The Daily Dispatch: February 25, 1865., [Electronic resource]

Blockade-running.

"In 1862, 1863 and 1864 no fewer then one hundred and eleven swift steamers were built on the Clyde for the purpose of running the blockade of the Confederate ports. Of the whole one hundred and eleven steamers, seventy have been either captured or destroyed, leaving, at the close of 1861, twenty-nine still running, while eleven were on their way out. The number running at the close of 1861 was larger than at any previous period in the annals of the blockade. The average number of trips made by a blockade-runner does not, however, exceed five, so that enormous profits must be resized per voyage to make this peculiar branch of adventure at all remunerative. Most of the blockade-runner captured by the Federals become blockade- watchers, in which capacity they prove very serviceable. It may be added that, not withstanding the large number of blockade-runners captured or destroyed, more new steamers were built on the Clyde in 1864, to supply their places, than in either 1863 or 1864, showing that speculators are not at all disheartened."