4. The early blockade runners were unsuitable for later service
When the blockade was first proclaimed in April 1861, the US Navy was in no position to enforce it, and nearly all ships got through. The newly formed Confederate government appointed a Charleston import-export firm to represent its interests in Britain. John Fraser & Company had offices in New York, Charleston, and Liverpool, and regular service between Liverpool and Charleston was in effect before the blockade was established. John Fraser died in 1854 and the business was taken over by his partner, George Trenholm. Trenholm moved the New York office to the British ports in the Bahamas and Bermuda.
His partner in Liverpool was Charles Prioleau, a Charleston born lawyer. Together with agents appointed by the Confederate government, Trenholm and Prioleau shipped Southern cotton to the Bahamas and Bermuda. The cotton was sold, and munitions needed by the Confederate government were purchased from British firms. In 1861 the firm – by then called Fraser, Trenholm and Company – operated 60 ships and served as the Confederacy’s banker in Britain. The effects of the blockade began to be felt in late 1861, and faster ships with a lower profile were needed to elude the Union’s ships. Trenholm’s agents turned to British shipyards to provide them.