Why the crew of the Celt told Ensign Center they were from the Sylph is unknown. The Sylph was built in Grangemouth, Scotland, of 500 tons register, owned by S. Isaac, Campbell & Co., of London, and was used to bring contraband war supplies to the South, primarily to and from the Gulf Coast. Sylph was almost twice the tonnage of the Celt. She had been captured by the Union forces and employed in duties around Beaufort and Savannah, but was not known to have come in to Charleston. Perhaps posing as the crew of a friendly ship versus an enemy one was the object of their deception. Another report reveals that the alleged Sylph was possibly the Celt, but still incorrectly refers to her as English: USS Canonicus, Charleston Roads, SC, February 19, 1865. Admiral: I have the honor to report that on the night of the 17th instant I had the advance picket duty at the entrance of the harbor with the vessels under my com-
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USS Harvest Moon
library of congress
runner Sylph, which ran on shore on Sullivan’s Island on the evening before while attempting to run the blockade out of Charleston. The following is a list of their names: Edward Manner, mate; G. W. Cessell, French; Charles Kelly, T. McManner, −−−White, −−−Sherry, soldiers; M. Barby [Kirby], escaped prisoner. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, S. Center, Acting Ensign, commanding.
1865 photograph of a wrecked sidewheel steamship wrecked off Sullivan’s Island in Charleston Harbor. The vessel is believed to be the Confederate blockade runner Celt, right off Bowman’s Wharf near Fort Moultrie. mand…About 9 o’clock a.m. I boarded and took possession of the English blockade runner Sylph, or Celt, which ran ashore abreast of Moultrie on the night of the 14th instant, coming out of the harbor with a cargo of cotton. I did not deem it necessary to hoist a flag upon her…Very respectfully, your obedient servant, G. E. Belknap, LieutenantCommander. Admiral John A. Dahlgren, commander of the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron,
in a diary entry written on board his flagship, USS Harvest Moon, confirms the Celt as the ship that was run aground on 14 February: February 15‒Got off to Charleston about 9. Anchored about 10pm. All quiet save a blockade runner (Celt) got ashore coming out, and was destroyed; business not so easy; six or seven men came from her to us in a boat, most of them deserters, the rest went ashore, except her first mate, Mamere. Michael Kirby was taken on board the Harvest Moon. His story of being an escaped Union prisoner-of-war did not satisfy Admiral Dahlgren at first, and he was put in irons until evidence could be obtained that would corroborate his account. When Charleston was finally captured and safely in control of Union forces, a flag officer and two marines accompanied Kirby back to the home of the people who had sheltered him, and they validated his story. An entry in the logbook for Harvest Moon, dated 21 February 1865, states: “Michael Kirby was sent ashore to Provost Marshal’s tug.” Kirby was sent to Fort Columbus, New
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