Scorpion III (SwStr)
An order of arachnids having an elongated body and a narrow segmented tail bearing a venomous sting at the tip.
III
The third Scorpion, formerly the steamer, Aurora, was built in 1846 by Bishop and Simonson at New York for Sidney Mason and William D. Thompson; purchased by the Navy, at New York, on 7 January 1847 for use in the Mexican War; and commissioned on 23 February 1847, Comdr. Abraham Bigelow in command.
Ordered to the Gulf of Mexico, Scorpion joined the Home Squadron at Anton Lizardo, on 27 April 1847. She participated in the expedition against Tabasco on 16 June 1847, serving as the flagship for Commodore Matthew C. Perry.
Scorpion returned to Anton Lizardo on 25 July 1847, and for the remainder of the war patrolled the coast of Mexico. At the close of the war, she sailed for the Brooklyn Navy Yard, arriving on 11 August 1848. She was decommissioned on 21 August 1848 and sold at auction on 23 December 1848, becoming the merchant steamer, Isthmus which was lost at sea in 1854.
