USS Grampus (1821)

For other ships of the same name, see USS Grampus.

USS Grampus (1821-1843) Grampus depicted flying her National Ensigns upside down, a sign of distress
Career
Name:	USS Grampus
Builder:	Washington Navy Yard
Laid down:	1820
Launched:	August 1821
Fate:	Foundered, 15 March 1843
General characteristics
Type:	Schooner
Displacement:	171.5 long tons (174.3 t)
Length:	97 ft (30 m)
Beam:	23 ft 6 in (7.16 m)
Draft:	9 ft 6 in (2.90 m)
Propulsion:	Sail
Complement:	142 officers and enlisted
Armament:	2 × 12 pdr (5.4 kg) guns, 16 × 24 pdr (11 kg) carronades

File:USS Grampus sketch.jpg

Plans of USS Grampus

USS Grampus was a schooner in the United States Navy. She was the first U.S. Navy ship to be named for the Grampus griseus, also known as Risso's Dolphin.

Grampus was built at the Washington Navy Yard under the supervision of naval constructor William Doughty, based on a design by Henry Eckford. Her 73 ft (22 m) keel was laid down in 1820. She was launched in early August 1821. The need to suppress piracy and to maintain ships to catch slavers led to the building of five such schooners, the largest of which was Grampus. This was the first building program undertaken by the Navy since the War of 1812.

Service history

Lieutenant Francis Gregory commanded Grampus on her first cruise, which took her to the West Indies in pursuit of pirates. In the company of Hornet, Enterprise, Spark, Porpoise, and Shark, Grampus engaged in convoying merchant vessels throughout 1821, the presence of the squadron having a marked effect on piratical activity among the islands.

On 16 August 1822, Grampus gave chase to a brig flying Spanish colors, but which Lt. Gregory suspected was a pirate. When he called upon her commander to surrender, he was met with cannon and small arms fire. Grampus answered in turn, and reduced the bogus Spaniard to a floating wreck in 3½ minutes. The brig struck her colors and Lt. Gregory discovered that she was Palmyra, a Puerto Rico-based pirate carrying the papers of a privateer as a subterfuge.

In 1825, Captain John Slout — commander of Grampus — engaged Puerto Rican pirate Roberto Cofresí in battle. Cofresí was captured along with eleven members of his crew, and they were turned over to the Spanish government. Cofresí was jailed in El Castillo del Morro in San Juan.

Grampus had a small part in the Amistad trials: in November-December 1839, the United States government had Grampus standing by in New Haven Harbor, so that if the court ruled in favor of the slaves' Spanish "owners," they could deport the Africans to Cuba before they could file an appeal. However, the district judge ruled that the Africans had been illegally enslaved and must be returned to Africa. It was the government that appealed on behalf of the slaveholders, and Grampus was not needed.

Grampus continued her duties in the protection of shipping in the Caribbean Sea and in the South Atlantic Ocean until August 1841, when she was detached from the Africa Squadron while lying at Boston Navy Yard and attached to the Home Squadron at Norfolk, Virginia on 23 January 1843.

Grampus was last spoken to by Madison off St. Augustine, Florida on 15 March 1843. She is presumed to have foundered in a gale off Charleston, South Carolina with all hands. Because of that location, some credit her otherwise unremarkable loss to the Bermuda Triangle.

References

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