Captain Wilson of the Emily St. Pierre recaptures his ship part of Civil War @ Charleston Website Pictured right, Cpt. William Wilson of the Trenholm Company Blockade Runner, Emily St. Pierre, no photo of the ship survives. Captain Wilson of the Emily St. Pierre recaptures his ship from the Northern Navy and sails her 3000 miles to safety with the aid of a steward and a cook.

Captain William Wilson in the Emily St. Pierre. (a blockade runner operated by the Trenholm Company) after a tedious voyage of four months to Calcutta, was approaching the Charleston bar, March 18, 1862. The Captain of the James Adger, one of the blockading ships, had the Emily St. Pierre on his list of suspected vessels and stopped her on the grounds that her English registration was illegal. He noted that the saltpeter on hoard was contraband; the name. Charleston was found on many articles and had been scraped of. her stern. and also that the captain had thrown overboard a suspicious parcel This ship had been one of the first to fly the Confederate colors in Liverpool. Later it was learned that she had also flown the secession flag in Calcutta.

The Confederate crew of merchant sailors was removed except for the steward and cook, and Captain Wilson was ordered to precede to Philadelphia on his own ship. The big, brawny Scotsman immediately determined to recapture his ship, enlisting the cook and steward in his wild plan. While Lieutenant Josiah Stone, acting master, was on watch. they tied and gagged the mate who had been asleep. and after him, in another stateroom. they gave the engineer the same treatment.

Image, Left, the Emily St. Pierre passing the Star of the West, Note the British Flag flown by the British Registered Blockade Runner

Captain Wilson then invited Lieutenant Stone to his room to check a navigation chart and, in the passageway, threatened him with a heavy iron while the steward thrust a gag in the man's mouth. Captain Wilson, supposedly on Stone's orders, sent three men into a hatch and closed it. The helmsman, facing a revolver went next into the hatch. As the watch from below tumbled out on deck. the men were bound two by two. One drew a knife and was fired upon. The others surrendered twelve men, the captain, and the mate.

Captain Wilson, 3.000 miles from home. had a steward and cook who could neither steer, hand, nor reef. Our prisoners agreed to help. but only one could steer a little. The captain had to lie aloft and tie the reef points because a storm was coming, and later, he worked for twelve hours to rig up jury rudder to replace the tiller. After thirty days, on April 2l, the ship dropped anchor in the Mersey.

All England applauded. Charles Prioleau stood by as Captain Wilson, with eves: bloodshot from lack of sleep and beard ragged and torn, told the story.

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