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13. Wartime Storeship
- The University of Alabama Press
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13 Wartime storeship The Beaufort coaling station became much more organized once the permanent storeship William Badger arrived. each station officer had a specific role in supplying the steamers off Wilmington. acting master carr was responsible for overseeing the safekeeping of all stores in the harbor,inspecting new goods upon arrival, coordinating logistics with the army, and managing the increasing number of contrabands,boys,and landsmen onboard the Badger. a second officer, acting Paymaster William m.Whittemore, kept inventory of all stores on the Badger, as well as other harbor vessels.each month,Whittemore sent requisitions from all ships off Wilmington and an inventory of supplies to the blockade commander. assistant Paymaster Benjamin j.totten of the main squadron storage vessel Brandywine, at hampton roads,then filled the requisitions from the Brandywine’s existing supplies.1 The supply chain paperwork increased dramatically in early september 1862 when samuel Phillips lee replaced Goldsborough as squadron commander . Goldsborough had asked to be relieved as early as july after Welles had offended him by temporarily assigning his james river flotilla to captain charles Wilkes. fifty-year-old lee came from a distinguished family. a third cousin of robert e. lee, his grandfather was virginia senator richard henry lee, famous for presenting the congressional resolution that led to the Declaration of independence, which he also signed. his great-uncle, francis lightfoot lee, was also a signer of the Declaration. samuel Phillips lee had made a name for himself while serving in new orleans on the sloop Oneida, under flag officer David farragut.Welles liked lee for several reasons: his knowledge of the seacoast, his meticulousness, and his penchant for thorough logistics documentation.2 “i had given him the command,”Welles later recorded in his diary,“when other and older officers were entitled to the position.But knowing that he had good business qualities . . .i had purposely selected him for that position.”3 a 118 / The harbor second reason may have been that lee was related by marriage to assistant secretary of the navy fox. regardless, he was eminently qualified to command the blockading squadron, and he would confirm Welles’s impression that he had a sharp eye for detail. one of the first issues lee faced was that the Badger could only handle so many stores.Therefore,surplus perishables were stored onboard the chartered schooners, which charged thirty-five dollars demurrage each day. Whittemore reported that deliveries to these vessels were exceedingly slow,and bread and flour in particular were liable to “damage”—in fact, on september 19, the bread stored on the schooner LeRoy was reported as being moldy and laden with weevils.for that reason,Whittemore asked permission for a permanent storehouse onshore.4 lee eventually approved the use of an army warehouse at morehead city for excess stores. on october 17, acting master carr received permission from the army to store 1,200 barrels of flour onshore, for which carr dispatched a schooner. The stores were transported to the blockade vessels by lighters, each of which charged three dollars per day.5 lee was also cognizant of the importance of maintaining the freshness of the perishables that were housed on the Badger. When two confederate blockade-runners, the Roker and the Brilliant, were captured in December 1862, he directed carr and Whittemore to not only examine their size, construction, draft, and tonnage to see if they were seaworthy but also to store the captured salt onboard the Badger—as long as it did not damage her perishables.6 salt and flour were not the only foodstuffs packed inside the Badger. in a letter dated september 1, carr included a copious list of all stores on the Badger and other harbor storeships.The list included foodstuffs like beef, pork, rice, pickles, sugar, tea, coffee, butter, potatoes, vegetables, molasses, vinegar, tomatoes, dried apples, bean meal, and whiskey, the latter reaching a quantity of sixty-five barrels less than a month later. carpenters’ and boatswains’ stores included black paint, coiled manila rope, turpentine, buoys, oars, canvas , sail needles, copper, hatchets, hammers, files, boiled oil tar, cotton twine, hemp, and yarn. clothing and linen included trousers, frocks, blue flannel, sheeting, caps, and shoes. even items as small as hooks and thimbles, and as incongruous as “plantation shoes”—heavy horseshoes made for gaited walking horses—were stored on the Badger.7 oil was another item that was in constant demand by the blockade vessels . at one time a whaleship whose blubber room was crammed with casks...