About the year 1878 there flourished in Wilmington the Historical and
Literary Society, composed of about fifty eminent citizens of education
and refinement. In those days our representative men found pleasure and
relaxation from the drudgery of business or the strain of professional
life in the congenial company which assembled for mutual benefit once a
month in the lecture room of the Presbyterian Church on Orange Street.
Such men as Doctor Wilson, father of the President, Doctor DeRosset,
Alfred Martin and his son E.S. Martin, who sometimes represented
opposing views, Doctor Wood, Edward Cantwell, Doctor Morrelle,
Alexander Sprunt, Henry Nutt, and many others, engaged in learned
discussions of subjects suggested by the title of this organization.
On a certain occasion one of the gentlemen named, to whose patriotic
ardor we were almost wholly indebted for the closure of New Inlet
and the consequent benefit to Cape Fear commerce, rose in his usual
dignified and impressive manner with an air of extraordinary importance
and mystery. Said he, "Mr. Chairman, I hold in my hands a relic of
prehistoric times, cast up by the heaving billows off Federal Point,
formerly known as Confederate Point. It is a piece of corroded brass
upon which is inscribed a legend as yet indecipherable; in all
probability it long antedates the coming of Columbus."
A curious group immediately surrounded the learned member with
expressions of awe and admiration, and after several speeches had been
made, by resolution unanimously adopted, Mr. E.S. Martin and two other
members were entrusted with the precious relic for its elucidation by
conferring with the antedeluvian societies of the North.
At the following monthly meeting Mr. Martin reported for his
committee that their efforts to identify the relic through reference
to archæological societies in the North had been futile, but that a
profane Scotchman had informed them that the piece of metal was no more
than a part of the bow or stern escutcheon of the stranded blockade
runner _Georgiana McCaw_, the palm tree in the center surrounded by the
motto "Let Glasgow Flourish," being the coat of arms of Glasgow,[1]
Scotland, the home port of the said blockade runner. Alas! it was
only another case of Bill Stubbs, his mark, but we never took the
antedeluvians of the North into our confidence about it.
The official report of Acting Master Everson, U. S. Navy, commanding
the Federal cruiser _Victoria_, dated off Western Bar, Wilmington,
N.C., June 2, 1864, addressed to the senior officer of the blockading
squadron, is as follows, with reference to the stranding of the
_Georgiana McCaw_:
"Sir: I have the honor to report that at 3 a.m., of this date, and
while drifting in three and a half fathoms water, Bald Head Light
bearing east, saw white water near the beach to the south and
westward, which I supposed to be a steamer. I immediately steamed
ahead at full speed toward the beach in order to cut her off.
"On near approach I discovered her to be a side-wheel steamer, steering
for the bar.
"As he crossed my bow I rounded to in his wake and discharged at him
my starboard 8-inch gun, loaded with one 5-second shell and stand of
grape, and kept firing my 30-pound rifle as I continued the chase,
until 3.30 a.m. she struck on the bar. I immediately ordered the first
and second cutters to board and fire her, the former under command of
Acting Master's Mate William Moody, the latter under charge of Acting
Third Assistant Engineer Thomas W. Hineline.
"On arrival on board they found that two boats, with their crews, had
escaped to the shore.
"They, however, succeeded in capturing twenty-nine of the crew,
including the captain and most of the officers, together with three
passengers.
"They fired her in several places, and she continued to burn until 10
a.m., when she was boarded from the shore. At daylight Fort Caswell and
the adjacent batteries opened fire on our boats with shot and shell,
which compelled them to return without accomplishing her destruction.
"She proved to be the _Georgiana McCaw_ of Liverpool, 700 tons burden,
from Nassau, bound to Wilmington, N.C.
"Her cargo consists of about 60 tons provisions, etc.
"I would add, sir, that too much credit can not be awarded to Acting
Master's Mate William Moody and Acting Third Assistant Engineer Thomas
W. Hineline for their perseverance and energy displayed, and their cool
and gallant conduct while under fire of the enemy."