Cornubia

The Hayle Inn of 1867, it's sign and the ship that plied the Bristol Channel and sailed for both Confederate and Union Navy.

Photograph 10th April 2009.
Cornubia Inn
The Inn Sign by Rob Rowland of 1999
Built in 1867, originally Fifteen Balls, then One and All. In 1914 it was Cornubia, a Hotel.
Named after the ship built by Harveys in 1858. The picture is curious,
as it is based on the Harvey's half model and the hull is black;
her description of the time was 'painted white';
It was not at all unusual for hulls to have been white; when she was sold to the Confederate forces,
it is possible that she was re-painted before she left London,
but there is severe doubt as to her having been painted whilst in American waters;
to have had a ship laid up for so long, at risk and out of action would have been foolhardy.

The ship - Cornubia
The St Ives Shipping Registers; Entry 6th July 1858
[Measurements taken by the Tide Surveyor's Office upon Registration of the vessel]
[Errors will be found all over the internet, both in ship details and surrounding history].
Official Number 19895
Port Number 6 of St Ives.
British Built
Decks : One and a Poop
Number of Masts : Two
Rigging : Schooner with a Topping Up Bowsprit
Stern : Square.
Build : Clench
Gallery : None
Figurehead : Female figure
Framework and Plating : Iron.
Tonnage : 370.25 under deck
Poop (break in deck) 29
House on Quarter Deck
Gross Tonnage 411.47
Propelling Power Allowance [37%] 152.24, as measured
Steamer Register Tonnage 259.23
Steamer - Paddle Wheel
Built Hayle Foundry in the County of Cornwall
Built [completed] 3rd July 1858
Length from forepart of the stem under the bowsprit to the aft head of sternpost 190 feet
Main breadth outside of Plank 24.7 feet
Depth in hold from tonnage deck at midships 12.7 feet.
Length of Engine Room 46.6 feet
Two Engines; combined power 230 hp.
Owners : Hayle and Bristol Steam Packet Company Limited (64 Shares).
Sold Registered 21st November 1861 on Bill of Sale 14th November 1861;
New owner Thomas Sterling Begbie of 4 Mansion House Place, City of London, Shipowner.
Registry Closed 21st December 1861.
========================================
[Thomas Sterling Begbie was a London ship broker, he had often acted for the Confederates.]
Master in 1859 was Captain W Gill.
Twin oscillating side-wheel engines; four boilers; 9 foot stroke; 18 knots.
She had been built for the passenger and freight market between St Ives Bay and Bristol, in competition with the Railway.
Between 1861 and 1863 she saw service as a Confederate blockade runner, with her long sleek lines, eventually caught by the Niphon at Wilmington.
[It was in December of 1961 that Scotia was also sold for Confederate blockade running;
Scotia was the first steam ship plying the route from Penzance to the Isles of Scilly.]
The James Adger towed Cornubia off the reef, and she was taken to Boston, where the captured mails gave vital information;
Cornubia was bought from the Prize Court and became a Union ship, blockading from March 1864. May of 1865 saw her on harbour duties.
She was sold off October 1865.
Remarkable service in waters that she was never considered to sail.
Cornubia - Career and confusions

I can see now just why a certain degree of the confusion over the history of Cornubia exists,
for even Stephen R Wise falls foul of the fact that there were two ships so named Blockade running.
Mr Wise indicates that one of the three ships called into the Ordnance Bureau, under James M Sexias, was the Columbia, a Clyde River ferry.
Mr Wise states she was renamed Cornubia and sailed from Glasgow under British Registration, arriving at Bermuda 3rd December 1862.
However, that is not possible, the Columbia had arrived and served as runner from July to August 1862, when she was captured.
Columbia was built by Archibald Denny, Dumbarton, owner Thomas Sterling Begbie; captured August 1862, wrecked January 1863.
Oddly that ship is not on the Clydeside-built database.

The ship that had arrived in December 1862 was the Hayle ship Cornubia.
She had been purchased by Thomas Sterling Begbie in December of 1861, in which time,
there was then opportunity for a service and re-paint to the white that she became known for whilst in American waters.
The model made by Harveys was quite adamantly black and gold.
When the contract for British command expired, command was passed over to Lt Richard N Gayle.
Cargo and passengers aboard the Cornubia had to have special and personal approval
from JM Sexias of the War Department.

This fact ensured that proper documentation followed the ship everywhere.

Cornubia, with her powerful engines and fine engineers developed the best record for any of the ships.
It is also stated that she acquired the nickname Lady Davis.
Besides records of the voyages of Cornubia, the main reference is in her capture,
by sight of the James Adger and the closing in of the Niphon, she grounded herself, the crew captured.
James Adger towed her off and to Boston.

Cornubia was built Harvey and Son, Hayle; sold by Thomas Sterling Begbie to James Seddon;
the ship was referred to by the name Lady Davis; she was captured November 1863.
She necame a Union ship and made captures of runners.
Her last major activity was as Union Blockader Cornubia 5th June 1865,
leading the squadron entering Galveston, thus closing the last port of the blockade runners.
Sold private April 1866, renamed New England, engines removed March 1871.
She therefore remained in the Americas.

As well as other self-perpetuating errors that abound on the internet,
I refer to the claim that the General Steam Navigation ship, named Hilda, was the ex Cornubia, built in 1862,
and saw service as an American Civil War blockade runner, purchased by GSN in 1868, and scrapped in 1889;
since it was 428 grt, this is neither the one of the two Cornubias listed on service,

since one was wrecked and the other rendered engineless in 1871;
nor is it possible to have been another Cornubia on runner service, because there were no more as such listed.

Raymond Forward