USS Revenge (1806)
| Career | 100x35px |
|---|---|
| Name: | USS Revenge |
| Acquired: | by purchase, 1806 |
| Fate: | Run aground, 9 January 1811 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Schooner |
| Length: | 70 ft (21 m) |
| Armament: | 12 × 6-pounder guns |
The third Revenge was a schooner in the United States Navy during the years preceding the War of 1812.
Early service
Revenge was purchased by the Navy at New Orleans in December 1806. Ordered to the Atlantic coast, the schooner, commanded by Lt. Jacob Jones was assigned to Commodore John Rodgers' New York Flotilla which was organized soon after the Chesapeake-Leopard Affair and charged with protecting shipping near that vital port. After Thomas Jefferson's Embargo Act was passed at the close of the year, the flotilla had the duty of blockading the U.S. coast to prevent foreign commerce.
Later service
In 1809, Lt. Oliver Hazard Perry relieved Jones in command of Revenge. With the repeal of the Embargo Act, the ship widened her operations, cruising south to the tip of Florida and north to the coast of New England.
In April 1810, the schooner entered the Washington Navy Yard for repairs. The following July, while cruising off Charleston, South Carolina, Revenge was ordered to Amelia Island, Florida, then Spanish territory, to free an American ship, Diana, which had been seized in Spanish waters and placed under British colors. Undaunted by the presence of two British warships, Perry boarded the ship, manned her with a prize crew, and sailed away.
Abandoned
That winter, Revenge surveyed the harbors of Newport, Rhode Island; New London, Connecticut; and Gardiners Bay, Long Island, New York. The schooner ran aground on 9 January 1811 while returning to New London and was abandoned. Perry was cleared of responsibility for loss of the ship by a court of inquiry.
References
This article includes text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
