Jefferson Davis (revenue cutter)
The revenue cutter Jefferson Davis was a sailing ship of the United States Revenue Cutter Service. Launched in 1853, it was named for Jefferson Davis, then United States Secretary of War under President Franklin Pierce, later president of the Confederate States of America.[1] The ship was originally built for US$9,000.[2]
The ship, a topsail schooner,[1][3] was built by J.M. Hood of Bristol, Rhode Island.[1] One online Coast Guard source describes it as a 90-plus foot (27-plus meter) vessel with 150 short tons (140 t) displacement;[1] exhibit text at the Coast Guard Museum/Northwest describes it as a 94'8'' (28.85 m) vessel with 177 short tons (161 t) displacement, 23'1'' (7.03 m) beam, and 9-foot (2.7 m) draft, with six 12-pound guns.[2][4]
After surviving a hurricane in 1853 with slight damage, the ship put into Charleston, South Carolina for repairs, then sailed to around Cape Horn and arrived at San Francisco in July 1854 to serve on the West Coast.[1] Continuing up the coast to arrive in Port Townsend, Washington September 28, 1854, the Jefferson Davis became the first cutter stationed north of San Francisco.[2]
Under Captain William C. Pease,[3] the Jefferson Davis participated in the suppression of a Native American uprising in Olympia, Washington in 1855,[1][3] during the Puget Sound War.[5] Later, in Bellingham, Washington, the entire crew except for the captain deserted to join the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush.[2][6] One Coast Guard sources says the Jefferson Davis was converted to a "Marine Hospital Boat" in 1862;[1] other sources (including exhibit text in the Coast Guard Museum/Northwest) say that it was sold that year to Grennan & Craney Co. of Utsalady, Washington for US$2920.[2][7] According to one of the latter sources, Grennan & Craney Co. "refitted and sent her to China, carrying as cargo a flat-bottomed sternwheeler, which was to be supplied with the engines from Tom Wright's old Enterprise, dismantled on the Chehalis."[8]
Coupeville, Washington, on Whidbey Island was named for Captain Thomas Coupe, once the Jefferson Davis's sailing master.[2]
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Eighteenth, Nineteenth & Early Twentieth Century Revenue Cutters: Cutters of the Revenue Marine and Revenue Cutter Service: 1790-1900, United States Coast Guard. Accessed online 2009-09-23.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Text accompanying model at Coast Guard Museum/Northwest, Seattle, Washington. Consulted 2009-09-21.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Truman R. Strobridge and Dennis L. Noble, Alaska and the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service, 1867-1915, Naval Institute Press, 1999, ISBN 9781557508454. p. 7–9.
- ↑ Strobridge and Noble, p. 7, also mentions the six 12-pound guns.
- ↑ Clinton A. Snowden, History of Washington: The Rise and Progress of an American State, Century History Company, 1909. p. 381 et. seq.
- ↑ E. W. Wright, Puget Sound Steamboats, Golden Days of Fraser River Navigation, Lewis & Dryden's Marine History of the Pacific Northwest. New York: Antiquarian Press, Ltd., 1961., p. 72. Quoted online at Magellan Ship Biographies, accessed 2009-09-24.
- ↑ E. W. Wright, The Oregon Steam Navigation Company's Best Days, Many New Steamers in Puget Sound Waters, Lewis & Dryden's Marine History of the Pacific Northwest. New York: Antiquarian Press, Ltd., 1961., p. 60, 113. Quoted online at Magellan Ship Biographies, accessed 2009-09-24.
- ↑ E. W. Wright, The Oregon Steam Navigation Company's Best Days, Many New Steamers in Puget Sound Waters, Lewis & Dryden's Marine History of the Pacific Northwest. New York: Antiquarian Press, Ltd., 1961., p. 60. Quoted online at Magellan Ship Biographies, accessed 2009-09-24.
