Amaranthus (Tug)
1864-1865
A member of a large family of plants characterized by small flowers and alternate leaves.
(Tug: tonnage 182; length 117'; beam 21'; depth of hold 8'; draft 9'; speed 9.5 knots; complement 40; armament 3 24-pounder smoothbores)
The wooden-hulled screw tug Christiana—built at Philadelphia in 1864 by Bishop, Son, & Co. —was purchased by the Navy at Philadelphia as on 1 July 1864. Renamed Amaranthus and fitted out at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, she was commissioned there on 12 July 1864, Acting Master Enos O. Adams in command.
Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles assigned the tug to the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron; but she was kept in the Delaware River performing towing duties, and did not join her squadron until she reached Port Royal, S.C., on 6 August 1864. She was assigned to the inner cordon of the forces blockading Charleston, S.C., and but for occasional runs back to Port Royal to carry passengers and dispatches and to receive repairs, she served off that port through the end of the Civil War.
On the night of 9 and 10 September 1864, Amaranthus sighted a steamer attempting to run out of Charleston and fired repeatedly at the blockade runner which, nevertheless, escaped to sea. Some two-and-one-half months later, she fired upon two incoming steamers which entered the harbor about two hours apart. On both occasions, Confederate shore batteries at Fort Moultrie fired upon the Union blockaders; a spent 10-inch shell struck Amaranthus’ starboard counter, damaging the tug sufficiently to require her to enter a nearby inlet for repairs. The patching was quickly completed, and the steamer was back on station three days later.
On 1 February 1865, Acting Ensign William R. Cox, the tug’s executive officer, assumed command. Following the collapse of the Confederacy early in the spring of 1865, Amaranthus remained off Charleston into the summer. She departed that port on 10 August 1865 and entered the New York Navy Yard, Brooklyn, N.Y., on the 18th. Decommissioned there the following day, the tug was sold at public auction on 5 September 1865.
Documented under her original name [Christiana] on 28 December 1865, three days after Christmas, she served as the merchant tug Christiana until 1900.
James L. Mooney
15 July 1985
