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NavSource Online: "Old Navy" Ship Photo Archive

CSS Owl


Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Civil War Campaign Medal

Owl class Sidewheel Steamer:
  • Built as a steel-hulled side wheel steamer in 1864 by Jones, Quiggin & Co. at Liverpool, England
  • Launched, date unknown
  • Purchased for the Confederate Government, date unknown
  • Fitted out as a blockade runner, CSS Owl succeeded in running into Wilmington, N.C., some time in September, 1864 with a large valuable cargo, cleared officially for Nassau
  • Owl escaped to sea from Wilmington, 3 October, Although Union blockaders succeeded in wounding her captain and several crewmen, 9 shots failed to stop Owl
  • Commanded by CDR. John Newland Maffitt, CSN-the "Prince of Privateers"-detached from CSS Ram Albemarle at Plymouth, N.C., on or about 9 September Owl was at Bermuda with cotton, 24-29 October, as the U.S. Consul faithfully reported
  • Maffitt had been instructed to pick up CSS Florida's men in Bermuda Official correspondence captured during the war indicates that Maffitt landed on the Florida coast with CSS Florida's men
  • Owl was reported by U.S. Consul W. T. Minor as being at Havana, 20 May 1865, and would sail in the next several days for Galveston, TX.
  • On her last trip Owl was almost captured at Wilmington by a Federal cruiser and had to jettison valuable mail as well as sustain 12 casualties; Maffitt then tried Galveston, grounded on Bird Island Shoals at the entrance within range of 16 enemy cruisers
  • CAPT. James H. MacGarvey, CSN, in Diana, got Owl off barely in time; she not only ran into port but ran out safely too
  • There is some evidence Owl's last two runs through the blockade were made under the name of Foam
  • Owl was delivered to Fraser, Trenholm & Co., Liverpool, England after war's end and Maffitt took the Board of Trade examinations to command British merchant ships to South America
  • Final Disposition, fate unknown
    Specifications:
    Displacement 771 t.
    Length 230'
    Beam 26'
    Depth of Hold 9'6" or 10'9"
    Draft 7'6"
    Speed 14-16 kts
    Complement 60
    Armament unknown
    Propulsion
    boiler(s)
    two oscillating steam engines 180hp
    two Laird Bros. feathering sidewheels

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    SizeImage Description Contributed
    By
    Owl
    0986114801
    101k Details from a mural by Richard W. DeRosset, 4 July 2000, depicting CSS Owl underway, date and location unknown
    Creative Commons CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
    John Spivey

    Owl
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships
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    Last Updated 30 April 2024