| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Builder | John Carrick, Erie, Pennsylvania |
| Cost | $12,300 |
| Completed | 14 August 1849 |
| Acquired | 11 August 1849 |
| Homeport | Oswego, New York |
| Fate | sold 6 October 1856 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Schooner |
| Displacement | 115 tons |
| Propulsion | sail |
| Sail plan | topsail schooner |
USRC Harrison was the lead ship of her topsail schooner class, which was built and operated by the United States Revenue-Marine, later Revenue Cutter Service, between 1849 and 1856.
In 1848, the Revenue Cutter Service awarded contracts for seven cutters, two for use on the Great Lakes. The resulting USRC Harrison and USRC Ingham were built with a lighter draft and smaller size to facilitate their work. Both ships were topsail schooners, with a 115-ton draft and total cost of $12,300. [1] [2]
A proposal by John Carrick for the cutter's construction at Erie, Pennsylvania [3] was accepted on 16 October 1848. Harrison was completed, delivered and accepted on 11 August 1849. [1]
The Harrison would be stationed at Oswego, New York for her entire career until her disposition in 1856. On 12 November 1852 she was damaged by a storm, requiring repairs estimated to be worth $1,280. [2] [1] On 6 October 1856 she was auctioned to Messrs. Merry and Gay for $1,690 after it was authorized by the United States Congress. [4]
The United States Revenue Cutter Service was established by an act of Congress on 4 August 1790 as the Revenue-Marine upon the recommendation of Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton to serve as an armed customs enforcement service. As time passed, the service gradually gained missions either voluntarily or by legislation, including those of a military nature. It was generally referred to as the Revenue-Marine until 31 July 1894, when it was officially renamed the Revenue Cutter Service. The Revenue Cutter Service operated under the authority of the U.S. Department of the Treasury. On 28 January 1915, the service was merged by an act of Congress with the United States Life-Saving Service to form the United States Coast Guard.
USS Aaron V. Brown was a revenue schooner in the service of the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was named for United States Postmaster General Aaron V. Brown, the only cutter to bear the name.
United States Coast Guard Cutter is the term used by the U.S. Coast Guard for its commissioned vessels. They are 65 feet (19.8 m) or greater in length and have a permanently assigned crew with accommodations aboard. They carry the ship prefix USCGC.
USRC Walter Forward was a schooner constructed for service with the United States Revenue-Marine. She was more commonly known as USRC Forward. Forward served with the United States Army and United States Navy in Mexican waters during the Mexican–American War and was commended for her actions during the Tabasco River landings by Commodore Matthew C. Perry, U.S. Navy. After the war, she was transferred to the United States Coast Survey for a short time as USCS Walter Forward before being returned to the Revenue-Marine for service during the 1850s and the American Civil War.
USRC Seminole was a 188 ft (57 m), 845-ton United States Revenue Cutter Service steamer constructed by the Columbian Iron Works in Baltimore, Maryland for $141,000. She was commissioned in 1900 and saw service through 1934, when she was transferred to the Federal Emergency Relief Administration.
USRC Massachusetts was one of the first ten cutters operated by the Revenue-Marine. She was built in Newburyport, Massachusetts and served out of Boston. Massachusetts by tradition is held to be the first revenue cutter to enter active service. She was also the first to be decommissioned, having a very short service life of only about 15 months before being sold.
USRC Jefferson Davis was a United States Revenue Cutter Service topsail schooner of the Cushing class built in 1853. She was named for Jefferson Davis, then United States Secretary of War under President Franklin Pierce, and later president of the Confederate States of America.
USRC Forward was a revenue cutter constructed for the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service in 1882 by Pusey & Jones shipyard in Wilmington, Delaware. She was the second Revenue Cutter Service vessel named Forward and was named for Walter Forward, the fifteenth United States Secretary of the Treasury. The iron-hulled vessel originally cost US$72,750 and was powered by a two-cylinder steam engine with a topsail schooner brigantine sail pattern. Although Forward was considered a model ship at the time of its construction, it was severely underpowered and had unreliable machinery. The cost of repairs in the first fifteen years of operation was US$52,000.
USRC James C. Dobbin was a topsail schooner of the Cushing class (1853) named after President Franklin Pierce's Secretary of the Navy, James Cochrane Dobbin. She was initially stationed at Wilmington, North Carolina, but in 1856 was moved to Savannah, Georgia. She was seized by a secessionist mob on 3 January 1861 at Savannah and the officers and crew were held in irons. After the local customs inspector protested the seizure, Joseph E. Brown, the governor of Georgia ordered the cutter and crew released. Dobbin was the only revenue cutter based in the South to escape to the North before the Civil War. On 26 April 1861, she was ordered to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to receive heavier armament and then assigned to New York City. In 1863 Dobbin was reassigned to Portland, Maine where she remained until being ordered to Baltimore, Maryland in December, 1876 to be refitted as a training ship. The first eight cadets of the newly established Revenue Cutter School of Instruction reported aboard Dobbin and they set sail on their first practice cruise on 24 May 1877. One of the eight cadets was future Commandant of the Coast Guard, Worth G. Ross. The following summer, she was replaced by the newly constructed training cutter USRC Salmon P. Chase and Dobbin returned to service as a revenue cutter until she was sold in 1881.
USRC Hamilton was a Revenue Cutter topsail schooner of the Gallatin class. She was named for Alexander Hamilton, first Secretary of the Treasury. An iron-hulled cutter with steam propulsion, she was constructed at Buffalo, New York by David Bell Co. in 1871. The Gallatin class consisted of two ships, the USRC Gallatin and the Hamilton, however they differed in the propulsion machinery used.
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USRC Louisiana, was a wood hull topsail schooner designed by William Doughty that was commissioned in the United States Revenue Marine from 1819 to 1824. Assigned the homeport of New Orleans, Louisiana, she sailed the Caribbean extensively and was used mainly in anti-piracy activity.
USRC Pawtuxet was a Pawtuxet-class screw steam revenue cutter built for the United States Revenue Marine during the American Civil War.
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USRC Active, was a revenue cutter of the United States Revenue Cutter Service in commission from 1867 to 1875. She was the fifth Revenue Cutter Service ship to bear the name.
USRC Resolute, was a revenue cutter of the United States Revenue Cutter Service in commission from 1867 to 1872. She was the only Revenue Cutter Service ship to bear the name.
USRC Relief, was a revenue cutter of the United States Revenue Cutter Service in commission from 1867 to at least 1870. She was the first Revenue Cutter Service ship to bear the name.
USRC Ingham was the second ship of the Harrison schooner class, which was built and operated by the United States Revenue Cutter Service between 1849 and 1856. She is the third ship of the Revenue Cutter Service to bear the name.
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