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Naval History and Heritage Command

Naval History and Heritage Command

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  • Logistics
  • Boats-Ships-Confederate
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  • Ship History
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  • Civil War 1861-1865
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Hope I (Schooner)

1861–1865

The first Hope retained a former name. The second Hope was given a name descriptive of her duty.

I

(Schooner: displacement 134; length 85'; beam 20'9"; draft 9'; speed 10 knots; armament 1 20-pounder)

The first Hope, a wooden schooner, was purchased by the Navy on 29 November 1861, from T.P. Ives, and commissioned at New York on 14 December 1861, Acting Master M.S. Chase in command.

Hope spent the war with the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron based at Port Royal, S.C. She acted as a dispatch vessel supply boat for ships to the southward. In 1862 she took part in the blockade off Fernandina and the adjacent coast of Florida. While patrolling off Charleston, S.C. on 27 January 1863, Hope captured schooner Emma Tuttle with a cargo of saltpeter for the Confederates. In June, the ship returned north for repairs at Philadelphia, Pa., and in July resumed blockade station off Charleston.

Throughout most of 1864, Hope remained off Charleston as a blockader, helping to tighten the noose of the naval blockade which helped to defeat the Confederates. She also performed limited dispatch and supply boat duty. Hope captured sloop Racer, her second prize, off Bull's Bay, S.C., on 1 August. Shortly afterward the ship was fitted for diving duty and in October began salvage operations in the Savannah River, raising hulks and other obstacles. After the fall of Savannah in December, Hope worked on the salvage of Confederate side wheel steamer Savannah, and in the spring moved to Charleston to carry out similar duties in the Charleston harbor.

Hope returned north and decommissioned at New York on 6 September 1865. On the 25th of October of that year the Navy sold her to T. Morley.

Published: Wed Apr 01 11:48:29 EDT 2020