Gussie Telfair
Steamship · United States · Lost 1880 · The Columbia River Bar & Oregon Coast
A former Confederate blockade runner turned Union gunboat ended her career running aground in Coos Bay under circumstances locals suspected were insurance fraud.
Become Captain of Record
The Vessel and Her Loss
Built in Glasgow in 1862 as the blockade runner Gertrude, she was captured by the U.S. Navy in 1863 and served as the gunboat USS Gertrude, credited with several captures during the Civil War blockade of the Gulf Coast. Sold after the war and renamed Gussie Telfair, she worked coastal routes for two decades before running hard aground near Rocky Point at Coos Bay on September 25, 1880. All passengers and most cargo were saved, but the ship was a total loss, and observers at the time noted suspicious insurance arrangements.
Vessel
- 1862
- Barclay, Curle and Company
- Glasgow, Scotland
- Iron
- 156 ft
- 21 ft
- 350
- Steam, screw-propelled
- George Wright/J.T. Wright Jr., later F. Barnard & Company, San Francisco
Loss
- September 25, 1880
- Grounding
- Near Rocky Point, Coos Bay, Oregon
- Coos Bay
- Portland, Oregon → Coos Bay, Oregon
- Coal
- 20
- 0
- Not established
The Wreck Today
- Not established
- Not established
- Not established
- Not established
- Not established
Position
- Not established
- Position not established
- Coos Bay, Oregon
Reported wrecked near Rocky Point inside Coos Bay; no precise position published.
Evidence
Overall confidence: Documented (75/100)
Build history, naval service, and later merchant career and loss.
Narrative of the 1880 grounding at Coos Bay and contemporary insurance suspicions.
Naval service record and final disposition.
