title: Gray Phantoms of the Cape Fear : Running the Civil War Blockade
author:  Dawson Carr 
description: In mid-1863, the small city of Wilmington, North Carolina, found itself facing a difficult task: it had to supply Robert E. Lee's army if the South was to continue the Civil War. Guns, ammunition, clothing, and food had to be brought into the Confederacy from Europe, and Wilmington was the last open port. Knowing this, the Union amassed a formidable blockading force off storied Cape Fear. <P>What followed was a contest unique in the annals of warfare. The blockade runners went unarmed, lest their crews be tried as pirates if captured. Neither did the Union fleet wish to sink the runners, as rich prizes were the reward for captured cargoes. The battle was thus one of wits and stealth more than blood and glory. As the Union naval presence grew stronger, the new breed of blockade runners got faster, quieter, lower to the water, and altogether more ghostly_and their crews more daring and resourceful. <P>Today, the remains of nearly three dozen runners lie beneath the waters of Cape Fear, their exact whereabouts known to only a few fishermen and boaters. Built for a special mission at a brief moment in time, they faded into history after the war. There had never been ships like the blockade runners, and their kind will never be seen again. Gray Phantoms of the Cape Fear tells the story of their captains, their crews, their cargoes, their opponents, and their many unbelievable escapes.
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  * * *
  
  # Plotting in Pirate Seas
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ### Francis Rolt-Wheeler
  
  
  This page formatted 2007 Blackmask Online.
  
  
  http://www.blackmask.com
  
  * [CHAPTER I. AMERICAN ALL THROUGH](plotp_split_2.html#1_0_2)
  
  
  * [CHAPTER II. WHERE BLACK MEN RULE](plotp_split_3.html#1_0_3)
  
  
  * [CHAPTER III. THE BLOOD-STAINED CITADEL](plotp_split_4.html#1_0_4)
  
  
  * [CHAPTER IV. THE GHOST OF CHRISTOPHE](plotp_split_5.html#1_0_5)
  
  
  * [CHAPTER V. THE ISLE OF THE BUCCANEERS](plotp_split_6.html#1_0_6)
  
  
  * [CHAPTER VI. A CUBAN REBEL](plotp_split_7.html#1_0_7)
  
  
  * [CHAPTER VII. A NOSE FOR NEWS](plotp_split_8.html#1_0_8)
  
  
  * [CHAPTER VIII. THE POISON TREES](plotp_split_9.html#1_0_9)
  
  
  * [CHAPTER IX. THE HURRICANE](plotp_split_10.html#1_0_10)
  
  
  * [CHAPTER X. THE LAKE OF PITCH](plotp_split_11.html#1_0_11)
  
  
  * [CHAPTER XI. THE MORNING OF DOOM](plotp_split_12.html#1_0_12)
  
  
  * [CHAPTER XII. A CORSAIR'S DEATH](plotp_split_13.html#1_0_13)
  
  
  * [CHAPTER XIII. THE HUNGRY SHARK](plo