[2] CSS Arctic performed additional duty as receiving ship for Flag Officer Robert F Pinkney's North Carolina defense force.

With the threat to Wilmington, created by the arrival off Fort Fisher of the joint army-navy expedition under Rear Admiral Porter and Major General Butler, Arctic was sunk on 24 December 1864 to obstruct the river channel.

[1] The location of the obstruction in front of Fort Campbell on the east side of the river is clearly indicated on a Confederate map of the period.

[2] In June 1866 salvors raised Arctic, described as "a dismantled hull, blackened with age and decay," from the Cape Fear River.

Reports indicate that United States Lighthouse Service removed Lightship No 8 from the Cape Fear region in May 1867 for reassignment.