The SS Pevensey was a Confederate blockade-runner that was captured on June 9, 1864, after it ran aground following a chase by the U.S.S. New Berne about nine miles west of Beaufort, North Carolina, at present-day Pine Knoll Shores. The crew blew up the ship and attempted to escape to shore but were captured and taken to Fort Macon by Federal cavalry. One crew member was captured aboard the ship, 35 were captured on shore, and one dead body was recovered on the beach. The Pevensey had successfully run the blockade at Cape Fear three or four times before her final voyage. The crew was attempting to enter the Cape Fear River to Wilmington but instead sailed well past it to the north where it encountered the New Berne.

The Pevensey was an iron-hulled sidewheel steamer. It had one deck, two masts, and was schooner rigged. Built by Charles Lungley (of London) circa 1863 or 1864 her machinery was manufactured by Northam Iron Works of Southampton, England. A diagram of the ship by Wayne Bobby Willis is shown below.

There are no known pictures of the S.S. Pevensey or the U.S.S. New Berne. Several online sites with pictures of the ship are from the photograph shown below, found on the website of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

The abstract log of Acting Volunteer Lieutenant Harris, U. S. Navy, commanding the U.S.S. New Berne, from June 9, 1864 provides a timeline of the capture, shown below (Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies, Series 1, Vol. 27, p. 700).

His official report of the incident is shown below (Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies, Series 1, Vol. 10. pp. 136-138). This is followed by a report from Acting Rear Admiral S.P. Lee detailing the fate of those captured.

The wreck currently lies about one hundred yards off the beach. The remains of the hub of the portside paddlewheel were at one time visible above the water at extreme low tides. I am not sure if they still are. On my visit there, which was not at an extreme low tide, I could not see any above water structures. I have also never seen an above water photograph or drone video of any part of the ship online unlike other Civil War-era wrecks off the coast of North Carolina such as the General Beauregard at Carolina Beach, the Bendigo at Lockwoods Folly inlet, the Oriental across from the Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center or the SS Richmond in Salvo. Known locally as the “Iron Steamer”, the wreck gave name to the nearby Iron Steamer Pier and resort. The pier was built on the site by local real estate agent Shelby Freeman in 1960. The story of his entrepreneurial venture was told in the July 2005 issue of The Shoreline. The extension off the pier to the east was added in 1963 to better visualized the sunken ship. Freeman sold the pier in 1971.

The pier was expanded into a resort shown in the add below. A motel, restaurant and lounge were added. It was owned by two attorneys from Morehead City (Bennett and McConkey). The 49-room motel was open seasonally from April through November. There were two outdoor pools. The restaurant had a seating capacity of 300. The pier was demolished in 2005 and housing built on the site.

All that remains now is a parking lot for public beach access and the metal sign commemorating the site of the wreck.

Appendix

The North Carolina Underwater Archaeology Branch examined the wreck site in November 2000. Their report (Examination of the Pevensey Site, 0001BBB, November 21, 2000, by Richard Lawrence, Unit Head, Underwater Archaeology Unit) was found on the Civil War Talk website- https://civilwartalk.com/threads/the-iron-steamer-ss-pevensey.116226/ I have edited and summarized what Andy Hull wrote there below. I could not otherwise locate the original report online.

On November 21, 2000, Richard Lawrence, Nathan Henry, Julep Gillman-Bryan, and Rob Smith of the Underwater Archaeology Unit (UAU), volunteer Jim Dugan and intern Chris Holler visited the Iron Steamer Pier in Pine Knoll Shores, North Carolina. The purpose of the visit was to make an assessment dive on the Pevensey. The UAU historic shipwreck files listed the specifications of the Pevensey as an iron-hulled, side-wheel steamer, 543.07 gross tons, length-210.4 feet, breadth-24.5 feet, depth-14.225 feet, average draft-10 feet, one deck, two masts, schooner rig, deck house, round stern, bow-straight stem, with five bulkheads. It was built by Charles Lungley of Deptford (London) 1863/64, with machinery from the Northam Iron Works, Southampton. It had two oscillating engines 46 inches by 52 inches, 22 R.P.M., two tubular boilers 12 feet long, 16 feet wide, 11 feet 2 inches high, four furnaces each. The side wheels were of the feathering type 25 feet in diameter by 8 feet wide.​ The UAU dive team met with the current owner of the pier Mr. Sam McConkey and inspected the wreck site from the current end of the pier (which has been damaged by recent hurricanes). A beach dive was conducted to the shipwreck, which was located approximately 100 yards offshore on the east side of the pier. The rough seas, long-shore current, and considerable surge made diving conditions difficult. Visibility on the site ranged from 1 to 4 feet. Due to the poor diving conditions only a cursory examination of the site was made with the following observations. The shipwreck lies almost parallel to the beach, with the eastern end a little farther offshore. The highest structure on the wreck were the remains of the paddle wheel shaft, with the offshore paddle wheel hub visible out of the water at low tide. The shaft was broken in places. Also visible in the machinery area were support stanchions for the paddle wheel shaft and portions of steam cylinders and piston rods protruding out of the sand. Traveling from the machinery area towards the pier, the divers encountered the damaged remains of the boilers and funnel. From the machinery area, divers were able to follow fragments of the hull structure 60 to 80 feet toward the pier (west) before the wreckage disappeared below the sand bottom. In the opposite direction, east of the machinery area, the hull structure could not be followed for any appreciable distance. Along the northern side of the shipwreck divers observed the remains of pier pilings from the observation/fishing pier that formerly extended to the east from the main pier. The report concluded that environmentally the Pevensey site was similar to the wrecks of the Beauregaurd at Carolina Beach or the Ranger at Holdens Beach. Structurally, the remains of the Pevensey were not nearly as well preserved as other blockade-runners of similar design, specifically the Condor off Fort Fisher, the Ella at the mouth of the Cape Fear River, or the Virginius off Frying Pan Shoals. This difference in preservation was thought to be due to the near-shore location of the Pevensey compared to the location of the other shipwrecks. Finally, they recommended that further investigations be conducted at the Pevensey site to include site mapping of exposed structure and video documentation. The local archaeological diving organization, Surface Interval Diving Company (SIDCO), expressed an interest in investigating the site. It was recommended that the UAU, the pier owner, and any other parties of local interest meet with the executive board of SIDCO to discuss this possibility, as well as project scheduling, expected results, and any areas of concern.​

The following was found on the Pine Knoll Shores History blog site. SIDCO’s (Surface Interval Diving Company) website indicates that its divers worked closely with the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources, the Underwater Archaeology Branch of the North Carolina Maritime Museum, the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum, the National Park Service and the United States Coast Guard. It also includes extensive details, drawings and diagrams of what the internal structure of the Pevensey would have contained. Those interested in this information can visit sidco.org (this website is no longer active). There is also a drawing by SIDCO’s curator, Bobby Willis (shown earlier), of what the iron-hulled, side-wheel steamer looked like. The diving exploration of the S.S. Pevensey was funded by the state of North Carolina, and when the report and initial assessment of the first two dives (2000, 2001) were completed, funding dried up and the diving project was halted.

The article below describes the final fate of the property. It was sold in 2004, and demolished in order to create a residential complex.