The Ships of Rebel Raiders   -  The Banshee

Rebel Raiders on the High Seas is a strategic game of the Civil War which focuses on the role of the navies on the rivers, along the coasts and on the oceans.  While most ships are represented by generic counters for Ironclads, Blockade Runners, Gunboats, Screw Sloops and, of course Raiders, there are cards and corresponding counters for many individual vessels.  This series presents those cards and offers a glimpse into the history of these storied ships.

The Blockade Runners – The Banshee

The Banshee (CSN Card 68) was one of the first ships built specifically to run the Union blockade.  She was also one of the first commercial vessels to build of steel.

 Under Joseph W. Steele the ship made eight successful runs, giving her owners their investment seven times over.  After a transatlantic maiden voyage in April 1863, most of her runs were from Bermuda or the Bahamas into Wilmington, where she was caught later that year on her ninth and final run by the USS Grand Gulf.  Taken to New York as a prize, she was purchased, armed and rechristened by the U.S. Navy as the gunboat USS Banshee, under which name she joined the blockade in Chesapeake Bay.