| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Name | USSVesuvius |
| Namesake | Mount Vesuvius |
| Builder | Jacob Coffin,Newburyport, Massachusetts |
| Cost | $29,659 |
| Launched | 31 May 1806 |
| Commissioned | September 1806 |
| Decommissioned | 6 September 1810 |
| Stricken | 1821 |
| Fate | Damaged by explosion, broken up, June 1829 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Bomb ketch |
| Displacement | 145long tons (147 t) |
| Length | 82 ft 4 in (25.10 m) |
| Beam | 25 ft 4 in (7.72 m) |
| Draft | 8 ft 3 in (2.51 m) |
| Complement | 30 |
| Armament |
|
USSVesuvius was abomb ketch, and the first ship of theUnited States Navy named for theItalian volcano.
Vesuvius was built byJacob Coffin atNewburyport, Massachusetts. She waslaunched on 31 May 1806 andcommissioned in or before September 1806, with LieutenantJames T. Leonard in command.
Vesuvius departedBoston, Massachusetts, for theGulf of Mexico, but, while en route on 19 October, ran aground in theGulf of Abaco. The ship lost her rudder and floated free only after her crew had jettisoned all of her guns and their carriages; her shot and shell; and even part of thekentledge. She finally reachedNew Orleans, Louisiana, on 27 November.
Repaired and rearmed with ten 6-pounders (2.7 kg), the ship subsequently sailed forNatchez, Mississippi, and operated out of that port from February 1807 until returning to New Orleans on 30 May.Vesuvius was then ordered north for further repairs and arrived atNew York City on 16 August.
The ship apparently remained in the New York area until the spring 1809, when she again sailed for New Orleans. Embarking upon duties to suppress slave traders and pirates operating out of the trackless bayous,Vesuvius cruised off the mouth of the muddyMississippi River and into the Gulf of Mexico, alert for any sign of illegal activity.
The crew's vigilance was rewarded in February 1810 when, under the command of Lieutenant Benjamin F. Read,Vesuvius gave chase to a pirate vessel off the mouth of the Mississippi and capturedDuc de Montebello, a schooner named byFrenchmen who had been expelled fromCuba by theSpanish government. Dispatched to New Orleans, thebuccaneer ship was condemned. In the same month, boats fromVesuvius, under the command of Midshipman F.H. Gregory, captured pirate schoonerDiomede andslave shipAlexandria, the latter with a full cargo of slaves on board and flying British colors.
Four months later, CommanderDavid Porter, commander of the New Orleans station, embarked inVesuvius before the bomb ketch departed New Orleans on 10 June 1810, bound viaHavana, Cuba, forWashington, DC. Also making the passage were Porter's wife and the Porters' ward, eight-year-old James Glasgow Farragut. The lad would later change his name toDavid Glasgow Farragut and ultimately become the Navy's firstadmiral.
After repairs at theWashington Navy Yard, the ketch pressed on for New York and arrived on 6 September 1810.Vesuvius was placed in ordinary, and her crew was transferred toUSS Enterprise.
In 1816,Vesuvius served as areceiving ship at New York. A survey conducted in April 1818 revealed that the cost to repair and refit the ship would be, in the survey's words, "exorbitant." Still carried on theNaval Vessel Registry as a receiving ship through 1821,Vesuvius was broken up in June 1829 after being damaged beyond repair on 4 June when the old steamshipFulton exploded alongside.
This article incorporates text from thepublic domainDictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be foundhere.
