The first USS Hatteras was a 1,126-ton iron-hulled steamer purchased by the Union Navy at the beginning of the American Civil War. She was outfitted as a gunboat and assigned to the Union blockade of the ports and waterways of the Confederate States of America. During an engagement with the disguised Confederate commerce raider, CSS Alabama, she was taken by surprise and was sunk off the coast of Galveston, Texas. The wreck site is one of the few listed on the National Register of Historic Places because of its location away from destructive surf and because of the ship's side-wheel design, which marks the transition between wooden sailing ships and steam-powered ships.[3]
Hatteras sailed for Key West, Florida on 5 November 1861, arriving there on 13 November to join the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron to choke off the South's economic lifeline as part of president Lincoln's Anaconda Plan. After blockade duty off Apalachicola, Florida, she was reassigned to Cedar Key, Florida, reaching there on 7 January 1862. Nine days later, Hatteras made a highly successful raid on the Cedar Keys harbor, burning seven small would-be blockade runners loaded with turpentine and cotton at the Florida Railroad wharf (an important Southern railroad terminus), several flat-cars, and various buildings.
To cap this day's work, Hatteras also captured 14 of the 22-man garrison stationed there, including their commanding officer. Such unceasing attack from the sea on any point along her long coastline and inland waterways cost the South dearly in losses, economic disruption, and dispersion of defense strength.
After this exploit, Hatteras was transferred to the Gulf Blockading Squadron and arrived off Berwick, Louisiana on 26 January. The next day, she engaged CSS Mobile, but failed to do any serious damage when the light-draft ship withdrew to the safety of shallow water.
Nevertheless, the Gulf of Mexico proved to be a profitable hunting ground for Hatteras, as in less than a year, she captured seven blockade runners with assorted cargos of cotton, sugar, and other goods the South was desperately striving to export for gold or much needed trade goods. These captures netted Hatteras, among other things, some 534 bales of valuable cotton. Commander Emmons stationed four of his own men on board one prize ship, 20 long tons (20t) the sloop Poody, and rechristened her Hatteras Jr., turning the erstwhile blockade runner into a unit of the Union's Gulf Blockading Squadron.
Other Confederate ships taken by Hatteras as prizes included: steamer Indian No. 2, schoonerMagnolia, steamer Governor A. Mouton, schooner Sarah, sloopElizabeth, and brigJosephine. The majority of these ships were captured off Vermilion Bay, Louisiana, as they ran toward either Havana, Cuba, or the Sabine River area of Texas.
However, her illustrious career was cut short in early 1863, not long after she was ordered to join the blockading squadron under Rear AdmiralDavid Farragut, who was attempting to retake the key Texas port of Galveston. Under a new skipper, Commander Homer C. Blake, who had relieved Captain Emmons in November 1862, Hatteras joined Farragut's squadron off Galveston on 6 January 1863.
As the blockading fleet lay to off the coast near Galveston on the afternoon of 11 January 1863, a set of sails was sighted just over the horizon and Hatteras was ordered to give chase. She took off in pursuit of the unknown ship at about 15:00 (3:00 PM), and for the next four hours followed her as she ventured closer and closer to shore. Finally, as dusk was falling, Hatteras came within hailing distance of the square-rigged ship. Commander Blake demanded her identity. "Her Britannic Majaesty's Ship Petrel," came the reply. Still suspicious, Blake ordered one of Hatteras' boats to inspect this "Britisher."
19th century print, depicting the sinking of Hatteras by CSS Alabama, off Galveston, Texas on 11 January 1863.
Scarcely had the longboat pulled away from Hatteras than a new reply to Blake's question rang through the night. "We are the CSS Alabama." With this, the famed Confederate raider commanded by Raphael Semmes struck the Union Jack the raider had been flying, raising the Confederate Stars and Bars, and began raking Hatteras with her heavy cannon. Through the gloom, for about 20 minutes, the two ships exchanged heavy fire at distances ranging from 25–200yd (23–183m). The flashes of the guns and their rumbling were heard in the Union squadron some 16mi (26km) away, and the cruiser Brooklyn was dispatched to investigate and render aid if needed.
But Hatteras had already been badly holed in two places and was on fire and beginning to sink. Captain Blake ordered the magazines flooded to prevent explosion and reluctantly fired a single bow gun, indicating surrender and a need for assistance. Alabama, promptly sent over her boats to help remove Hatteras' crew and wounded, and the last boatload of men had barely pulled away when the Union blockader sank, some 45 minutes after the beginning of the action.
Of Hatteras' crew of 126, two had been killed and five wounded. Six escaped back to the squadron in the boat originally sent out to board and investigate "HMS Petrel", and the remainder, including Captain Blake, were taken to Port Royal, Jamaica, and from there paroled back to the United States; Alabama suffered only two wounded.
When Brooklyn reached the site of the battle early the following morning, she found the hulk of Hatteras upright in the water about 20mi (32km) south of Galveston Light. Only Hatteras' masts reached out of water, and from the topmast the U.S. Navy commissioning pennant was still waving in the breeze. Even after surrendering, she had not struck her colors.
Present day
The hull of Hatteras rests in approximately 60ft (18m) of water 20mi (32km) off of Galveston, Texas and is buried under about 3ft (0.91m) of sand. Her steam engine and two iron paddle wheels remain on the ocean bottom. The wreck is monitored to ensure that it is not damaged by oil and gas development in the area.
At one time, local treasure hunters filed suit claiming the right to salvage the ship, but the courts found in favor of the United States government, in one of the few times courts have ruled in favor of historic preservation of a shipwreck site versus commercial interests.[3]
USS Kearsarge, a Mohican-class sloop-of-war, is best known for her defeat of the Confederate commerce raider CSS Alabama off Cherbourg, France during the American Civil War. Kearsarge was the only ship of the United States Navy named for Mount Kearsarge in New Hampshire. Subsequent ships were later named Kearsarge in honor of the ship.
The Confederate States Navy (CSN) was the naval branch of the Confederate States Armed Forces, established by an act of the Confederate States Congress on February 21, 1861. It was responsible for Confederate naval operations during the American Civil War against the United States's Union Navy.
Raphael Semmes was an officer in the Confederate Navy during the American Civil War. He was previously a serving officer in the US Navy from 1826 to 1860.
CSS Alabama, a screw sloop-of-war built in 1862 for the Confederate States Navy. The vessel was built in Birkenhead on the River Mersey opposite Liverpool, England, by John Laird Sons and Company. Launched as Enrica, she was fitted out as a cruiser and commissioned as CSS Alabama on August 24, 1862. Under Captain Raphael Semmes, Alabama served as a successful commerce raider, attacking, capturing, and burning Union merchant and naval ships in the North Atlantic, as well as intercepting American grain ships bound for Europe. The Alabama continued its wrath through the West Indies and further into the East Indies, destroying over seven ships before returning to Europe. On June 11, 1864, the Alabama arrived at Cherbourg, France, where she was overhauled. Shortly after. A Union sloop-of-war, USS Kearsarge, arrived; and on June 19, the Battle of Cherbourg commenced outside the port of Cherbourg, France, whereby the Kearsarge sank the Alabama in approximately one hour after the Alabama's opening shot.
CSS Florida was a sloop-of-war in the service of the Confederate States Navy. She served as a commerce raider during the American Civil War before being sunk in 1864.
USS Sciota was a Unadilla-class gunboat built on behalf of the United States Navy for service during the Civil War. She was outfitted as a gunboat, with both a 20-pounder rifle for horizontal firing, and two howitzers for shore bombardment, and assigned to the Union blockade of the waterways of the Confederate States of America.
John Ancrum Winslow was an officer in the United States Navy during the Mexican–American War and the American Civil War. He was in command of the steam sloop of war USS Kearsarge during her historic 1864 action off Cherbourg, France, with the Confederate sea raider CSS Alabama.
CSS Sumter, converted from the 1859-built merchant steamer Habana, was the first steam cruiser of the Confederate States Navy during the American Civil War. She operated as a commerce raider in the Caribbean and in the Atlantic Ocean against Union merchant shipping between July and December 1861, taking eighteen prizes, but was trapped in Gibraltar by Union Navy warships. Decommissioned, she was sold in 1862 to the British office of a Confederate merchant and renamed Gibraltar, successfully running the Union blockade in 1863 and surviving the war.
USS South Carolina was a steamer used by the Union Navy during the American Civil War.
The first USS Tuscarora was a Mohican-class sloop of war in the United States Navy during the American Civil War.
The first USS Ossipee was a wooden, screw sloop-of-war in commission in the United States Navy at various times between 1861 and 1889. She served in the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was named for the Ossipee River of New Hampshire and Maine. The USS Ossipee was present during the Alaska Purchase.
The first USS Seminole was a steam sloop-of-war in the United States Navy during the American Civil War.
The Union blockade in the American Civil War was a naval strategy by the United States to prevent the Confederacy from trading.
USS Albatross was a screw steamer rigged as a three-masted schooner acquired by the Union Navy during the beginning of the American Civil War. She was outfitted as a gunboat with heavy guns and used in the Union blockade of the waterways of the Confederate States of America.
The Battle of Cherbourg, or sometimes the Battle off Cherbourg or the Sinking of CSS Alabama, was a single-ship action fought during the American Civil War between the United States Navy warship, USS Kearsarge, and the Confederate States Navy warship, CSS Alabama, on June 19, 1864, off Cherbourg, France.
USS Ino was a clipper ship acquired by the Union Navy during the course of the American Civil War. She was capable of great speed and distance, and was a formidable warship with powerful guns.
USS Shepherd Knapp was a large (838-ton) ship with eight guns, purchased by the Union Navy during the beginning of the American Civil War.
CSS Alabama's Gulf of Mexico Expeditionary Raid commenced shortly after the Confederate States Navy ship CSS Alabama left Bermuda and the Atlantic coast and cruised south toward the island of Dominica in the Caribbean Sea near the Gulf of Mexico. The raid lasted from about the middle of November 1862 to the end of January 1863.
The action off Galveston Light was a short naval battle fought during the American Civil War in January 1863. Confederate raider CSS Alabama encountered and sank the United States Navy steamer USS Hatteras off Galveston Lighthouse in Texas.
Commodore Homer Crane Blake was a flag officer of the United States Navy, notable for his gallant but ultimately doomed battle with the CSS Alabama in his ship USS Hatteras in the action off Galveston Light during the American Civil War. He later served with distinction on the James River, and in 1871, while serving in the Asiatic Squadron, took part in the Korea Expedition.
1 2 J. Arnold Barto III. "Hatteras". Handbook of Texas Online, Texas State Historical Association. Retrieved 16 May 2010.
Semmes, R., CSS, Commander. The Cruise of the Alabama and the Sumter, (Two Volumes in One), Carlton, Publisher, New York, 1864.
Semmes, Raphael, Admiral, CSN. Memoirs of Service Afloat During the War Between the States. Blue & Grey Press, 1987. ISBN1-55521-177-1.
Hearn, Chester G., Gray Raiders of the Sea. Louisiana State Press, 1996. ISBN0-8071-2114-2.
Luraghi, Raimondo. A History of the Confederate Navy. U.S. Naval Institute Press, 1996. ISBN1-55750-527-6.
Still, Jr., William N.; Taylor, John M.; Delaney, Norman C., Raiders and Blockaders, the American Civil War Afloat. Brassy's, Inc., 1998. ISBN1-57488-164-7.
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