The Civil War In the years leading up to the Civil War, the schooner B. N. Hawkins carried goods to southern ports, most frequently Wilmington, North Carolina; Charleston, South Carolina; and Savannah, Georgia. On her return, southern products, mainly cotton and rice, would be carried to northern ports, usually New York City or Boston. The business at times was quite lucrative. Dividend checks representing the owners’ share of the profits regularly arrived bearing reports of cargo carried and the price per commodity. One interesting cargo was reported by the Delaware Gazette on 7 December 1860: “four pieces of ordinance, from the schooner B. N. Hawkins, and 84 packages of ammunition, from the schooner N. W. Smith have been landed at Fort Moultrie.” Fort Moultrie was one of the batteries that protected the entrance to Charleston Harbor. The Union garrison there relocated to Fort Sumter on 26 December 1860, after spiking its larger guns and taking the smaller cannons with them. The outbreak of the Civil War ended the trade with the southern ports, leaving the Hawkins with little to carry and nowhere to go. Letters from the captain report that they began trips to Cuba and the Caribbean to keep the Hawkins operating. Starting in 1862, with few other options, the Hawkins chartered out to the US government. One route was loading supplies for the Union forces at Port Royal and transporting to Stono Inlet, southwest of Charleston. Union forces established bases there as part of their effort to capture the port. In a letter dated 13 September 1863, Captain T. Davis, writing from Stono Inlet, describes what he saw: We pass in plain sight of Fort Sumter The south east face is a map of ruins and the iron clads was continuously firing as we passed The rebels sent 8 torpedoes down the river the other One exploded by striking the Pawnee’s launch tearing it all to pieces And two others exploded on the beach after drifting ashore We can hear a constant roar of cannon sound fort Sumter being only 8 miles from Charleston. 42
Another frequent run for the Hawkins during the war was to supply Fort Munro, a Union-held fort located in Hampton, Virginia. In a letter written 26 July 1862 from James Town, Georgia, Captain Wyatt unhappily describes his experience with how the Union resupply works: I shall endeavor to get down the river as soon as possible. I do not like this way to tow the vessel up a long river and leave us to get down the best way we can. If they paid us until we was back to where we agreed to go, it would allow her care. Besides, all this time is great risk as the Enemy occupy two sides of the river. The Hawkins’s charter to the US government lasted through 1865. In addition to the risks of navigating southern waters during wartime, Wyatt complains that the government is slow to pay, explaining the set-up as once unloaded, the Hawkins had to leave Stono Inlet and sail back to Port Royal. There, the captain needed to get his bill of lading signed by the chief quartermaster. After that, there was a delay in months waiting to be paid. This process proved a burden on the Hawkins, as crew and maintenance expenses continued while the payments were delayed. At times, Wyatt paid the expenses out of his pocket. Other times, he wrote Benjamin Hawkins for funds. Post-Civil War For an East Coast packet, the postwar period was worse. Wyatt wrote that, with no business to be had anywhere, he chartered the Hawkins back into the service of the US government at the rate of $52.80 per day, ending 17 July 1865. That wasn’t a reliable situation either. Wyatt wrote that the federal government was still slow to pay, often taking more than four months. On 2 June 1865, Wyatt noted that the federal government owed him $4,700 and that he needed to borrow money to continue operating the ship. The years 1866 to 1868 saw some small freights. Volumes of goods to be shipped were small, and the rates paid per ton were low. Dividends, the net profit paid to the owners, were small and infrequent.
Wyatt wrote that he would go anywhere there was business. The Hawkins sailed to Cuba, Belize, and France. 1869 was particularly bad for business. Mid-year, Wyatt had the ship re-coppered and purchased a new mainsail. With increasing expenses and after months of running freight at a loss, the owners discussed selling the vessel. It is unclear what each owner did, but the letters reveal that Benjamin Hawkins kept his share for several more years. The amount under discussion was $12,000 for the entire ship, which compares unfavorably to the $17,000 Griffin got nine years earlier for just his oneeighth share of the schooner. Such was the sad state of affairs for the East Coast shipping industry. The letters for 1870–73 continue the theme of little business and high expenses for the aging schooner. Misfortunes The Hawkins must have been solidly constructed. Letters detail how the vessel sailed through major gales where other ships in the same storms sank. The Hawkins was not accident-free, however. In January 1859, she ran aground near Governor’s Island, New York. The Charleston Daily Courier on 11 January 1859 reported “the schooner B. N. Hawkins, Griffin, at New York on the 7th inst. From Savannah, reports having had stormy passage, lost jib booms, head gear, etc. Same afternoon she towed ashore on Governor’s Island, in a dense fog. She does not leak and it was thought she would come off at high water.” Captain Griffin offered more details in his letter: I drop you a few lines to inform you that the SCH B N Hawkins has been ashore on Governor’s Island (N York harbor) Wee were towed on there Friday Noon in a fog trying to get up to the dock out of the ice It has been necessary to lighten a portion of her cargo about 150 tons of cotton & rice I succeeded in getting her off yesterday at high waters I expect that the expense will amount to about $500 of which the cargo has got to pay its proportion Cargo valued at from 20 to 25 thousand dolls and the SEA HISTORY 174, SPRING 2021