Monticello (privateer)

The Monticello was a Confederate blockade runner during the American Civil War. She was a two-masted schooner out of Havana, Cuba and of unknown nationality^[1]. She ran ashore about 6 to 8 miles east of Fort Morgan and the main inlet to Mobile Bay in Alabama on June 26, 1862, after sailing from Havana, and was then set on fire by the crew to prevent her capture. A landing party from the USS Kanawha attempted to board the vessel, but were driven off by Confederate soldiers firing from nearby on the shore. Her length was 136 feet. She was likely cruising just off shore along the Swash Channel when she ran aground.

Some experts believe that a wreck uncovered by Hurricane Ike on Fort Morgan Road in Fort Morgan, Alabama may be the Monticello.^[2]

Notes

1. ^ Gaines, p.4
2. ^ http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/09/19/ike.mystery.ship.ap/index.html

References

• Gaines, W. Craig, Encyclopedia of Civil War Shipwrecks, Louisiana State University Press, 2008. ISBN 0807132748