CSS Lark
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{{Infobox ship image |Ship image= |Ship caption= }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header= |Ship country= |Ship flag= |Ship name= Lark |Ship namesake=Lark |Ship ordered= |Ship owner=Confederate States of America |Ship builder=Laird Brothers, Birkenhead, England |Ship original cost= |Ship yard number= |Ship way number= |Ship laid down= |Ship launched=Nov 1864 |Ship sponsor= |Ship christened= |Ship completed= |Ship acquired= |Ship commissioned= |Ship out of service= |Ship reclassified= |Ship struck= |Ship motto= |Ship nickname= |Ship fate=Scrapped, 1896 |Ship badge= }} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Hide header= |Header caption= |Ship class=Lark-class paddle steamer |Ship tonnage=390 GRT |Ship length={{convert|210|ft|8|in|m|1|abbr=on}} |Ship beam={{convert|23|ft|2|in|m|1|abbr=on}} |Ship draught={{convert|6|ft|m|1|abbr=on}} |Ship power={{convert|150|ihp|lk=in|abbr=on}} |Ship propulsion=*side wheels, 2 oscillating steam engines
|Ship speed={{convert|12|kn|lk=in}} |Ship range= |Ship complement= |Ship armament= |Ship armour= |Ship notes= }} |
The Lark was a paddle steamer employed by the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War. She was the last blockade runner to successfully escape from a Southern port before the Union blockade completely closed off this vital source of supplies.
Lark was designed and built by John Laird & Sons. The ship made four successful round trips through the blockade between Galveston, Texas, and Havana, Cuba. In April 1865, she ran aground near the entrance to Galveston harbor. Two launches dispatched from the Union blockading squadron attacked the Lark, which managed to fend off the assault with help from Confederate ground forces. On May 24, she dashed into Galveston again and managed to slip through the blockade back out to open sea, the last Confederate blockade runner to do so.{{Cite web |date=2024-09-30 |title=Thwarted in Texas: A Confederate Family versus a Union Naval Blockade |url=https://smallnotes.library.virginia.edu/2024/09/30/thwarted-in-texas-a-confederate-family-versus-a-union-naval-blockade/ |access-date=2025-03-24 |website=Notes from Under Grounds |language=en-US}}
References
- [http://nautarch.tamu.edu/PROJECTS/denbigh/news06.htm Galveston Weekly News, April 26, 1865]
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External links
- [http://suvcw.org/mollus/warpapers/RIv4p1.htm "Life on the Texan Blockade," MOLLUS War Papers]
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Category:Texas in the American Civil War
Category:Blockade runners of the Confederate States Navy
Category:Ships built on the River Mersey
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