Protected status for wreck of Liverpool ship bound for American Civil War

THE wreck of the paddle steamer Leila, which sank on its maiden voyage in 1865 in Liverpool Bay, is to be granted protected status on the advice of Historic England.

The 19th-century paddle steamer was travelling from Liverpool to Bermuda loaded with guns and supplies for US Confederate forces when it foundered on Jan 14 1865 during a storm, with the loss of 47 lives. The history of the wreck sheds new light on the role played by some British businessmen in supporting the southern slave states during the US Civil War.

Leila was secretly built in Liverpool on behalf of the Confederate Government late in the war, which was fought from 1861 to 1865, as a purpose-built vessel to run the blockade imposed on the southern states by the Union forces of Abraham Lincoln. It was technically advanced for its day and was designed to outrun and evade the northern Union ships enforcing the blockade.

Duncan Wilson, chief executive of Historic England, said: “The Lelia is one of a small group of British ships involved in British complicity in running guns and munitions to the Confederates. Though the UK remained officially neutral in the American Civil War, the Leila comprises evidence of the British financing of blockade runners that sent munitions and luxuries to Confederate ports in return for cotton and tobacco. As such, it is very significant as historical evidence.”

The paddle steamer was only identified in 1997 after a bell marked “Lelia 1864” was recovered from close to the wreck beneath Liverpool Bay by a local diver.

The partially-buried remains include one of the paddle wheels, the engine and boiler rooms.

The deck and all structures that were on it have not survived, but as much as 6ft (1.9m) of its hull remains buried in the seabed, raising the prospect that its cargo of munitions and machinery may have been partially preserved.

Rebecca Pow, heritage minister at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, said: “Protecting sites like the wreck of the Lelia helps us to preserve an important story about Britain’s role in the American Civil War.”