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USS Bermuda (I)

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Civil War Medal

Screw Steamer

Built in 1861 at Stockton-on-Tees, England as the iron-hulled screw steamer, Bermuda by Pearse and Lockwood

Owned by Edwin Haigh, a Liverpool cotton broker, the ship was secretly sold, about the time of her completion, to Messrs. A. S. Henckle and George Alfred Trenholme of Charleston, S.C. then chartered to Frasier Trenholme and Co., a British corporation that served the Confederate government as its commercial and financial agent in the British Isles.

In late July or early August 1861, Bermuda loaded the first cargo purchased in England by agents of the Confederate War Department and departed England 22 August for the port of Savannah, GA.

After crossing the Atlantic under British colors, Bermuda took advantage of a severe storm that had forced the blockading Union frigate USS Savannah out to sea and slipped into Savannah where she delivered a million-dollar cargo of war material

She then filled her holds with some 2,000 bales of cotton a return to England to support Confederate credit abroad

The steamer departed Savannah on the night of 1 November 1861 and slipped through the Union blockade before dawn the next morning reaching Liverpool. 23 January 1862

Bermuda put to sea for a second time around, 18 February 1862, setting a course for Bermuda where she hoped to offload her cargo into smaller speedier vessel better able to run the Union blockade

Refused permission to offload at Bermuda she moved on to Nassau where a cargo of cotton lay waiting for her to make a return voyage to England

Bermuda was stopped several miles off Hole-in-the-Wall Light by USS Mercedita

CDR. Henry S. Stellwagen, Mercedita’s commanding officer, seized Bermuda and sent her to Philadelphia under LT. Trevett Abbot and a 30-man prize crew.

Condemned by the US District Court at Philadelphia, 5 March 1863 almost a year after her capture

After arriving at that port on 3 May, the ship was arraigned before the United States District Court at Philadelphia.

Purchased by the Union Navy and fitted out at Philadelphia Navy Yard for service as a supply vessel.

Commissioned USS Bermuda, 13 May 1863, Acting Master J. W. Smith in command

USS Bermuda departed later that day with a cargo of supplies for the two blockading squadrons operating in the Gulf of Mexico

On 21 May Bermuda arrived at the mouth of Florida's Indian River where she issued supplies to the bark USS Gem of the Sea on blockade duty there

This began more than two years of service in which she brought the provisions that enabled Federal warships to remain on guard off Confederate ports. During this period, she made 16 round-trip voyages to the gulf during most of which she concentrated her efforts on filling the needs of Rear Admiral David G. Farragut’s West Gulf Blockading Squadron. Besides issuing stores, she usually also carried passengers: officers and men going to and from blockade duty, sick sailors who where returning north to recuperate, and prisoners who had been captured afloat or ashore. On return passages, she frequently had on board cotton from the holds of blockade runners that had been taken while attempting escape to sea.

On her second voyage Bermuda seized the British schooner Artist purportedly bound for Matamoras, Mexico, but steering toward Matagorda, TX., Acting Master Smith seized the small ship, with her cargo of liquors, wines, medicines, and other varied commodities, as a lawful prize.

That same day Smith seized the British schooner Carmita outbound from Velasco, TX, bound for Balize, Honduras, with a cargo of cotton sending the schooner to Key West under a prize crew

On her third voyage to the gulf Bermuda again found good hunting off the Texas coast, seizing the British schooner Florie purportedly bound from New Orleans to Matamoras with a cargo of medicine, wine, and saddles

On her fourth cruise while standing out of Pensacola, 19 November 1863, Bermuda saw three schooners in company with a large lugger apparently heading toward that port. As the Union supply ship approached, the strangers separated. Smith stopped the nearest by a shell across her bow, and she proved to be the Venice of New Orleans heading for Pensacola under charter by the Union Army. Her master explained that the other schooners, Norman and Mary Campbell, also were heading for Pensacola under similar charters. He added that he, too, was puzzled by the latter's having changed course to seaward. Sensing something amiss, Smith gave chase and, after a four-hour pursuit in which he fired seven shells at his quarry, overtook and boarded Mary Campbell. He learned that earlier that day a Confederate raiding party of 16 men under Acting Master James Duke, CSN, had captured Mary Campbell and Norman and probably would have captured Venice when Bermuda hove into view. Duke--already notorious because of earlier captures of Union vessels--fled toward land in Norman with 10 members of the lugger’s crew and, after running that schooner aground and setting her afire, escaped ashore.

On Bermuda’s seventh cruise to the gulf, she encountered the sloop Fortunate off the Atlantic coast of Florida laden with cotton and turpentine. Smith transferred the cargo to his own ship, took the prize in tow, and resumed his course toward Port Royal. However, the sloop was taking on water, parted the towline, and sank several hours later.

Bermuda continued shuttling between Philadelphia and the gulf through the end of the Civil War and most of the ensuing summer

Decommissioned at Philadelphia Navy Yard, 22 September 1865

Sold at public auction on the same day, to Samuel C. Cook she entered merchant service as under the names General Meade and Bahamas

Final Disposition, foundered in a storm, 10 February 1882, while en route from Puerto Rico to New York.

Specifications:
Displacement 1,238 t.
Length 211'
Beam 21'7"
Depth of Hull 21'2"
Draft 16'8"
Speed 11 kts.
Complement 122

Armament

one 9" smoothbore

two 30-pdr Parrott rifles Propulsion

one steam engine

single propeller

Click On Image For Full Size Image	Size	Image Description		Contributed By
098689502	279k	Drawing by William M.C. Philbrick "Arrival of U.S. Transport Steamer 'Bermuda' off Mobile with fresh provisions for the blockading fleet. September 24th 1863."		Robert Hurst
098689501	170k	Erik Heyl, Early American Steamers, vol. I. Watercolor by Erik Heyl, 1951 - SS General Meade - USS Bermuda built at Stockton-on-Tees, England, in 1861; started life as a Confederate blockade runner from 1861-1862; entering US Naval service in 1862 as USS Bermuda; merchant service 1865-1868 as SS Bermuda, 1868-1878 as SS General Meade and 1878-1882 as SS Bahamas US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 63874		Robert Hurst

USS Bermuda (I)
Dictionary of American Navy Fighting Ships (DANFS)

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Last Updated 13 August 2021