Thanks, never knew the NC actually owned it own blockade runners.
The aforementioned Confederate-era governor, Zebulon Baird Vance, insisted that North Carolina have it’s own Navy, and so it did to an extent. But, the “Mosquito Fleet” was lost early on, and the earlier privateer blockade runners were experiencing limited success. So, agents of the state went to primarily Scotland in order to procure fast, masted side paddle steamers with a shallow draft to navigate the shifting shoals, in order to get past the Federal blockade to transport cotton and tobacco out of NC, and return with much needed supplies.
There were many blockade runners, but there were four blockade runners in all that were owned by the State, with the Advance being the most successful by far, and one of the most successful if not the most successful blockade runner of the entire Confederate effort. It was a very fast, sleek ship for the time, capable of twenty knots, painted zinc color in order to disappear at sea, an early example of camouflage.
The captains of numerous of these were actually in service to the North Carolina Navy and not the Confederacy. Vance insisted upon State control, fearing that they’d be commandeered in the future and/or cargos seized, and in that he was prescient as attempts did occur.
As a result of these State blockade runners, NC soldiers were the best equipped and best fed in the Confederacy, citizens received much needed supplies and hard cash for their ag products, and other states of the Confederacy received equipment and supplies for their respective armies
Vance was a good governor in an extremely difficult time, he did his absolute best to protect the interests of his people, despite their being riven by disagreement over the war. He was a good man.