Admiral I (Storeship)
1864
The first Admiral retained the name she carried at the time of her acquisition.
(Storeship: displacement 1,249; length 220'0"; beam 34'6"; depth of hold 10'2"; armament 1 30-pounder rifle, 2 12-pounder rifles, 2 24-pounder howizers)
Admiral, a screw steamer built in 1863 at Fair Haven, Conn., by S. H. Pook, was purchased by the Navy on 8 January 1864, and commissioned on 5 February 1864, Acting Volunteer Lt. William B. Eaton in command.
Assigned duties as a storeship to replenish and support the vessels of the Gulf Blockading Squadrons, Admiral sailed from New York, N.Y., and other east coast ports with provisions, munitions, passengers, and general stores for ships on stations between Key West, Florida, and Galveston, Texas. Several times, Admiral, while making passage from one port to another, would give chase to blockade runners, capturing the steamerYsabel, outward bound from Havana, on 23 May 1864.
Renamed Fort Morgan on 1 September 1864, the storeship captured two small schooners attempting to run the blockade that November. Decommissioned at New York on 22 AUgust 1865, Fort Morgan was sold on 5 September 1865 to resume merchant service.
Robert J. Cressman and James L. Mooney.
Updated 24 January 2022.
