Check out the Fire Island National Park Service website about the Confederate blockade runner CSS Tallahassee and the Long Island raid . That ship sailed up to Long Island and sank about 7-8 ships right off our shore. One ship was seized by the Confederates and the passengers and crew rowed to Fire Island. A Pilot Boat about 80 tons was out looking for a ship to guide into NY Harbor and the CSS Tallahassee spotted the Pilot Boat near Fire Island and gave chase. It fired it's cannon 3 times at the Pilot boat before stopping it and sinking it. Right off Fire Island ! It also sank the Schooner Adriatic 30 miles off Montauk. It was recently discovered by skin divers and the story was in Newsday. The Tallahassee was over 200 feet long and could do 14 knots during the Civil War! The Adriatic was 200 feet long. The most Famous Blockade runner of the War, the CSS Alabama , sailed off the East End of LI and sank 4 ships out about 50 miles or so. The CSS Florida also operated off Long Island. Most people never knew about this.
Long Island and the Civil War
- Thread starter Pangaroo
- Start date
BennyV
Well-Known Angler
I love hearing stuff like this.
Tigashrk
Angler
Chunkster
I fished from the Hudson to Lydonia. The Hudson at times can light up like you can't imagine.
Middle Grounds and Block can be very productive. Found more Mahi there than anyplace else.
Couldn't tell you why. If you're into overnighters. Fishtails and Bigeye highway would be my suggestion.
The Atlantis is excellent. In my opinion and from my experience Hydrographers is the cream of the crop.
Words can't explain. Upwelling, where the Labrador Current meets the Gulf Stream at the canyon.
NUTRIENT ENRICHED - LIFE ! ! ! Veatches huh
"Out there" would be an understatement. . .
WW 1 , WW2, The Revolutionary War, the Civil War , the War of 1812 were fought right off Long Island. Privateers operated out of the Merrick area during the War of 1812 , they went out harassing British supply ships. They went out Jones Inlet when it was just a breach . The last U Boat Capt. Died 2 years ago, Reinhardt Hardagen lived to 105 . He sank the British Tanker Coimbra off Shinnecock and the SS Norness off Montauk. He used Montauk Lighthouse to Navigate.
German U Boat 608 sailed to within 3 miles of NY Harbor and laid 10 mines in December 1942. U boats operated off Long Island until the last day of WW 2 . And I bet the USS Turner was sunk by a U boat and the Navy covered it up like they did with the USS Eagle up off Maine. Check out the You Tube video about the Grumman Avenger pilot who saw the U 853 on the surface near Southwest Ledge off Montauk.
Headed South, the cape hatteras light.
The Torpedo Alley, or Torpedo Junction, off North Carolina, is one of the graveyards of the Atlantic Ocean, named for the high number of attacks on Allied shipping by German U-boats in World War II. Almost 400 ships were sunk, mostly during the Second Happy Time in 1942, and over 5,000 people were killed, many of whom were civilians and merchant marines. Torpedo Alley encompassed the area surrounding the Outer Banks, including Cape Lookout and Cape Hatteras.
The Torpedo Alley, or Torpedo Junction, off North Carolina, is one of the graveyards of the Atlantic Ocean, named for the high number of attacks on Allied shipping by German U-boats in World War II. Almost 400 ships were sunk, mostly during the Second Happy Time in 1942, and over 5,000 people were killed, many of whom were civilians and merchant marines. Torpedo Alley encompassed the area surrounding the Outer Banks, including Cape Lookout and Cape Hatteras.
I read 5 books about that landing and the U boat Captains Log ( the Capt of U202 that brought the spies to Amagansett) You probably never heard this before, there were 2 German Sailors on the beach with submachine guns who escorted the spies onto the beach. After the landing , a crewman on the U boat was brought ashore by a U boat officer and they were going to surrender to the Americans to get hospital treatment for the crewman who had appendicitis. The U boat was on the sandbar for 5 hours and they were all set to destroy the sub with scuttling charges. Naval Intelligence intercepted a transmission from U202 when it was 30 miles offshore and knew they were in the area before the landing. I was out in Amagansett about 2 weeks ago and visited the old Coast Guard station there. U202 sank the Rio Tercero shortly after, it's a wreck probably fished by party boats. The spies got on the LIRR and traveled on the Babylon Branch , I know because one of the spies said there was a long highway next to the train with cars- Sunrise Highway. Went right thru Merrick where I live.
The Capt of U202 was Hans Linder , a fanatical Nazi. He ordered the Sailors to bring back anybody they encounter on the beach and they'd feed them to the fishes after they were brought onboard. So that's how close John Cullen came to dying. Most U Boat Capt's offered aid to survivors after their ships were sunk , they just did their duty. It was against the rules for Nazi Party Members to serve on U boats.
Germany sent U Boats to NY at the end of the war armed with V1 Rockets. The Navy heard about the plan and sent out many destroyers to stop the attack. About 10 U Boats were sunk close to the US in the last weeks of WW2. Imagine a V1 Rocket exploding in Brooklyn ?Man ! My parents were living there during the war.
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