SS Georgiana

History
Name	Georgiana
Builder	subcontract with Laird
Launched	1863
Captured	run aground to avoid capture by USS Wissahicken and Housatonic
Fate	scuttled and burned, 19 March 1863
Status	Shipwreck discovered by E. Lee Spence at latitude 32°46'47" North, longitude 79°45'35" West
Notes	sunk on maiden voyage before her guns were mounted, described as “most powerful” Confederate cruiser.
General characteristics
Class and type	reported as built to be a privateer or cruiser
Tons burthen	519 gross, 407 net
Length	205'6"
Beam	25'2"
Draft	14' forward, 15' aft, also reported as 11'6"
Depth of hold	14'9"
Propulsion	steam screw, 250 hp, variously reported 12-17 knots
Sail plan	brig
Complement	reported as 140 men
Armament	reported as 2 heavy guns mounted on deck and "pierced for either fourteen or twenty guns"
Notes	iron hull painted white, 3 bulkheads, figurehead of a demi-woman

The Georgiana was a brig-rigged, iron hulled, propeller steamer of 120 horsepower (89 kW) with a jib and two heavily raked masts, hull and stack painted black. Her clipper bow sported the figurehead of the a "demi-woman". Georgiana was reportedly pierced for fourteen guns and could carry over four hundred tons of cargo. She was built by the Lawrie shipyard at Glasgow-perhaps under subcontract from Lairds of Birkenhead (Liverpool)-and registered at that port in December 1862 as belonging to N. Matheson's Clyde service. The U.S. Consul at Tenerife was rightly apprehensive of her as being "evidently a very swift vessel."

Capt. Thomas Turner, station commodore, reported to Admiral S. F. du Pont that Georgiana was evidently "sent into Charleston to receive her officers, to be fitted out as a cruiser there. She had 140 men on board, with an armament of guns and gun carriages in her hold, commanded by a British naval retired officer."

The wreck

The Georgiana was lost on the night of 19 March 1863, while attempting to run past the Federal Blockading Squadron and into Charleston, South Carolina. She had been spotted by the armed U.S. Yacht America (namesake of the famed America's Cup racing trophy) which alerted the remainder of the blockade fleet by shooting up colored signal flares. The Georgiana was sunk after a desperate chase in which she came so close to the big guns aboard the USS Wissahickon that her crew even heard the orders being given on the enemy vessel. With solid shot passing entirely though her hull, her propeller and rudder damaged, and with no hope for escape, Capt. A.B. Davidson flashed a white light in token of surrender, thus gaining time to beach his ship in fourteen feet of water, three-quarters of a mile from shore and, after first scuttling her, escape on the land side with all hands; this was construed as "the most consummate treachery" by the disappointed blockading crew, who would have shared in the proceeds from the prize.

Lt. Comdr. J. L. Davis, USN commanding Wissahickon, decided to set the wreck afire lest guerrilla bands from shore try to salvage her or her cargo: she burned for several days accompanied by large explosions when lots of powder succumbed to the flames.

Wreck Chart by E. Lee Spence showing the location and a cross section of the wreck of the Georgiana.

Discovery

The wreck's official discovery was made in 1965, when it was found and correctly identified as Georgiana by underwater archaeologist E. Lee Spence. Spence found the wreck exactly 102 years after the Georgiana's loss.

Today the Georgiana sits on the bottom with her huge boiler only five feet under the surface. She is now plumed with a glorious array of sea fan, sea whips, and living corals. Large sections of the hull are still intact. In places the starboard side of the shattered blockade runner protrudes over nine feet from the sand. Under the mud and sand lies the remainder of the hull of the ill-fated warship.

On a clear day, skin divers can dive down into the Georgiana's immense cargo hold simply by holding their breath. They can swim right past the remaining iron deck supports. The ship's deck was white pine and has long since been eaten away. Sea urchins and sea anemones abound on the wreck. The wreck seems alive with sea bass, grouper, flounder, stingrays, seahorses, and toadfish.

Once in the Georgiana's cargo hold, divers can observe heavily encrusted artifacts sitting where they have lain for over one hundred years. Near the forward cargo hatch Dr. Spence found boxes of pins and buttons. Dr. Spence recovered sundries, munitions, and medicines easily worth over $12,000,000, but he never found the 350 pounds of gold believed to be hidden on the wreck. The gold could have a numismatic value of over $15,000,000. Other cargo could bring the Georgiana's total value to $50,000,000.

Resting on top of the Georgiana's shattered wreckage is the remains of the sidewheel steamer Mary Bowers, which struck the wreck of the Georgiana while attempting to run the blockade into Charleston.

Site Importance

This wreck site is extremely important both historically and archaeology. Historically because of the emphasis both sides (the Confederates and the Federals) placed on the Georgiana as a potential threat to United States shipping, and archaeologically due to the nature of the site. It is also important in a literary sense because the Georgiana and her cargo were owned by [George Alfred Trenholm], who was Treasurer of the Confederacy and has been identified as the real Rhett Butler in Gone With The Wind.

The site contains two distinct types of of ships, both constructed of iron, but one built with extra reinforcing and relatively deep draft for operation as a privateer on the high seas and the other of extremely light weight and shallow draft that was perfectly suited for the purpose of running the blockade. One (the Georgiana) is a screw steamer and the other (the Mary Bowers) a sidewheel steamer. The two ships were built and lost less than two years apart, making their design differences even more significant.

Despite the site's obvious importance and even though a state salvage license had been granted and tens of thousands of artifacts were recovered from the Georgiana/Mary Bowers wreck site, no state official actually dove on the site to inspect it and/or verify the discovery for over 40 years.

Confederate Privateer

A United States consular dispatch dated 6 January 1863 stated, "The steamer Georgiana, just arrived at Liverpool from the Clyde. She is new and said to be a very superior steamer. ··· Yesterday while lying here she had the Rebel flag flying at her mast."

The London American took special note of her in its 28 January 1863 edition as a powerful steamer and remarked that her officers wore gold lace on their caps, considered a sure indication she was being groomed for a man-o'-war.

After the Georgiana's loss on 19 March 1863, the United States Secretary of Navy wrote: "the destruction of the Georgiana not only touched their (the Confederate's) pockets, but their hopes. She was a splendid craft, peculiarly fitted for the business of privateering."

The New York Times of 31 March 1863 gave a spy's description of the craft as "a superior vessel, ··· built expressly for the rebel navy." The spy reported that she was "altogether a faster, stauncher, and better vessel than either the Oreto (CSS Florida) or CSS Alabama."

The London Times of 8 April 1863 described her as follows: "There is not the least doubt of her being intended as a privateer."

Thomas Scharf (who had served in the Confederate navy), in his Post War reference work History of the Confederate Navy, described Georgiana as the "most powerful" Confederate cruiser.

Dr. Spence, who discovered the wreck and identified it as the Georgiana, believes that she was indeed intended as a privateer or cruiser due to the naval guns found aboard, her deep draft hull construction, her heavier than standard iron planking, and the closer than normal, doubled up, Z-beam, framing used throughout the vessel.

References

 This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.

Bibliography

• Spence's Guide to South Carolina, by E. Lee Spence (Nelson Printing, Charleston, SC, 1976, OCLC: 2846435), pages 1–5
• Treasures of the Confederate Coast: The "Real Rhett Butler" & Other Revelations, by Dr. E. Lee Spence (Narwhal Press, Charleston/Miami, 1995, ISBN 1886391017, 1886391009, OCLC 32431590)
• "Wreck of the Confederate Mystery Ship Georgiana, 1863" , by Dr. E. Lee Spence ShipWrecks magazine, Vol. 1, #1, pp. 35–56, 1990
• "Civil War Shipwrecks," by Lee Spence, Argosy magazine, "1977 Treasure Hunting Annual", pp. 34–38, 90
• "Wreck Chart," map by E. Lee Spence (Shipwreck Press, Sullivan's Island, SC, 1978, OCLC: 6270166)
• Shipwrecks of South Carolina and Georgia, 1520-1865, by E. Lee Spence (Sea Research Society, 1984, OCLC: 10593079), pages 47–55, 634,

635, 656, 657, 722-736

• "The Confederate Navy in Europe", Warren F Spencer ULAP Page6 ISNB 081730861X.
• “Diver Lee Spence,” by Eugene Warner, Sandlapper magazine, (Columbia, SC), April, 1970, pp. 40-43
• “Salvaging the Cargo of the Mary Bowers,” by E. Lee Spence, The Conference on Historic Site Archeology Papers 1969, (1971), Volume 4, part 1
• “A Comment on Diving Operations in South Carolina,” The Conference on Historic Site Archeology Papers 1969, (1971), Volume 4, part 2
• “Underwater Archeology in South Carolina,” by E. Lee Spence, The Conference on Historic Site Archeology Papers 1970, (1971), Volume 5, Part 1
• “Treasure Diver,” by Katherine Hatch, in Treasure World, (February-March, 1972), pp. 44, 45
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• Spence’s Guide to South Carolina, by E. Lee Spence, (Nelson Southern Printing, Charleston, SC, 1976), pp. 1-5
• “Wreck of the Georgianna (sic),” by Kevin Rooney, Skin Diver magazine, (Los Angeles, CA), March, 1980, pp. 80, 81, 86, 87
• Lifeline of the Confederacy: Blockade Running During the Civil War, by Stephen R. Wise, (University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, 1983), pp. 226, 229-232, 568, 569
• Charleston’s Maritime Heritage 1670-1865, by P.C. Coker III, (CokerCraft Press, Charleston, SC, 1987), pp. 214, 274, 286, 303
• Warships of the Civil War Navies, by Paul H. Silverstone, (Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD, 1989), p. 212
• “Georgiana,” by E. Lee Spence, Atlantic Coastal Diver magazine, (Baltimore, MD, 1979), pp. 21-27
• “South Carolina’s Underwater Treasures,” by E. Lee Spence, Treasure magazine, Volume 13, #7, July, 1982, pp. 72-77
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• The Blockade Runners, by Dave Horner, (Florida Classics Library, Port Salerno, FL, 1992), Chapter 14, pp. 207-209, 223, 225