SS Pevensey: A Blockade Runner's Last Run

A short distance off this shore lie the iron remains of the SS Pevensey, a Confederate blockade runner that met her end on June ninth, eighteen sixty-four. The Pevensey had slipped through the Union naval blockade several times before, carrying arms, blankets, shoes, and bacon from Bermuda to Wilmington. On her fifth run, Gulf Stream currents pushed her too far north, and a Union supply ship spotted her off the coast.

The federal vessel gave chase and fired on the Pevensey. Her captain ran her aground to save his crew. To keep the cargo from falling into Union hands, the crew blew the boilers before being captured and taken to Fort Macon.