Prometheus I (Sch)
in Greek mythology, a Titan and brother of Epimetheus and Atlas, who stole a spark from heaven and gave it as a gift of fire to newly-created mankind. To punish him for this act, Zeus (Jupiter) chained him to a rock in the Caucasus, where an eagle daily tore at his liver. Each night Prometheus regenerated his damaged liver, until finally he was delivered from his torment by Hercules.
I
Prometheus, a hermaphrodite schooner, was built by William Seguin, Philadelphia, Pa.; purchased in 1814 by the Navy from Messrs. Savage and Dryan, the original owners, as the brig Escape; commissioned and renamed Promethus, she was fitted out at Philadelphia by Master Commandant J. J. Nicholson.
In March-May 1815 she made a cruise to the West Indies to carry U.S. Senators Fromeatin and Brown to Havana. She sailed for Europe 14 August 1816 to take Mr. Coles, special messenger from the President of the United States to the Emperor of Russia, returning to Boston 25 November. In 1817 she was employed in surveying the U.S. coast north of Newport, R.I., and in 1818 she operated along the southern coast and at New Orleans. In October 1818 she was pronounced unseaworthy and decommissioned. Prometheus was dismantled and sold at auction at New Orleans in 1819.
