The second USS Potomac was an old whaler the United States Navy purchased on 1 November 1861. She was a part of the "Stone Fleet," a group of ships used to block the entrances to Confederate harbors during the American Civil War, and was sunk for this purpose on 9 January 1862. [1]
The sinking of the "Stone Fleet" is memorialized in a poem of that name by Herman Melville. By coincidence, the log book of Potomac, kept by William Hussey Macy of Nantucket, Massachusetts, records Melville's desertion from the Fairhaven, Massachusetts whaler Achusnet in the Marquesas Islands in the entry for 4 July 1842. Melville's experiences in the Marquesas are the source of his novel Typee .[ citation needed ]
The first USS Essex of the United States Navy was a 36-gun or 32-gun sailing frigate that participated in the Quasi-War with France, the First Barbary War, and in the War of 1812. The British captured her in 1814 and she then served as HMS Essex until sold at public auction on 6 June 1837.
David Porter was an officer in the United States Navy in the rank of captain and the honorary title of commodore. Porter commanded a number of U.S. naval ships. He saw service in the First Barbary War, the War of 1812 and in the West Indies. On July 2, 1812, Porter hoisted the banner "Free trade and sailors' rights" as captain of USS Essex. The phrase resonated with many Americans. Porter was later court martialed; he resigned and then joined and became commander-in-chief of the Mexican Navy. Porter County, Indiana was named after him.
The Stone Fleet consisted of a fleet of aging ships purchased in New Bedford and other New England ports, loaded with stone, and sailed south during the American Civil War by the Union Navy for use as blockships. They were to be deliberately sunk at the entrance of Charleston Harbor, South Carolina in the hope of obstructing blockade runners, then supplying Confederate interests. Although some sank along the way and others were sunk near Tybee Island, Georgia, to serve as breakwaters, wharves for the landing of Union troops, the majority were divided into two lesser fleets. One fleet was sunk to block the south channel off Morris Island, and the other to block the north channel near Rattlesnake Shoals off the present day Isle of Palms in what proved to be failed efforts to block access the main shipping channels into Charleston Harbor.
The first USS Pocahontas, a screw steamer built at Medford, Massachusetts in 1852 as City of Boston, and purchased by the Navy at Boston, Massachusetts on 20 March 1855, was the first United States Navy ship to be named for Pocahontas, the Algonquian wife of Virginia colonist John Rolfe. She was originally commissioned as USS Despatch – the second U.S. Navy ship of that name – on 17 January 1856, with Lieutenant T. M. Crossan in command, and was recommissioned and renamed in 1860, seeing action in the American Civil War. As Pocahontas, one of her junior officers was Alfred Thayer Mahan, who would later achieve international fame as a military writer and theorist of naval power.
USS Rebecca Sims was built as a general trading ship in 1801 by Samuel Bowers of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for Joseph Sims.
USS Tenedos, abark of 245 tons, 300 feet (91 m) long, was originally a Pacific whaler, owned by Lawrence and Company of New London, Connecticut. During the American Civil War, the United States Navy purchased her on 16 October 1861 for use in the "Stone Fleet," a group of ships to be sunk as obstructions along the coast of the Confederate States of America. Under the command of Master O. Sisson, she was sunk as blockship in Charleston Harbor off Charleston, South Carolina, on 19 or 20 December 1861.
USS Robin Hood was a 400-foot-long (120 m) ship of 395 tons, purchased by the United States Navy in Mystic, Connecticut, during the American Civil War on 20 October 1861 for use in the "Stone Fleet." In December 1861 she was sunk as an obstruction in Charleston Harbor off Charleston, South Carolina.
USS South America (1861) was a whaler purchased by the Union Navy on 9 November 1861 at New London, Connecticut. She was acquired to be sunk as an obstruction in the channel leading to a Confederate port as part of the Union blockade on ports and waterways of the Confederate States of America.
The first USS Meteor retained her commercial name when the United States Navy purchased her for the "Stone Fleet." She was sunk as an obstruction in Charleston Harbor off Charleston, South Carolina, in January 1862.
USS Amazon was a wooden-hulled bark of 318 tons that had previously sailed as a whaler out of Fairhaven, Massachusetts.
USS Peri was one of the ships of the Stone Fleet, sunk in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina as a blockade during the American Civil War.
The Phoenix was a 404-ton American wooden whaler based in New London, Connecticut. The Union Navy purchased Phoenix at New London on 9 November 1861, at the start of the American Civil War. The Navy wanted her for the Stone Fleet, a group of vessels to be sunk in the channels of important Southern harbors to interrupt Confederate trade. She sailed on the 20th but grounded while crossing Savannah Bar, lost her rudder, and began leaking badly. When refloated she was beached as a breakwater to shelter Union troops landing on Tybee Island, Georgia, on or before 5 December 1861, in preparation for the Battle of Fort Pulaski.
USS American was a bark of 329 tons, a former whaler, purchased 1 November 1861 at Edgartown, Massachusetts for the Stone Fleet at a cost of $3,370. She left New Bedford, Massachusetts on 20 November 1861, and was intentionally sunk as an obstruction to shipping in the main channel of the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina on 20 December 1861. This ship has sometimes been recorded as America.
USS Timor was purchased at Sag Harbor, New York on 30 October 1861. She was sunk as part of the Stone Fleet at Maffitts channel in Charleston harbor on 25 or 26 January 1862.
USS Stephen Young was one of the ships of the Stone Fleet, sunk in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina to be used as a blockade during the American Civil War.
USS Charles Phelps was a ship acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was used by the Navy as an auxiliary support vessel, delivering coal to Union steamers blockading Confederate ports.
USS Perry was a brig commissioned by the United States Navy prior to the American Civil War. She was tasked by the Navy for various missions, including those related to diplomatic tensions with Paraguay, the Mexican–American War, the slave trade, and the American Civil War. She was probably named after Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry.
USS Garland was a bark acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. The Navy planned on using her as part of the stone fleet; however, because of the Union Army's need for a supply ship, she was transferred to that service for the duration of the entire war.
The first USS New England was a whaler purchased by the Union Navy at New London, Connecticut, on November 21, 1861.
USS Noble (1861) was a wooden bark purchased during the American Civil War by the Union Navy 2 December 1861 at Sag Harbor, New York.
This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships .The entry can be found here.
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