Whisper - a general history

Completed October 1864; Official No. 50140; Code Letters WGTN.
Owners: Edward L Golbourne (Tranmere, Cheshire) London.
Masters: 1864 John Wilkinson (C.N. 18817 London 1856); 1866 George Rivers (C.N. 3142 London 1851).

On her trial trip in September 1864 carrying 400 tons of cargo she had reached a speed of 17mph (14 knots). There were then a few alterations made to bring her speed from 17mph to 20mph.
Voyages: she left Hartlepool at the beginning of October 1864 bound for London with a crew of about 30. At the time her ownership & destination was a ‘strict secret’ but it was generally believed that she would sail from Liverpool for Charleston as a blockade runner. On 16 November 1864 she sailed from Falmouth for St George’s Harbour, Bermuda. John Wilkinson, a lieutenant in the US Navy, who had just arrived from Halifax, was asked to take command of the Whisper which was already loaded with munitions. In 1877 he wrote The Narrative of a Blockade Runner of which the following is an extract:

‘She was a fair specimen of her class. Built expressly for speed and light draft, her frame was very slight, but she was a capital sea boat, and made several successful trips. After all arrangements had been completed for the transportation to the Confederacy of our party, I assumed command of the little Whisper, with six or eight of the party as passengers. I remember my astonishment at learning the rates for freight at this period. The Whisper was loaded and ready for sea, and I was dining with Mr Campbell, the agent of the company, when a person asked to see him upon pressing business. The purpose of the visitor was to ship by the Whisper a small lot of medicines. As the vessel was already heavily laden, Mr Campbell referred him to me, and I consented to take the box in the cabin. The freight upon it was £500 sterling! Six blockade-runners, including the Whisper, sailed for Wilmington within twenty-four hours of each other. The voyage across was stormy, and the sky so overcast as to compel us to run by dead-reckoning, until we had crossed the Gulf Stream, early on the third day. We had been steaming against a strong gale the whole time. These cold north-westers brought disaster upon many blockade-runners; for blowing over the tepid water of the Gulf Stream, clouds of vapour would rise like steam, and be condensed by the cold wind into a fog so dense as to obscure every object. At such times, the skill and perseverance of the navigator would be taxed to the utmost. A glimpse of the sun, moon, or north star, caught through the sextant wet with spray, and brought down to a most uncertain horizon, would furnish the only means of guidance, where an error of a few miles in the calculation would probably prove fatal. Upon reaching soundings on the western edge of the ‘stream,’ about eleven o’clock in the forenoon, we succeeded in catching a glimpse of the sun, and thus ascertaining our position. The sea was still running very high, but the weather had moderated considerably, and we found ourselves not more than forty miles south-east of the western bar. The Whisper had fared badly, while running in the teeth of the gale; all of our boats, except one, had been swept from the davits, and the wheel houses had been stove in. As there was no further necessity to strain the hull and engines, the little craft was brought near the wind under low steam, and close-reefed mainsail; riding the long rolling seas like a sea-gull. To windward the sky soon became clear, but we took care not to get far away from the dense fog to leeward of us. We did not see a cruiser, while we lay for many hours anxiously waiting for night. As the sun set, the order was given to go at full speed, and before midnight we had passed safely through the blockading fleet, and had come to anchor off Smithville. Out of the six steamers which sailed from St. George’s, the Whisper alone succeeded in getting in. Most of them were run ashore, and their cargoes partially saved; but some fell, intact, into the hands of the vigilant cruisers.’

She was the last vessel to complete a successful blockade run.

In February 1865 she sailed from Bermuda bound for London but had to return to the former when she had problems with her engine. She then went to Halifax for repairs; July 1865 arrived Falmouth from Halifax; December 1865 arrived Gravesend from Delfsijl; April 1866 agents Phillips, Graves, Phillips & Co of London advertised her as a passenger ship from London for Gothenburg at a fare of £8 8d. The Whisper was not registered in the UK by 1868.

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