Clyde I (Side-wheel Steamer)
1863-1865
Villages in New York and Ohio.
(SwStr: tonnage 294; length 200'6"; beam 18'6"; depth of hold 8'; speed 9 knots; complement 67; armament two 24-pounder howitzers)
I
The first Clyde, a side wheel steamer, was captured as Neptune 14 June 1863 by USS Lackawanna and sent to Key West for condemnation. Sent to New York to be surveyed and appraised, she was purchased by the Navy Department and placed in commission 29 July 1863, Acting Master A. A. Owens in command.
Departing New York 30 July 1863, the steamer arrived at Washington, D.C., 3 August. Her name was changed to Clyde 11 August 1863. Clyde sailed from Washington 6 September 1863 and arrived at Key West 13 September for duty with the East Gulf Blockading Squadron. She patrolled the coastal and inland waters of western Florida and among the Florida Keys until the end of the war. She captured the schooner Amaranth 27 September 1863, and participated in two boat expeditions up the Suwanee and Waccasassa rivers, capturing nearly 200 bales of cotton.
Arriving at Philadelphia Navy Yard 10 August 1865, Clyde was decommissioned 17 August 1865, taken to New York and sold 25 October 1865.
