Located
in waters off Surfside, Texas; near Galveston... I remember one spot in particular, at Surfside Beach, where the fishing was always pretty good. Most fishermen in the area referred to the
place simply as the "boilers."
Actually, the boilers were smoke stacks from an old wrecked
ship. Best I remember, only one stack was showing out of the water
— the hull beneath the surface serving as a natural reef and
feeding ground for fish. Watching
the sunrise along the Texas coast is a beautiful sight and when
the fish are biting, well, it just doesn't get any better. Looking
back, I doubt if the crew of that ill-fated ship was very eager to
see the sun rise on the morning of February 6, 1865. Because on
her first voyage, during the Civil War, the ship ran aground near
Galveston. Abandoned by her crew, the boat was discovered at
sunrise by a Union warship and destroyed. My great fishing spot is
the gravesite of the Confederate blockade-runner, Acadia. According
to The Handbook of Texas, the Acadia was a River
Clyde-type steamship built at Sorel, Quebec, in May and July of
1864. She was built to be a blockade runner and was larger and
faster than other ships of her class. Although most boats
especially designed to run the Union blockade averaged 400 to 600
tons, the Acadia was a 738-ton vessel. She
was 211 feet long and had a 31-foot beam. The Acadia's hold
was 12 feet deep. The boat was a side-wheeled steamer with a
900-horsepower engine — she was built to negotiate the shallow
water close to shore. Blockade runners stayed near the coastline
to avoid detection by the Union gunboats — the deep hulls of the
U.S. vessels prevented them from straying too close in. On that February morning in 1865, the Acadia was stuck on a sandbar in about 15 feet of water. Her heavy load had evidently caused her problems and she ran aground. Shore parties salvaged most of the cargo before she was destroyed by gunfire from the Union navy ship, USS
Virginia. The Acadia was less than ten
miles from the mouth of the Brazos River, her intended
destination, when she sank. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Wendell E. Pierce and Frank Hole, an archeologist at Rice University, examined the wreck site. Artifacts
found during that expedition are currently located at
the Houston Museum of Natural Science. The wreck of the Acadia is
a designated state archeological landmark. Blockade
runners were extremely valuable to the Confederacy. They managed
to deliver tons of supplies to the armies of the South. Their
valiant efforts did much to loosen the stranglehold held on
Southern shipping by the Union blockade. But, I think we should
also remember those folks, on shore, who went to great extremes to
help the boats. Before
I moved from Brazoria County in 1984, remains from a hand-dug
canal were still visible near San Luis Pass. The canal was made to
bring the blockade-runners inland and out of harm's way from the
Union warships. Living in that area for over 30 years, I can only
imagine how hard it must have been to undertake such a task. What
with the mosquitoes, alligators, snakes, and God knows what else.
To construct a canal, by hand, under those circumstances is
unbelievable. The canal is not far from the wreck of the Acadia. It's
been a number of years since I fished the surf near the
"boilers." I wonder if the old ornate stack is still
visible above the water — or has time and the elements finally
took their toll. Regardless, I'll bet the fishing is still good.
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