What role did Nassau play in blockade running?
Blockade runners would take cotton from Charleston to Nassau, a trip of 560 miles with 48 hours of sailing. As the Union had blockaded all Confederate ports, blockade runners had to be fast. They traded cotton at Nassau for British goods, with the cotton eventually finding its way to British cotton mills.
How did The Bahamas benefit from blockade running?
The American Civil War brought prosperity to The Bahamas, which served as a transfer point for munitions and medical supplies to be run through the northern blockade of Confederate ports. Cotton from the south was the main commodity of exchange.
What were blockade runners doing in Florida?
Initially, the navy did not have enough ships to effectively police Florida’s long coastline and stop southern commerce. Blockade runners brought in war materials and luxuries, often from Bermuda, the Bahamas, and Cuba. In turn, cotton, molasses, whiskey, and other products were shipped abroad.
What was the success rate of blockade runners?
Most of the guns and other ordnance of the Confederacy were imported from Britain via these blockade runners. Some runners made many successful runs, while many others were either captured or destroyed. Historians estimate that 2,500–2,800 attempts were made to run the blockade, with at least an 80% success rate.
How was bootlegging done in the Bahamas?
Bahamian bootleggers were making their own alcohol in the backyard and pouring the homemade moonshine into branded bottles. They were selling cheap imitation backyard liquor for the expensive high-end stuff and making a fortune.
Which group of ships ran the blockade at some point during the American Civil War?
The Atlantic Blockading Squadron was a unit of the United States Navy created in the early days of the American Civil War to enforce a blockade of the ports of the Confederate States.
How did blockade runners make money?
Even Yankee sailors benefited financially when they captured a blockade runner. A Navy custom, now long gone, gave money to the capturing crew based on the sale of the enemy ship and its cargo.
How did rum Runners transport alcohol?
Olmstead was making $200,000 a month before Prohibition agents tapped his phone, leading to his arrest and end as a rumrunner in 1924. Individual bootleggers transporting booze by land to Seattle would hide it in automobiles under false floorboards with felt padding or in fake gas tanks.
Did The Bahamas benefit from bootlegging?
The newly found wealth from bootlegging, coupled with the spillover of the land boom from Miami, was used also to boost the nascent tourist industry. On the other hand, while Nassau prospered, the Out Islands were neglected, and with them, agriculture and sponge-fishing.
Why was blockade-running important to the South?
The supplies provided by blockade-runners were vital to the Confederate war effort. The return voyages did little for Britain’s overall supply of cotton, but they were often hugely profitable for the merchants involved. One single return trip could pay for the cost of building and equipping each ship.