Blockade-running steamers captured.
--The
Nassau correspondent of the
Charleston (S. C.) Courier states that the British steamer
Gertrude,
Captain Raison, was captured by the
Vanderbilt,
Admiral Wilkes, off
Eleuthera, on the morning of the 16th ult. The crew were released and have arrived at
Nassau; but the captain and engineer were taken on to New York.
The entrances to the Bahamas are closely blockaded by a large Federal squadron.
It has been ascertained that officers from the blockaders approach
Nassau in the night time for the purpose of examining the steamers in port and obtaining information about their time of sailing.
When the
Granite City was captured the officer commanding the
Federal cruiser told the
British captain that he was a slow traveller, for he (the
Yankee) had been expecting him along for two hours. The following are the casualties that have happened to the steamers trading with the Bahamas and Bermudas since the 1st of January, 1863: Captured--Princess Royal,
Gertrude,
Nicolai,
Granite City, and Duoro, Beached and destroyed — Wave
Queen, Georgiana, and
Stonewall Jackson.
Foundered at sea — Nina.