The Chances of blockade running.
A list of the vessels which have been running the blockade from the port of Nassau and other ports, in the period intervening between November, 1861, and March, 1864, shows that 84 steamers were engaged; of these 37 were captured by the enemy, 12 were totally lost, 11 were lost and the cargoes partially saved, and one foundered at sea. They made 363 trips to, Nassau and 65 to other ports. Among the highest number of runs made were those of the Fannie, who has run 18 times, and the Margaret and Jessie, which performed the same feat, and was captured. Out of 425 runs from Nassau alone (including 100 schooners) only 62--about one in seven--have been unsuccessful. A letter from Nassau on this subject says:‘ You will please observe that most of the boats here enumerated were wholly unfit for the purpose to which they had been hastily applied under the inducements of the large profit, and are very different from those which have been more recently built, and expressly for blockade running. Still, even now it is by no means an uncommon thing for a five or six knot boat to make several successful trips, white the better class pass the blockading squadron almost as carelessly as if none such existed, frequently in open daylight. The average life of a boat, which from the subjoined table would appear to be about five runs, is therefore in reality much higher, and may be safely estimated, with proper management to be at least four round trips, or eight successful runs. Taking all the , good, bad, and indifferent, together, you will find that out of eighty four steamers, eleven only failed on the first run, thirty-seven have been captured, and twenty-five lost from various marine accidents, while twenty-two are still safe, after having paid themselves many times over.
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