Page 3, Civil War Blockade Runners Elizabeth and Bendigo
An excerpt from the book, The Beginning and Development of Holden Beach 1756-2000, by John M. Holden.

Bendigo

The blockade runner Bendigo created a lot of excitement when it ran aground on a sandbar in the Lockwood's Folly Inlet January 4, 1864. The Federal gunboat seamen wanted to salvage the ship and its cargo. Several attempts were made by the gunboats to pull it off the sandbar, continuing over a two or three day period.

The second day after the Bendigo ran aground on the sandbar, Mr. Brown and a neighbor thought the Federal gunboats had left the area and went out in the inlet to inspect the Bendigo. A small row boat was used. When they arrived at the Bendigo, Mr. Brown left his neighbor in the small boat and climbed aboard to inspect its cargo. He spend several minutes looking at the cargo below deck and in the engine room.

His friend and the little boat were gone when he got back up on the main deck. He looked back through the inlet and saw his friend in the little boat, just before they were rounding the last curve and going out of sight.

As he stood on the deck of the Bendigo, wondering why his friend rushed away and left it, he glanced out in the ocean and saw two Federal sailors in a small boat coming to the Bendigo. Mr. Brown had no choice except to go down in the cargo hold and hide. The sailors came and circled the Bendigo. They pulled their small boat alongside and looked through a hole inflicted by a cannon ball. Mr. Brown later told his grandson he could see the sailors' hands at the hole and hear them talking One of the sailors remarked to the other, "We done a good job on this one." Later that day Mr. Brown's friends returned in their little boat and carried him back to Brown's Landing.

Several federal gunboats came to Lockwood's Folly Inlet to check on the Bendigo; however the Iron Age went aground on a sandbar in the inlet January 11, 1864, and could not be pulled off. This was the only Federal gunboat lost in this area.

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