central theme, the experience of battle in an emerging machine age, but also the process of invention, negotiation, and politics that brought the Monitor into existence and the quite different process of narration, memory, and imagination that invested the ship and its exploits so heavily with symbolic meaning.
Life in Mr. Lincoln's Navy
Ringle is among the first to examine the many aspects of sailors' lives during the American Civil War. He examines topics such as the recruiting efforts of the U.S. Navy, compensation and promotion, training, entertainment, and disease to name but a few. The extensive research and sheer fact that this is one of the first books to examine this aspect of CW naval history makes it a must for any American naval library



American Military Gear Recruiter and History
United States Marines gear history and support of Semper Fi Fund

 

The Complete DVD History of U.S. Wars (1700-2004)
War has always been part of the American experience. From the time the first colonists set foot upon North America's shores, they were in conflict with the Native inhabitants. One hundred years later the colonies suddenly found themselves an extension of the conflicts in Europe. Less than a century later, the Revolutionary War freed the fledgling United States from its British overlords and European entanglements. Born and nurtured in war, America grew in strength and power until at the beginning of the 21st century it was the foremost military power in the world.

 

Sources:
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