AH-WR-1746

CSS Firefly

Side-Wheel Steamer · Lost 1864 · The Georgia & South Carolina Coast

The Confederate tender CSS Firefly burned and sank at a Savannah wharf in December 1864.

Artistic recreation based on recorded historical documents.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

CSS Firefly was a wooden side-wheel steamer bought by South Carolina in 1861. Transferred to the Confederate States Navy that May, she served as a tender to the Savannah Squadron, with a complement of fifteen and one gun. Gaines describes a November 1862 fire followed by apparent repair. She burned and sank at the Screven’s Ferry wharf when Savannah fell on December 21, 1864.

Vessel

Built: Not established
Builder: Not established
Yard: Not established
Material: Wood
Length: Not established
Beam: Not established
Tonnage: Not established
Propulsion: Steam, side wheels
Owners: Not established

Loss

Date: December 21, 1864
Cause: Fire
Location: Screven’s Ferry wharf, Savannah, Georgia
Water: Savannah River
Voyage: Not established
Cargo: Not established
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: Savannah, Georgia
Region: The Georgia & South Carolina Coast

Evidence

Overall confidence: Documented (80/100)

Exact position, present depth and surviving condition are not established in the reviewed sources.

W. Craig Gaines — Encyclopedia of Civil War Shipwrecks (LSU Press, 2008)
Individual CSS Firefly entry: wooden side-wheel steamer, fifteen complement, one gun, 1861 naval transfer and tender service, earlier fire and completed December 21, 1864 burning and sinking at Screven’s Ferry; entry cites ORN 16:483–484.