Kalmia I (Screw Steamer)
A genus of North American shrubs of the heath family with evergreen leaves and umbellate clusters of rose, purple, or white flowers.
I
The first Kalmia, a screw steamer, was built as Innes at Philadelphia in 1863 and purchased for the Navy by Rear Admiral Hiram Paulding 5 October from her owner, Arron Innes, Poughkeepsie, N.Y. Renamed Kalmia 24 April 1864, the Naval Register of 1865 lists her as assigned to the North Atlantic Squadron as a fourth-rate tug. No further record of her other naval service has been found.
Kalmia was sold at public auction in New York, N.Y., 25 October 1865. She was redocumented as F. B. Thurber 12 December; renamed James Hughes 8 November 1898; and destroyed by fire 15 June 1905 at Bartlett's Point, N.Y.
