The Cornubia

Arguably the greatest ship ever built at Hayle, and without doubt the most infamous is the Cornubia. Built in Hayle in 1858 the Cornubia served as a packet ship and ferry for the Hayle Steam Packet Company. Sleek and painted white, with two funnels mounted close together amidships and with a high bridge over her paddle wheels she plied the Hayle/St Ives to Bristol route in the days when the Great Western Railway had not penetrated as far as West Cornwall.

She was given the name Cornubia from the Latinised name for Cornwall and was a fast iron paddle steamer, long and narrow at 210ft long and with a 24ft 6in beam. Her Harveys built twin oscillating side-wheel engines with 4 boilers and 9ft stroke produced 230hp and was capable of propelling the vessel at over 18 knots. Her shallow draft at 9ft was initially designed to cope with the shallow harbours in Cornwall, but proved to be very useful in her later life.   During the American Civil War agents for the Confederacy purchased Cornubia and took her over the Atlantic where she was officially renamed ‘Lady Davis’ though by all accounts her old name Cornubia was also commonly used.

A Painting of 'Cornubia' used in the Cornubia Inn pub sign

She proved to be a very good investment. Her speed, manoeuvrability and shallow draft making her an excellent blockade runner. She successfully avoided and outran Union forces on 22 occasions bringing vital supplies to the confederate army at Wilmington.

On her 23^rd run on November 8^th 1863, however luck ran out for Cornubia. She was pursued by the USS Niphon  and was forced to run up onto the beach at New Inlet. The ships captain Richard Gayle, the ships carpenter and on seaman remained onboard and helped other crew and passengers to escape to shore.

Later that same day the USS James Adger arrived on the scene and on the rising tide towed the still intact Cornubia free. She was then sent to Boston as a ‘Prize’ together with its bags of waterlogged mail. The abandoned mail proved to be a vital aid to the Union gaining an insight into the confederacy plans and in particularly the role that British seamen were taking in blockade running.

Cornubia was purchased from the Boston Prize Court and then commissioned in the Union ../navy on March 17^th 1864 and assigned to the role of blockading the waters around Mobile and Pensacola, before later being reassigned to the coast of Texas. The blockade runner had now become a blockader.

On 21^st April 1865, Cornubia captured the blockade running schooner Chaos. On 24^th May 1865 Cornubia captured the guard boat Le Compt where a cache of arms was found, later the same day Cornubia assisted Princess Royal in the pursuit and sinking of the confederate steamer Denbigh.

Following the evacuation of Galveston on 22^nd May 1865, Cornubia was put on duty removing the harbour obstructions. On 3^rd August 1865, Cornubia was officially decommissioned from the Union ../navy and was sold on 25^th October 1865.

That's where the records seem to end I'm afraid - there was some mention on a steamship called Cornubia in Australia but the dates seem to be in the 1840's predating the building of our Cornubia and therefore would seem to indicate a different ship with the same name.