384 : The Atlantic 



easy and a considerable amount of goods flowed into all the Southern 

 ports. European goods reached the gulf ports of Mobile and New 

 Orleans by way of Cuba and Mexico and the Atlantic ports by way of 

 Nassau in the Bahamas and Bermuda. The capture of New Orleans 

 and later of Mobile threw an additional burden on the remaining 

 Southern ports of Wilmington, Charleston and Savannah. 



By this time the risks of blockade running had increased, the price 

 of goods in Southern markets had skyrocketed and the blockade run- 

 ning business had proved enormously profitable to the operators. The 

 companies operating the blockade running ships prospered and degen- 

 erated at the same time. There was a tendency to replace cumbersome 

 and military cargoes with luxuries that were light and easily handled 

 and that brought fantastic prices like these: salt, at Nassau, sold for 

 I7.50 a ton and coffee at $2.40 a ton; in Richmond, Virginia, the salt 

 sold for $1,700 and the coffee for $5,500; at one time a pound of tea 

 became worth $500 in the Southern market. One of the blockade run- 

 ners specialized in supplying corsets for the Southern belles. These he 

 bought in Nassau at a cost of one shilling each and found a market 

 for them in Charleston at twelve shillings each. 



In England special vessels were financed, constructed and manned 

 for this business. They were built with very little freeboard to avoid 

 detection and also had to be shallow draft. In order to be able to carry 

 a cargo and also to travel at high speed they were built with extremely 

 long and fine lines and it is said that they were able to reach a speed 

 of seventeen knots. 



Such a vessel was able to make a rapid trip between Nassau and 

 one of the Southern ports, Wilmington for example. The operation 

 of such a vessel might bring the owner a monthly profit of $90,000 in 

 gold. A few successful trips were enough to pay for the entire cost of 

 the vessel. The captain of the vessel could earn $5,000 a month and 

 even a seaman was paid $100 gold per month and given an additional 

 bonus of $50 for each successful trip. 



This fantastic business was terminated as one Southern port after 

 another was blockaded and captured by combined naval and land 

 operations. Savannah was blockaded by a squadron under command 

 of Dahlgreen and fell to Sherman in December of '64. Wilmington, 

 which was important because it served as the port for the capital at 

 Richmond, fell to a combined sea and land operation in January of 

 '65 and Charleston, the last Southern port, was captured in February 

 of '65. After this the South was without useful ports, the blockade 

 was complete and the results of the operations on land inevitable. 



