A shipwreck discovered off the coast of North Carolina could be a Confederate blockade runner that ran perilous journeys between Bermuda and the United States.

The iron-hulled steamer was found at the end of last month off a beach near Wilmington, according to US media reports.

Experts say that three blockade runners ran aground in the area; the Agnes E Fry, Spunkie and Georgianna McCaw.

Although Billy Ray Morris, director of the North Carolina Office of State Archaeology’s Underwater Archaeology Branch, believes the Fry, which successfully travelled from Bermuda to Wilmington in November 1864, is the “leading candidate”.

“A new [blockade] runner is a really big deal. It is the right location to be one of these three,” Mr Morris told media in the US. “The preservation of this vessel is astounding. You can see that in the sonar image.”

Mr Morris and a team of divers were expected to dive the wreck yesterday, with the ship’s identity expected to be confirmed by the end of the week.

The news of the possible find was welcomed by Edward Harris, director of the National Museum.

“Billy Ray Morris, who is working on this shipwreck, spent several summers in Bermuda working on shipwreck heritage in the island,” said Dr Harris.

“He and his colleagues, including Dr Gordon Watts recorded the two Confederate blockade runners that sank at Bermuda and so we have some good records of them.

“They were the vessels named Montana and Mary Celestia. Sadly not as well preserved as the Agnes E. Fry, the shipwrecks are great underwater museums, as most other blockade runners are found in the muddy estuaries and rivers of the east coast, where visibility is almost zero.”

Dr Harris added: “Bermuda made a fortune during the Civil War, because of the trade and economy of transshipment of goods at St George’s, with cargo vessels coming in from Europe and transferring freight in the harbour there, for shipment into the Confederacy through the Union States blockade of ships into the southern war zone.

“The recent discovery of wine and perfume on the Mary Celestia, however, indicates that guns and bullets were not the only goods to pass through Bermuda.”

The Agnes E. Fry was built on the River Clyde in Scotland in 1864. Historical accounts suggest the vessel conducted business in Havana, Cuba, and other neutral ports in Bermuda and the Bahamas.

She was a large vessel, 237ft long by 25ft in beam, with a depth of hold of 13ft. She made two successful runs into Wilmington, the first from Nassau in late September 1864, and the second from Bermuda in November.

She was lost on her third attempted voyage into Wilmington, two days after Christmas 1864.

Records indicate that in the spring of 1864 Captain Fry was stationed in Bermuda as government agent for the Confederate Navy. He was later sent to Scotland to bring out a new blockade-runner, which, in honour of her future commander’s wife, was named the Agnes E Fry.

It is thought that Captain Fry’s small crew ran it aground near Fort Caswell rather than let it fall into enemy hands.