Louisiana's Military Heritage:

     Vessels named CSS BERWICK BAY

CSS BERWICK BAY

In the short four-year history of the Confederate States of America (1861~1865), only one ship bore the name of BERWICK BAY, a section of the lower Atchafalaya River in south-central Louisiana located at the river's confluence with Bayou Boeuf, Bayou Shaffer, and Flat Lake.

The Confederate BERWICK BAY (1857 ~ February 03, 1863):

CSS BERWICK BAY was a wooden-hulled side-wheel steamer that was built in Plaquemine, Louisiana, in 1857.  She went to Franklin, Louisiana, and was placed in Confederate registry in 1861.  She was used by the Confederates in the transportation of supplies on the Red River and Mississippi River in 1862-63.  In early February of 1863, the BERWICK BAY emerged from the mouth of the Red River southbound on the Mississippi River with supplies for the Confederate batteries and units at Port Hudson, Louisiana.  She was heavily laden with a cargo of 200 barrels of molasses, 10 hogsheads of sugar, 30,000 pounds of flour, and 40 bales of cotton.  She was captured by USS QUEEN OF THE WEST along with the steamers A.W. BAKER and MORO about 15 miles south of the mouth of the Red River and burned.  Sources vary on the date of her destruction, with most stating February 03, 1863, while others give the date as February 02.

Ship's Statistics

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All information on CSS BERWICK BAY courtesy of the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, Way's Packet Directory (1848-1994), and the Encyclopedia of Civil War Shipwrecks.
 

**Copyright 1997-2008 by Louisiana Naval War Memorial Commission**