Texan schooner San Antonio

	Schooner San Antonio
History
Republic of Texas
Namesake:	San Antonio River
Builder:	Schott and Whitney, Baltimore
Launched:	1836
Commissioned:	27 June 1839
Decommissioned:	October 1842
Renamed:	Originally called the Asp
Homeport:	Galveston, Texas
Fate:	lost at sea
General characteristics
Class and type:	Schooner
Displacement:	170 tons
Length:	66 feet
Beam:	21.5
Draught:	8 ft.
Propulsion:	wind
Speed:	variable
Complement:	13 officers; 69 sailors & marines;
Armament:	4-12 lb. med.; 1-9 lb. long;

Last updated February 27, 2019

The Texan schooner San Antonio was a two-masted schooner of the Second Texas Navy from 1839-1840. She was the sister ship of the San Jacinto and the San Bernard. In 1840, San Antonio was part of the Texas Navy flotilla led by Commodore Edwin Ward Moore which was dispatched to assist Yucatecan rebels that had taken up arms against Mexico. In February 1842, while re-provisioning in New Orleans, the crew of the San Antonio mutinied and the Lieutenant was killed. This was the only mutiny in the history of the Texas Navy. That fall, the San Antonio sailed for Campeche and was never heard from again.

The Texas Navy was the official navy of the Republic of Texas. It was created to protect and defend the coastline of Texas and offer protection for the shipping and trade that was desperately needed for the growing republic.

The Texan schooner San Jacinto was a two-masted schooner of the Second Texas Navy from 1839-1840. She was the sister ship of the San Antonio and the San Bernard. In 1840, San Jacinto was part of the Texas Navy flotilla led by Commodore Edwin Ward Moore which was dispatched to assist Yucatecan rebels that had taken up arms against Mexico. In a storm, San Jacinto ran aground at Cayos Arcas and was wrecked. The crew were rescued by the flagship Austin.

The Texan schooner San Bernard was a two-masted schooner of the Second Texas Navy from 1839-1840. She was the sister ship of the San Jacinto and the San Antonio. In 1840, San Antonio was part of the Texas Navy flotilla led by Commodore Edwin Ward Moore which was dispatched to assist Yucatecan rebels that had taken up arms against Mexico. Returning to the Yucatan in 1841, San Bernard assisted in the capture of three Mexican prizes. Upon return to Galveston, San Bernard was driven ashore and was not repaired. When Texas joined the United States in 1846, San Bernard was transferred to the United States Navy and then sold for $150.

Background of the Texas Navy

The Texas Navy was officially formed in January 1836, with the purchase of four schooners: Invincible, Brutus, Independence, and Liberty. These ships, under the command of Commodore Charles Hawkins, helped Texas win independence by preventing a Mexican blockade of the Texas coast, seizing Mexican ships carrying reinforcements and supplies to its army, and sending their cargoes to the Texas volunteer army. Nevertheless, Mexico refused to recognize Texas as an independent country. By the middle of 1837, all of the ships had been lost at sea, run aground, captured, or sold. With no ships to impede a possible invasion by Mexico, Texas was vulnerable to attack.

A schooner is a type of sailing vessel with fore-and-aft sails on two or more masts. The most common type has two masts, the foremast being shorter than the main. While the schooner was originally gaff-rigged, modern schooners typically carry a Bermuda rig.

The Texas schooner Invincible was one of the four schooners of the Revolutionary Texas Navy (1836-1837). She began her service in January 1836 and immediately began attacking ships supplying the Mexican army in Texas, including capturing the United States merchant vessel Pocket and later the British ship Eliza Russell. Both of these actions caused diplomatic incidents between the Republic of Texas and the United States and the United Kingdom.

The Texan schooner Brutus was one of the four ships of the First Texas Navy (1836–1838) that during the Texas Revolution wreaked havoc on towns along the coast of Mexico, blockaded Mexican ports, and captured ships bound for Mexico with goods and munitions of war.

In 1838, President Mirabeau B. Lamar responded to this threat by forming a second Texas Navy. Unlike Sam Houston, Lamar was an ardent supporter of the Texas Navy and saw the urgent need for its continuation. The second Texas Navy was placed under the command of Commodore Edwin Ward Moore, an Alexandria Academy graduate who was recruited from the United States Navy.^[1] One of the ships of this second navy was the San Antonio, along with her sister ships, the San Jacinto and San Bernard.

Mirabeau Buonaparte Lamar was an attorney born in Georgia, who became a Texas politician, poet, diplomat and soldier. He was a leading Texas political figure during the Texas Republic era. He was elected as the second President of the Republic of Texas after Sam Houston. He was known for waging war against bands of Cherokee and Comanche peoples to push them out of Texas, and for establishing a fund to support public education.

Sam Houston was an American soldier and politician. An important leader of the Texas Revolution, Houston served as the 1st and 3rd president of the Republic of Texas, and was one of the first two individuals to represent Texas in the United States Senate. He also served as the 6th Governor of Tennessee and the 7th governor of Texas, the only American to be elected governor of two different states in the United States.

Edwin Ward Moore, was an American naval officer who also served as Commander-in-chief of the Navy of the Republic of Texas.

History of the San Antonio

Originally built as one of the Baltimore clippers at the Schott and Whitney shipyard in Baltimore, Maryland and called Asp, she was one of the smallest of a class of schooners and brigs built specifically for the slave trade between 1820 and 1850. A group of six schooners, including La Amistad was built in Baltimore around 1836. They were identified as being "[p]urposely built and fitted out for use in the slave trade by the United States Consul General in Havana", and Asp was typical of the class.^[2]

La Amistad was a 19th-century two-masted schooner, owned by a Spaniard living in Cuba. It became renowned in July 1839 for a slave revolt by Mende captives, who had been enslaved in Sierra Leone, and were being transported from Havana, Cuba, to their purchasers' plantations. The African captives took control of the ship, killing some of the crew and ordering the survivors to sail the ship to Africa. The Spanish survivors secretly maneuvered the ship north, and La Amistad was captured off the coast of Long Island by the brig USS Washington. The Mende and La Amistad were interned in Connecticut while federal court proceedings were undertaken for their disposition. The owners of the ship and Spanish government claimed the slaves as property; but the US had banned the African trade and argued that the Mende were legally free.

On patrol and carrying dispatches

On 26 June 1840, the San Antonio sailed from Galveston with the rest of the flotilla under the command of Commodore Edwin W. Moore. After a two-month cruise, San Antonio returned to Galveston with James Treat, who had unsuccessfully sought diplomatic recognition for Texas from the Mexican government.^[3] For the rest of 1840, San Antonio patrolled Texas waters, conducting surveying and cartographic operations and suppressing smuggling.

Joining the flagship Austin and her sister ship San Bernard, San Antonio set sail for the Yucatan again on 13 December 1841. The flotilla reached Sisal on 6 January 1842, but she returned to Galveston on 31 January with dispatches from Commodore Moore. Texas Secretary of War and Marine George Washington Hockley sent orders to Moore by way of the San Antonio for him to return to Galveston immediately with the ships. But the San Antonio called first at New Orleans to land the survivors of a shipwreck and to procure supplies for the fleet.^[3]

Sisal, with the botanical name Agave sisalana, is a species of Agave native to southern Mexico but widely cultivated and naturalized in many other countries. It yields a stiff fibre used in making various products. The term sisal may refer either to the plant's common name or the fibre, depending on the context. It is sometimes referred to as "sisal hemp", because for centuries hemp was a major source for fibre, and other fibre sources were named after it.

George Washington Hockley was a Texas revolutionary who served as Secretary of War for the Republic of Texas.

Mutiny

On 11 February 1842, with the principal officers of the schooner on shore, a number of seamen who had been drinking demanded they be allowed to go ashore. The Officer of the Watch, Lieutenant Charles Fuller, ordered the marine guard to defend the ship, only to have the sergeant of marines, Seymour Oswald, strike him on the head with a tomahawk. Fuller drew his Colt revolver, and in the melee that followed, Fuller was shot dead and his body was beaten with muskets and cutlasses. Two midshipmen were also injured, and another lieutenant was locked below deck. The mutineers fled from the ship, but they soon were apprehended by the United States revenue cutter Jackson and placed in the New Orleans jail.^[4] Two of the mutinous sailors were returned to the ship, while the rest remained in New Orleans, pending extradition.^[3]

Final voyages

From New Orleans the San Antonio sailed for the Cayos Arcas where San Jacinto had wrecked, and from there to Sisal. Commodore Moore dispatched her to pick up Thomas S. Lubbock, a survivor of President Mirabeau B. Lamar's Santa Fe expedition, who had escaped his captors and made his way to Yucatan. The ship then rejoined the fleet at New Orleans on 1 July. Moore dispatched the schooner to Yucatán about 1 October 1842 by way of Galveston and Matagorda to attempt to raise funds for the fast-failing Texas fleet. She never reached Campeche, however, but was lost at sea.^[3]

Fate of the Mutineers

The state of Louisiana refused to extradite most of the sailors accused of mutiny and killing Lieutenant Fuller. Furthermore, many witnesses had gone down with their ship when it was lost in October. Nevertheless, Commodore Moore tried those hands aboard his flagship in April 1843. Three were sentenced to lashes, and four were sentenced to death. They were hanged from the yardarm of the Austin on 26 April 1843. Sergeant Oswald escaped jail in New Orleans and was never brought to justice, and Frederick Shepard, a mutineer who was spared because he testifying against the others, was killed in action three weeks later in the Naval Battle of Campeche.^[3]

Commanders of the Vessel

The San Antonio was commanded by:

Lt. Francis B. Wright, November 1839—January 1840
Lt. James O'Shaunessy, January—February 1840
Lt. Alexander Moore, February 1840—June 1841
Lt. William Seeger, June 1841—October 1842^[3]

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References

↑ "The Texian Navy" (PDF). Sons of the Republic of Texas. Retrieved 2007-11-01.
↑ "La Amistad" . Retrieved 2007-11-24.
1 2 3 4 5 6 Cutrer, Thomas. "San Antonio". Handbook of Texas Online. Texas State Historical Association. Retrieved 2007-11-24.
↑ "Texas Navy-Mutiny". Archives of the Texas Navy. Texas State Library and Archives Commission. Retrieved 2007-11-24.