24. Banshee was a regular on the Nassau to Wilmington run in 1863
Banshee made eight successful voyages between Wilmington and Nassau in 1863, delivering cotton to its owner’s agents, and weapons and other war supplies to the Confederate port. Like all blockade runners, it often lurked along the inlets of the American coastline while waiting for conditions to be ideal for the final run into the Cape Fear River. On November 21, the ship was captured while so occupied, its British captain and crew of 38 were sent to New York for incarceration after a Confederate flag was found aboard. That and the ship’s log made its true identity suspicious. Banshee was later taken into the US Navy.
The situation over the crew of the Banshee was adjudicated by military commission. It was found that all were foreign citizens and it recommended the crew be released. When they were, they were given two weeks to leave the United States. Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles signed the release, though the name of Captain Steele did not appear on the official document. Steele’s fate was lost to history. Banshee made its owner, a Liverpool cotton merchant, so much money in just eight voyages that he built another steamer to replace it, named Banshee II. It also proved profitable.