Princess Royal

Princess Royal

Built: Glasgow, by Tod & McGregor for M Langlands & Sons, Glasgow
Registered Glasgow, entered service July 1861
Tonnage: 652 gross, 494 net
Dimensions: length of 200.5 ft, beam 28.2 ft, depth 15.5 ft
Power: two-cylinder steam engine of 150-170 nhp, single propeller

Princess Royal

On 29 January 1863, the USS UNADILLA, Lt Cdr Stephen Quackenbush, captured the British blockade runner PRINCESS ROYAL just off Charleston, outbound from London via Halifax, then Bermuda, with a load of arms, ammunition and two [or four] steam engines.

She was purchased by the U.S Navy from the prize court, and continued her wartime service in the Gulf of Mexico. On 17 August 1865, she was purchased by William F Weld & Co of Boston, renamed SHERMAN, was used in passenger and freight service (Boston to Gulf ports) until 8 January 1874 when she sprang a leak off the North Carolina coast and anchored near Little River. The next day she sank off Cape Fear; passengers and crew were saved, along with some cargo.

This detail is from an apparently uncredited illustration in the American Neptune (XXI/4)