Cambridge and Stars and Stripes, now assisted by
the USS Monticello, occasionally lobbed shells
toward the blockade-runner in an effort to dis-rupt
the work parties.
Under the protection of Fort Fisher’s guns,
the Confederates saved about 2,000 tons of
war material as well as civilian products from
the Modern Greece. The war material
consisted of British Enfield rifle-muskets,
bayonets, tens of thousands of rounds
of Enfield bullets, Bowie knives, lead and
tin ingots, and surgical kits. A reported
7,000 stands of rifle-muskets alone were
brought safely ashore. The most useful
items to come off the shipwreck were four
of the finest pieces of artillery manufac-tured
in the world at the time.
“Shortly after taking command of
Fort Fisher I recovered from the wreck
of the British Steamship Modern Greece,
four 12-pounder Whitworth rifle guns,”
Colonel Lamb recalled. “They were the
longest range guns then constructed.”
Cases of 12-pounder Whitworth
projectiles were also salvaged. Lamb
put at least one Whitworth gun to
work right away. Mounting it on a
field carriage, he targeted the Union
gunboats to keep them at bay.
“With these guns, we made the
US Blockading Fleet remove their
anchorage from two and a half
miles to five miles from the fort,”
Lamb claimed.
Consumer goods pulled off of
the Modern Greece amply stocked
dry goods stores in Wilmington
only days after the ship went
aground. Other items were sold
at public auction. Within a few
days, Wilkes Morris held the first
auction of goods salvaged from
the wreck. The wide variety of
goods included hardware, boots
and shoes, blankets, shirts, felt
hats, drugs and medicines,
cognac brandy, champagne,
wine and Scotch whiskey.
In only
a few
days
after
the
Modern
Greece
was lost,
civilian
goods —
clothes,
cutlery
and
hardware
— salvaged
from her
were sold or
auctioned-off
in
Wilmington.
FROM WILMINGTON DAILY JOURNAL, JULY 1, 1862
26
WBM june 2013