Passaconaway I
(Mon: dp. 5,660; l. 354'5"; b. 56'8"; dr. 17'; dph. 18'10"; s. 10 k.; a. 4 14" D.sb.; cl. Kalamazoo)
An Indian chief of the region about Pennacook on the Merrimac River as early as 1632. "The most noted powwow and sorcerer of all the country" according to the chronicler Hubbard. He formally submitted to the English in 1644, and died at a very advanced age. Also Mount Passaconaway in New Hampshire, named for the sachem of the Merrimack tribe of Indians, of Algonquian Stock. The first ship was named for the place and the second ship for the person.
I
Passaconaway started building at the Portsmouth Navy Yard, Kittery, Maine, in November 1863. Her construction, and that of three sister ships, proceeded slowly during the Civil War, and she was neither launched nor completed. Her name was changed to Thunderer 15 June 1869, and again to Massachusetts 10 August 1869. Due to deteriorating timbers, she was condemmed under Act of Congress 5 August 1882, and broken up on the stocks in 1884.
