The Crenshaw Company was a blockade running company established during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

. The company was founded by the brothers James and William Crenshaw of

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. They had numerous steamers built on behalf of the confederacy to run supplies between Bermuda, Nassau, England, and

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. James was the agent in Nassau, and

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the agent in

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. In early 1864, they contracted with Atlantans Richard Peters and Vernon Stevenson, and Richard Wilson to move cotton from the interior to the best remaining Confederate port at that time, Wilmington. Wilson negotiated sales to

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for return cargoes of beef, pork and coffee as well as materials for the assembly of cotton bales (iron hoops and gunny cloth). During that time, the Captains were Englishman George M. Horner and Michael Philip Usina of Savannah and two steamers: ''Marie Celeste'' and ''Atlanta''. First voyage was Usina on the new sidewheeler ''Marie Celeste'' from Wilmington to Bermuda with 1,000 bales of cotton. The ''Atlanta'' was completed in March 1864 and reached Bermuda in April and in the next three months made four trips to Wilmington, the last of which (with Captain Usina) was a close scrape with the Union blockade in which he was able to escape into the Cape Fear River and make his delivery. On June 20, 1864, both ships were at port in St. George, Bermuda. ''Marie Celeste'' left Bermuda on September 26, 1864, for Wilmington with a full cargo of canned meats but struck a reef and sank in 6 minutes. The ship was a total loss and the wreck is now a diving attraction.

References

*''Richard Peters, Champion of the New South'' by Royce Shingleton, p. 97-100 * Official Records of the American Civil War, Naval, Ser.I,Vol.3,p. 724-127; Ser.II,Vol.2,p. 368,682,773 * History of Atlanta North Carolina in the American Civil War Shipping companies of the United States Companies based in Virginia {{US-shipping-company-stub