View source for PS Lelia

[[File:CSS Lelia.jpg|thumb|300px|PS ''Lelia'' in distress]]
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2018}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2018}}

'''PS ''Lelia''''' was a [[steamship]] built in 1864,<ref name="LV">{{cite news |last1=Clements |first1=Max |title=Merseyside shipwreck where 54 people died finally given protected status |url=https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/merseyside-shipwreck-54-people-died-16828569 |access-date=22 December 2021 |newspaper=Liverpool Echo |date=30 August 2019 |quote=The remains of the ship were discovered in the Liverpool bay area in the 1990s when a bell marked 'Lelia 1864' was found by a local diver.}}</ref> during the [[American Civil War]] for use as a [[blockade runner]] for the [[Confederate States of America]]. She sank in [[Liverpool Bay]] in 1865 in an incident that caused 46 fatalities.

==History==
[[File:1865 Liverpool lifeboat accident.jpg|thumb|300px|right|Upsetting of the Liverpool lifeboat on her way to rescue the crew of the ''Lelia'' while under tow of the ''Blazer'']]
''Lelia'' was built by William C Miller & Company of [[Toxteth]] as one of a trio of blockade running sister ships ordered for the Anglo-Confederate concern, William G. Crenshaw & Company. She was a {{convert|252|ft|adj=on}} paddle steamship of 640 BRT. Her [[hull (watercraft)|hull]] was built of steel, an unusual and expensive material for shipbuilding at the time. The engines and other machinery were built by Fawcett Preston & Company and rated at 300 nhp. (The [[Confederate States Navy]] warship, [[CSS Florida (cruiser)|CSS ''Florida'']], had also been built at Miller's yard.)

She left the [[River Mersey]], with a largely [[Liverpool]]-based crew, and several prominent Confederate naval officers, on her maiden voyage on 14 January 1865 bound for [[Wilmington, North Carolina]], via [[Bermuda]], aiming to run the [[Union blockade]].

''Lelia'' was heavily laden, and when she hit bad weather off the coast of [[North Wales]], large waves knocked her [[anchor]]s loose and through the deck, swamping her. She sank near the [[Lightvessel|lightship]] ''Prince'' off the [[Great Orme]].

Two boats were able to leave the stricken ship, but one capsized and only twelve survivors (out of fifty-one on board) reached the safety of the lightship.

The next day the Liverpool No 1 Lifeboat went to the scene under tow by the steam tug ''Blazer'', but was itself swamped by waves, with the loss of seven out of its 11 crew.<ref name="ILN 1865">{{cite magazine |title=The Double Disaster at the Mouth of the Mersey |url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/HN3100066318/ILN?u=wes_ttda&sid=bookmark-ILN&xid=fbfefa13 |access-date=22 December 2021 |volume=46 |issue=1299 |magazine=The Illustrated London News |date=28 January 1865}}</ref>

==Wreck==

The wreck of ''Lelia'' was discovered in the early 1990s when a diver recovered a bell from the seabed inscribed 'Lelia 1864'.<ref>{{cite news |title=Merseyside wreck of historic ship linked to Confederacy given special underwater protection |url=https://www.wirralglobe.co.uk/news/17870306.merseyside-wreck-historic-ship-linked-confederacy-given-special-underwater-protection/ |access-date=31 August 2019 |work=Wirral Globe |language=en}}</ref> It lies 10 miles north west off [[Hilbre Islands|Hilbre Point]], [[Wirral Peninsula|Wirral]]. The remains include one of the paddle wheels, the engine and boiler rooms, as well as less well-preserved cargo areas and a steam winch. The wreck was given protected status when it was added to the National Heritage list for England by the [[Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport]] in August 2019.<ref name="LV" />

==See also==
* [[List of United Kingdom disasters by death toll]]
* [[Naval battles of the American Civil War]]

==Further reading==
* {{cite book |last1=Hussey |first1=John |title=Cruisers, Cotton and Confederates: Liverpool Waterfront in the Days of the Confederacy |date=2008 |publisher=Countyvise |location=Birkenhead |isbn=978-1-906823-32-0}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Jones |first1=Ivor Wynne |title=America's Secret War in Welsh Waters |journal=Maritime Wales |date=1976 |volume=1 |pages=83–101 |publisher=Gwynedd Archives Service |location=Caernarfon}}
* {{cite book |last1=Michael |first1=Chris |title=Lelia |date=2004 |publisher=Countyvise/Liverpool Marine Press |location=Birkenhead |isbn=1-901231-47-X}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070928094150/http://www.csa-dixie.com/liverpool_dixie/Lelia.htm "When Liverpool was Dixie" on "Lelia"]


{{Lifeboat wrecks and rescues}}
{{CSN blockade runners}}
{{1865 shipwrecks}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Leila}}
[[Category:Paddle steamers of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Ships built on the River Mersey]]
[[Category:Ships of the Confederate States of America]]
[[Category:Shipwrecks in the Irish Sea]]
[[Category:Shipwrecks of Wales]]
[[Category:Shipwrecks of the American Civil War]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in January 1865]]
[[Category:Disasters in Merseyside]]