American I (Bark)
1861
The Navy retained the name carried by this vessel at the time she was acquired.
I
(Bark: tonnage 329; draft 15')
American—an old bark-rigged whaler laid up at Edgartown, Mass., because of the diminishing demand for whale oil caused by a growing use of kerosene in lamps—was purchased by the Union Navy on 1 November 1861 at Edgartown to be sunk as an obstruction in one of the channels approaching Savannah, Georgia, harbor. The vessel was laden with 300 tons of stone and—commanded by W. A. Beard, master—sailed from New Bedford, Mass., on 20 November 1861 with 24 other ships collectively known as the first contingent of stone whalers.
However, when these whalers began to arrive in waters off Savannah, they found the Southern defenders of that port had been alarmed by the Union conquest of Port Royal, S.C., and had decided to evacuate Tybee Island and relocate its batteries to Fort Pulaski. Moreover, to prevent Northern warships from bringing their guns within range of the latter stronghold, they had sunk old hulks in narrow points of the channel and, ironically, had already carried out the mission of Union’s stone bearing whalers.
Consequently, American and most of her consorts sailed for Port Royal on the 10th and 11th, where Flag Officer Samuel F. DuPont decided that these ships could be put to good use as obstructions in the main channel in Charleston [S.C.] harbor. They were moved to that port, and American was sunk in the main channel there on 20 December 1861, five days before Christmas.
James L. Mooney
20 July 1983
