AH-WR-1716

Amazon

Whaling Bark (or Barque) · United States · Lost December 19–20, 1861 · The Georgia & South Carolina Coast

Amazon was scuttled in Charleston Harbor in December 1861 as a Union blockship.

Artistic recreation based on recorded historical documents. See the documented evidence.

Interpretive Reconstruction, drawn to convey the vessel's era, type and general form. See the documented evidence.

The Vessel and Her Loss

Amazon was a whaling bark out of Fairhaven, Massachusetts. The vessel joined the Union’s First Stone Fleet to obstruct Charleston Harbor. Gaines’s individual entry records scuttling in Main Shipping Channel, Charleston Harbor, South Carolina on December 19–20, 1861. The individual wreck position and surviving remains are not established.

Vessel

Built: 1815
Builder: Not established
Yard: Berkley, Massachusetts
Material: Not established
Length: Not established
Beam: Not established
Tonnage: Not established
Propulsion: Sail
Owners: Not established

Loss

Date: December 19–20, 1861
Cause: Intentional sinking
Location: Main Shipping Channel, Charleston Harbor, South Carolina
Water: Charleston Harbor entrance, Atlantic Ocean
Voyage: Not established
Cargo: 325 tons of stone
Aboard: Not established
Lives lost: Not established
Master: Not established

The Wreck Today

Depth: Not established
Condition: Not established
Orientation: Not established
Discovered: Not established
Protection: Not established

Position

Coordinates: Not established
Accuracy: Position not established
Nearest: Charleston, South Carolina
Region: The Georgia & South Carolina Coast

Evidence

Overall confidence: Documented (80/100)

Exact sinking day, individual wreck position, dimensions and present condition are not established.

W. Craig Gaines — Encyclopedia of Civil War Shipwrecks, Louisiana State University Press (2008)
Individual Amazon entry: vessel rig, home port and Charleston Stone Fleet scuttling date range.