Harvey Birch

“Burning of the American merchantman “Harvey Birch,” of New York, Captain Nelson, in the British Channel, by the Confederate Steamer “Nashville,” Captain Peagrim, November 17th, 1861. On the 17th of November, 1861, the “Harvey Birch,” a splendid New York vessel of 1,480 tons and valued at $150,000, was on her way from Havre to New York in ballast, commanded by Captain Nelson, with officers and crew, all told, twenty-nine men. In latitude 49.6 north, longitude 9.52 west, she was brought to by the Confederate steamer “Nashville,” and boarded by an officer and boat’s crew, who took the crew of the “Birch” on board the “Nashville,” robbed the vessel of everything valuable, and then set fire to it, the commander, Peagrim, watching her destruction from his own deck.” — Frank Leslie, 1896

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