RR Frazier asked about the blockade runner Denbigh. Denbigh was one of the most successful blockade runners. She started out as a relatively small river and coastal steamer of shallow draft, built by the shipyard of John Laird in Birkenhead, England. Birkenhead is across the Mersey River from Liverpool, also a city with a long shipbuilding history and one of the greatest ports in the world. When new, Denbigh was considered fast for a steamer of her size, but by late 1864 was said to be only capable of about 8 1/2 knots. (Truly fast runners of that era were capable of speeds approaching 20 knots under perfect conditions.) Like many other similar sidewheel steamers Denbigh was bought and converted to go blockade running. She operated from Havana, Cuba, into Mobile, Alabama, and Galveston, Texas, racking up what is believed to be the second best record of successful runs (Syren made the most). She finally grounded outside Galveston near the end of the war and was destroyed. The wreck has been investigated by a predominately volunteer group organized from the Institute for Nautical Archaeology at Texas A & M, and led by Dr. Barto Arnold. Their website is a wonderful thing, full of both primary historical material and informed short essays on the history and archaeology regarding the wreck. The website can be found at:
<http://nautarch.tamu.edu/PROJECTS/denbigh/denbigh.html>