Gunner, Confederate States Navy. Trained in ordnance at the Washington Navy Yard before the Civil War. He chose to serve with the Confederate States, becoming a Gunner in the Confederate States Navy. He was responsible for all of the CSS Alabama's ordnance. After the sinking of the CSS Alabama he tried to return to the Confederacy. He was drowned on 19 January 1865 while a passenger on the foundering blockade runner, Lelia, in the course of her maiden voyage from Liverpool, England to Wilmington, North Carolina via Bermuda. The Lelia left the River Mersey, with a largely Liverpool-based crew, and several prominent Confederate naval officers. Lelia was heavily laden, and when she hit bad weather off the coast of North Wales, large waves knocked her anchors loose and through the deck, swamping her. She sank near the lightship Prince off the Great Orme. Two boats were able to leave the stricken ship, but one capsized and only twelve survivors (out of fifty-one on board) reached the safety of the lightship. The next day the Liverpool No 1 Lifeboat went to the scene, but was itself swamped by waves, with the loss of seven out of its 11 crew.
Gunner, Confederate States Navy. Trained in ordnance at the Washington Navy Yard before the Civil War. He chose to serve with the Confederate States, becoming a Gunner in the Confederate States Navy. He was responsible for all of the CSS Alabama's ordnance. After the sinking of the CSS Alabama he tried to return to the Confederacy. He was drowned on 19 January 1865 while a passenger on the foundering blockade runner, Lelia, in the course of her maiden voyage from Liverpool, England to Wilmington, North Carolina via Bermuda. The Lelia left the River Mersey, with a largely Liverpool-based crew, and several prominent Confederate naval officers. Lelia was heavily laden, and when she hit bad weather off the coast of North Wales, large waves knocked her anchors loose and through the deck, swamping her. She sank near the lightship Prince off the Great Orme. Two boats were able to leave the stricken ship, but one capsized and only twelve survivors (out of fifty-one on board) reached the safety of the lightship. The next day the Liverpool No 1 Lifeboat went to the scene, but was itself swamped by waves, with the loss of seven out of its 11 crew.
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