The Run'her was a

Confederate Confederacy or confederate may refer to: States or communities * Confederate state or confederation, a union of sovereign groups or communities * Confederate States of America, a confederation of secessionist American states that existed between ...

cargo and minelaying steamship that was shipwrecked in the

Bay of Angra Bay of Angra ( pt, Baía de Angra) is a natural bay within the coastal extent of the municipality of Angra do Heroísmo, on the Portuguese island of Terceira in the archipelago of the Azores. Within an average depth of , the bay has been of histor ...

, on the island of Terceira in the Portuguese archipelago of the

Azores ) , motto =( en, "Rather die free than subjected in peace") , anthem= ( en, "Anthem of the Azores") , image_map=Locator_map_of_Azores_in_EU.svg , map_alt=Location of the Azores within the European Union , map_caption=Location of the Azores wi ...

in 1863. It is part of the subaquatic archaeological park of the municipality of

Angra do Heroísmo Angra do Heroísmo (), or simply Angra, is a city and municipality on Terceira Island, Portugal, and one of the three capital cities of the Azores. Founded in 1478, Angra was historically the most important city in the Azores, as seat of the Roma ...

History

The ''Run'her'' was constructed in the United Kingdom in 1863, in the shipyard of

J & W Dudgeon J & W Dudgeon was a Victorian shipbuilding and engineering company based in Cubitt Town, London, founded by John and William Dudgeon. John and William Dudgeon had established the ''Sun Iron Works'' in Millwall in the 1850s, and had a reputatio ...

, on the

Isle of Dogs The Isle of Dogs is a large peninsula bounded on three sides by a large meander in the River Thames in East London, England, which includes the Cubitt Town, Millwall and Canary Wharf districts. The area was historically part of the Manor, Ham ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

for the Confederate States. It was in length, wide, with a depth of and draft. In the context of the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

(1861-1865), the ''Run'her'' was part of a fleet of blockade-runners, that carried equipment and laid naval mines. The ship was one in a series of ships built for William G. Crenshaw Co., a joint British-Confederate business, constructed to meet a Confederate contract to carry military, medical and other equipment, in addition to goods for the Confederacy. This because the Confederacy had a chronic lack of foreign credit, and the Confederate government was obliged to contract to acquire the ships with six advanced British naval shipyards in return for the shipment of cotton. It was only after payment amortization that the debt for the construction would be paid, and the ships become the property of the southern States.

Shipwreck

The ship departed from London with a crew of 50 and arrived on the island of Terceira in four days (around noon on the 5 November 1864), with the intention of ending its voyage at its destination in Bermuda. Instead of taking on a pilot (as was the custom), Captain Edwin Courtenay proceeded at full-speed into the harbour at

and ran the ship aground in the

bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a Gulf (geography), gulf, sea, sound (geography), sound, or bight (geogra ...

's sandy bottom, along the shoreline near the customs wharf. This followed a period of excessive care taken by the captain when rounding the pier. The captain's attempts to free the ship were in vain.

Aftermath

On 18 November 1864, 12 days after the shipwreck Courtney and majority of the crew (35 men) returned to Lisbon, by way of São Miguel, aboard the Portuguese steamship ''Maria Pia''. It is likely that the ship was declared a loss, and it was eventually sold at auction on 8 December 1864 for 800$00

reis Reis may refer to : *Reis (surname), a Portuguese and German surname *Reis (military rank), an Ottoman military rank and obscure Lebanese/Syrian noble title Currency *Portuguese Indian rupia (subdivided into ''réis''), the currency of Portugues ...

. A secondary auction was held for the engine and a box of platinum, and on 19 December a final auction for the remaining goods. A southeastern storm battered the remains of the ship that night, and much of the ship's remains were dispersed offshore after being battered against the rocky shore. It is assumed that the arrival of the Confederate blockade runners ''Whisper'' and ''Rattlesnake'' several days after the storm were in order to recover the military cargo, but they found little salvageable material. What was salvaged included several boxes of salted meat from the Run'her's cargo, which were sold on 9 April 1865 to an English ship returning from Mexico.

Excavation

The ships remains were re-discovered in sand, during an archaeological impact assessment in the northwest part of the

in 1996 for the eventual construction of a new marina. In the course of the examination, divers identified two boilers on the remains of the ship, in the area known as '' Angra D''. Iron plates and ''odd-dimensioned'' artefacts were also discovered around the shipwreck, which were being transported to the Confederate states for production of munitions. There was evidence that the flattened wreck and its components were strewn over a debris field covered up by sand and fine silt to an average depth of .

References

;Notes ;Sources * * * *

External links