AH-WR-0536

USS Peterhoff

Steamer · United States · Lost 1863 · The Outer Banks

A former blockade runner turned Union Navy prize ship, sunk in 1863 when a fellow Union warship mistook her for an enemy vessel.

Artistic recreation based on recorded historical documents.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

USS Peterhoff had been captured as a blockade runner and taken into U.S. Navy service. Only a week into blockading duty off Fort Fisher, North Carolina, she was rammed and sunk by USS Monticello on the night of March 6, 1863, after the Monticello mistook her for an enemy blockade runner while violating orders against nighttime movement inside the blockade line. The wreck, found by recreational divers a century later, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Vessel

Built: Not established
Builder: Not established
Yard: United Kingdom
Material: Iron
Length: Not established
Beam: Not established
Tonnage: Not established
Propulsion: Steam, single screw
Owners: United States Navy

Loss

Date: March 6, 1863
Cause: Collision
Location: South of New Inlet, near Fort Fisher, North 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: 1960s
Protection: Listed on the National Register of Historic Places; within Monitor National Marine Sanctuary program area

Position

Coordinates: 33.98° N 77.92° W
Accuracy: General area only
Nearest: Near Fort Fisher, North Carolina
Region: The Outer Banks

General area only: coordinate of the Fort Fisher Recreation Site from the USGS Geographic Names Information System, marking the named landmark used in the vessel's loss record ("south of New Inlet, near Fort Fisher"; New Inlet itself is a historical, now-closed feature without a standalone GNIS point), not a surveyed wreck position.

Evidence

Overall confidence: Partially documented (70/100)

Casualty figures and precise vessel dimensions are not established in the sources reviewed.

NC Department of Natural and Cultural Resources
Loss narrative, cause, and NRHP listing.
NC Archaeology, "The Guns of the Peterhoff"
Vessel background as a captured blockade runner and archaeological findings.
USGS Geographic Names Information System — Fort Fisher Recreation Site, New Hanover County, North Carolina
coordinate of the named place of loss