Naval History and Heritage Command

An animal of the weasel family.

I

(Schooner: tonnage 148; length 73'0"; beam 23'8"; depth of hold 7'6"; complement 64; armament 10 guns)

The first Ferret, a ten-gun schooner, was designed by naval architect Josiah Fox, and built in 1804 at the Norfolk Navy Yard; and commissioned on 18 April 1809, Lt. Christopher Gadsden, Jr., in command.

Ferret's first cruise for which she sailed upon commissioning, was along the coast of the Carolinas and Georgia in enforcement of the Embargo Act of 1807.

Rerigged (1809-1810) as a 12-gun brig at the Washington Navy Yard, Ferret was renamed Viper (q.v.) in 1810.

Updated, Robert J. Cressman

9 March 2022