Jules Verne

The Blockade Runners Jules Verne

"The Blockade Runners" (French: Les forceurs de blocus) is a 1865 short story by Jules Verne. In 1871 it was published in single volume together with novel A Floating City as a part of the Voyages Extraordinaires series (The Extraordinary Voyages). An English translation was published in 1874. The American Civil War plot centers on the exploits of a British merchant captain named James Playfair who must break the Union blockade of Charleston harbor in South Carolina to trade supplies for cotton. Verne's tale was inspired by reality as many ships were actually lost while acting as blockade runners in and around Charleston in the early 1860s. The year is 1862 and the United States is engaged in a deadly civil war. President Lincoln has ordered the navy to blockade all Southern seaports. Neutral nations, like England, were told not to try and break through the blockade.