Details For Cover ID# 15614

Inbound Blockade Gray correspondence folded letter dated Liverpool November 21, 1863 addressed to Richmond, carried by blockade runner Syren from Nassau, Bahamas and entered the CSA mails with Wilmington, North Carolina postmark, Ship handstamp and manuscript "22" double ship rate due,  ex Walske
The folded letter below was carried by the steamer Syren on one of her thirty-three successful blockade-running trips, the most made by any blockade-runner during the Civil War. As the average number of successful runs by a blockade-runner during the war was only four, the record of the Syren is equivalent to the life span of eight "average" steamers.  In second place for the number of successful blockade-running trips was the steamer Denbeigh with a distant twenty-two runs.

The Syren was a sidewheel steamer built at Greenwich, Kent, England in 1863 and designed specifically for blockade running. She was owned by the Charleston Importing and Exporting Company. The Syren began her career rather late in the war with her November 5, 1863 maiden voyage from Nassau to Wilmington. Much of her success can be attributed to the daring captains and pilots who ignored many of the norms of blockade-running. Rather than leaving port only at the time of the new moon, she frequently departed a the quarter moons (see phases of the moon page)  and often in poor weather. With these elements of surprise operating  in her favor, slipping through the naval squadron guarding the harbors became easier. It is reported that the Syren at one point made three round trips to Charleston while the other blockade-runners, awaiting a new moon, never left port.