USS James S. Chambers

Last updated
History
US flag 34 stars.svgUnited States
Acquired4 September 1861
Commissioned16 December 1861
Decommissioned31 August 1865
FateSold, 27 September 1865
General characteristics
Displacement401 tons
Length124 ft 6 in (37.95 m)
Beam29 ft 3 in (8.92 m)
Depth of hold12 ft 2 in (3.71 m)
Propulsionsail
Complement62
Armamentfour 32-pounder guns

USS James S. Chambers was a schooner acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was used by the Union Navy as a gunboat in support of the Union Navy blockade of Confederate waterways.

Contents

Naming

The Navy named the ship after James S. Chambers. He was appointed Navy agent for the Port of Philadelphia on August 10, 1861, by U.S. President Abraham Lincoln. [1] He was already a co-owner and editor of the Philadelphia Bulletin (then known as the Evening Bulletin). [2] In 1860, one partner sold out [3] and, with increased ownership, the co-owners voted Chambers publisher, [4] a position he held at least as late as 1878 (also listed as publisher of the Philadelphia Day). [5] Chambers was an unabashed support of Lincoln not only due to his own position as Navy agent but also because his aged father had been made superintendent of warehouses for the Philadelphia customs service. [6]

Service history

James S. Chambers was a three-masted schooner purchased by the Navy at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 4 September 1861; and commissioned at Philadelphia Navy Yard 16 December, Lt. Dennis Condry in command. The schooner sailed from Philadelphia 6 days later and joined the Gulf Blockading Squadron at Ship Island, Mississippi, 23 January 1862. Her diligent service in the Gulf of Mexico and off the Florida coast was first rewarded on 23 August when she captured blockade-running schooner Corelia with a cargo of supplies badly needed by the South. Two days later she took Confederate steamer Union attempting to escape with a cargo of 350 bales of cotton.

"Battle of Mobile Bay" by Louis Prang depicts an engagement similar to those in which the USS James S. Chambers partook Bataille de la baie de Mobile par Louis Prang (1824-1909).jpg
"Battle of Mobile Bay" by Louis Prang depicts an engagement similar to those in which the USS James S. Chambers partook

James S. Chambers scored again on 4 March 1863—the second anniversary of Lincoln's inauguration—when men from her whaleboats boarded and took Spanish sloop Relampago with a cargo of coffee, liquors, and soldiers shoes. The triumph was capped late that afternoon when a sail was sighted to the south standing in for land. The unidentified ship ignored a shot across her bow and continued to race for the beach without showing any colors. The Union schooner continued the chase firing at her quarry until she ran aground. The following morning men from James S. Chambers boarded the wreck, a schooner of pilot boat-build, and identified her as Ida. They removed several boatloads of cargo before setting her afire. A final prize came on 18 June 1863 when the vigilant blockader captured schooner Rebekah.

A period of almost a year's blockading duty stationed at West Pass, St. George's Sound, Florida, ensued. On 12 May 1864 boats from James S. Chambers and USS Somerset drove off a body of Confederate sailors embarking on a boat expedition ordered to capture the Union's side-wheel steamer USS Adela. In August 1864 James S. Chambers encountered a new enemy: yellow fever. The epidemic forced her to return to Philadelphia after taking the lives of 13 sailors and 3 officers. Only two or three members of her crew escaped the disease. On New Year's Day 1865 the indomitable ship was back in action with the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron stationed at Bull's Bay, South Carolina She was in the joint expeditionary force which attacked the rear of Charleston, South Carolina, 12 February. A fortnight later, her boat crews raided and destroyed extensive Confederate salt works and stockpiles at Palmetto Point, South Carolina.

Toward the end of the war James 8. Chambers served as a quarantine vessel at Port Royal, South Carolina. She sailed for the North 27 July and decommissioned 31 August. James S. Chambers was sold at public auction in New York City to Mr. Rhinehart 27 September 1865.

Related Research Articles

USS <i>Princess Royal</i> Gunboat of the United States Navy

Princess Royal was a British merchant ship and blockade runner that became a cruiser in the Union Navy during the American Civil War and later returned to civilian service.

USS <i>Keystone State</i> (1853)

USSKeystone State was a wooden sidewheel steamer that served in the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was a fast ship for her day and was used effectively to blockade Confederate ports on the Atlantic coast. She participated in the capture or destruction of 17 blockade runners. In addition to her military service, Keystone State had a lengthy commercial career before the war. Renamed San Francisco, she also sailed commercially after the war. The ship was built in 1853 and scrapped in 1874.

USS <i>South Carolina</i> (1860) Gunboat of the United States Navy

USS South Carolina was a steamer used by the Union Navy during the American Civil War.

USS <i>Stars and Stripes</i> Gunboat of the United States Navy

USS Stars and Stripes was a 407-ton steamer acquired by the U.S. Navy and put to use by the Union during the American Civil War.

USS <i>James Adger</i>

USS James Adger was a sidewheel steamer in the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She retained her former name.

USS <i>Albatross</i> (1858) Gunboat of the United States Navy

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.

See also USS Sam Houston (SSBN-609).

USS <i>Quaker City</i> Gunboat of the United States Navy

USS Quaker City was a heavy, 1,428 long tons (1,451 t) sidewheel steamship leased by the Union Navy at the start of the American Civil War. She was subsequently purchased by the navy, outfitted with a powerful 20-pounder long rifle, and assigned to help enforce the Union blockade of the ports of the Confederate States of America.

USS Yankee was a steam-powered side-wheel tugboat acquired by the Union Navy just prior to the outbreak of the American Civil War.

USS <i>Connecticut</i> (1861) Gunboat of the United States Navy

USS Connecticut was a large steamer acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. Her primary task was to prevent ships from penetrating the Union blockade of Southern ports.

USS Samuel Rotan was a schooner acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was outfitted by the Union Navy as a gunboat to patrol navigable waterways of the Confederacy to prevent the South from trading with other countries. Prior to the war, the US Navy had mostly large, deep draft, oceangoing vessels. The establishment of the Union blockade required small, fast, shallow draft vessels like the Samuel Rotan for littoral operations.

USS Matthew Vassar was a schooner purchased by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was used by the Union Navy primarily as a mortar gunboat, but also as a gunboat stationed off Confederate ports to prevent their trading with foreign countries.

USS Fernandina was a bark purchased by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was used by the Union Navy as a patrol vessel, operating in Confederate waterways.

USS <i>Wanderer</i> (1857) Gunboat of the United States Navy

The first USS Wanderer was a high-speed schooner originally built for pleasure. It was used in 1858 to illegally import slaves from Africa. It was seized for service with the United States Navy during the American Civil War. In U.S. Navy service from 1861 to 1865, and under outright U.S. Navy ownership from 1863 to 1865, she was used by the Union Navy as a gunboat, as a tender, and as a hospital ship. She was decommissioned, put into merchant use, and lost off Cuba in 1871.

USS State of Georgia was a large steamer with powerful guns acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. State of Georgia, with her crew of 113 sailors and officers, was used by the Union Navy as a gunboat in support of the Union Navy blockade of Confederate waterways.

USS G. W. Blunt was a Sandy Hook pilot boat acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War in 1861. See George W. Blunt (1856) for more details. She was used by the Union Navy as a gunboat as well as a dispatch boat in support of the Union Navy blockade of Confederate waterways.

The third USS Union was a heavy (1,114-ton) steamer with a powerful 12-inch rifled gun purchased by the United States Navy during the American Civil War.

USS T. A. Ward was a 284-ton schooner was purchased by the Union Navy during the Union blockade of the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War.

John Cummings Howell

John Cummings Howell was an officer in the United States Navy during the American Civil War. He rose to the rank of rear admiral and late in his career was commander-in-chief of the North Atlantic Squadron and then of the European Squadron.

Disambiguation: Not to be confused with nephew James S. Chambers (editor)

References

  1. "Guide to the Individual manuscripts, 150 AD. - 1998 Collection number MS2135". George Washington University Library. Retrieved 28 July 2017.
  2. "An Editor Married". New York Times. 18 December 1861. Retrieved 28 July 2017.
  3. "Change in the Proprietorship of the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin". New York Times. 6 March 1860. Retrieved 28 July 2017.
  4. "The Philadelphia Bulletin". James Smart's Philadelphia. Retrieved 28 July 2017.
  5. Pettengill's Newspaper Directory and Advertisers' Handbook. S.M. Pettengill & Company. 1878. Retrieved 28 July 2017.
  6. Shepherd, Si (5 November 2007). The Partisan Press: A History of Media Bias in the United States. McFarland. pp. 150–151. ISBN   9780786432820 . Retrieved 28 July 2017.

External sources

This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships .The entry can be found here.