Flashback: Steamer carries cotton from port of Gulfport in 1908

The British steamship Conway is docked at the end of the pier at the port of Gulfport in this Dec. 8, 1908, photo. The Daily Herald newspaper made much to-do about the ship's landing, because it came to load a cargo of cotton, the first to be sent out from Mississippi through a Mississippi port.

The first bale of cotton to be loaded was brought by wagon from Woolmarket where it was grown by "Farmer Campbell." Other than the Woolmarket cotton, installments of the cargo were shipped along the Gulf & Ship Island Railroad from other parts of Mississippi.

The steamer Conway was under the auspices of the Tussco Steamship Line, and J.W. Carry & Co. of Gulfport were the agents. It took four weeks for the steamer to take on 9,520 bales of the fleecy staple and 200 tons of cotton seed.

The Gulfport Commercial Union held a celebration that took place at the pavilion on the pier at the ship's departure on Dec. 28, 1908. Bound for Harve and Liverpool, the vessel was guided out of the harbor by Capt. John Lewis of the Pilot Association.

Murella H. Powell, a local historian, writes the weekly Flashback column. Do you have a local photograph to submit to Flashback? It can be of any subject or event in the Coast's distant or recent past. Please send a description with your name, address and daytime phone number to Flashback, the Sun Herald, P.O. Box 4567, Biloxi, MS 39535; or call 896-2424; or email living@sunherald.com.

This story was originally published November 28, 2015 at 8:32 PM with the headline "Flashback: Steamer carries cotton from port of Gulfport in 1908 ."