AH-WR-0119

Planter

Side-Wheel Steamer · United States · Lost 1876 · The Georgia & South Carolina Coast

Robert Smalls piloted this steamer to freedom from Confederate Charleston in 1862; it later wrecked in a storm near Cape Romain in 1876.

Become Captain of Record See Shipwreck on Map

Artistic recreation based on recorded historical documents.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

Historically Reconstructed. Drawn from partial documentation of this vessel together with her known class and configuration. See the documented evidence.

The Vessel and Her Loss

Planter was a Charleston-built steamer used by the Confederacy before Robert Smalls and a crew of enslaved men commandeered her in May 1862, sailing her out of Charleston Harbor to deliver her to the Union Navy. The escape made Smalls a celebrated figure, and he later became a U.S. Navy pilot and congressman. Planter continued in Union service and later commercial use before wrecking on a beach near Cape Romain, South Carolina, in March 1876 while attempting to tow a grounded schooner. NOAA researchers identified a probable wreck location in 2014, though it has not been conclusively confirmed.

Vessel

Built: 1860
Builder: Not established
Yard: Charleston, South Carolina
Material: Wood
Length: Not established
Beam: Not established
Tonnage: Not established
Propulsion: Steam, side paddle wheels
Owners: U.S. Army Quartermaster Department (after 1862); previously Confederate States

Loss

Date: March 1, 1876
Cause: Grounding
Location: Beach near Cape Romain, South Carolina
Water: Atlantic Ocean
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: 2014
Protection: Not established

Position

Coordinates: 33.01° N 79.50° W
Accuracy: General area only
Nearest: Cape Romain, South Carolina
Region: The Georgia & South Carolina Coast

General area only: coordinate of Cape Romain from the USGS Geographic Names Information System, marking the named place of loss recorded for this vessel (beach near Cape Romain), not a surveyed wreck position.