Henry Janes (Mortar Schooner)
1862-1865
The Navy retained the name carried by this vessel at the time of her acquisition.
(Mortar Schooner: tonnage 260; length 109'9"; beam 29'8"; depth of hold 9'; armament l 13-inch mortar, 2 32-pounder)
The schooner Henry Janes was purchased by the Navy from her owners, Van Brunt & Slaght, at New York, N.Y., on 27 September 1861, and was commissioned at the New York Navy Yard, Brooklyn, N.Y., on 30 January 1862, Acting Master L. W. Pennington commanding.
Chosen by the department to be a part of Cmdr. David D. Porter’s Mortar Flotilla, Henry Janes was fitted with a 13-inch mortar and proceeded to rendezvous with the other vessels under Porter’s command at Key West, Florida. With the flotilla formed by the end of February, it sailed to join the West Gulf Blockading Squadron for the Mississippi River operations specifically aimed at the capture of New Orleans, Louisiana.
Henry Janes and the other ships passed over the bar and into the Mississippi River on 18 March 1862 in preparation for the attack on Forts Jackson and St. Phillip. Below New Orleans, the mortars opened fire on the forts on 18 April and kept up a steady and devastating bombardment until Flag Officer David G. Farragut passed with his fleet on 24 April, defeated the Confederate Squadron, and steamed triumphantly to New Orleans. The loss of this great shipping center, largest and wealthiest city in the South, was a disaster from which the South had no hope of recovery.
After thus aiding in the key victory at New Orleans, the mortar schooners returned to Ship Island, Miss., on 6 May 1862. There they remained until they were called upon to aid in the bombardment of another Confederate stronghold--Vicksburg. Arriving below the city on 20 June, Henry Janes and the other ships supported Farragut with their fire as he passed the batteries on 28 June to join with Como. Charles H. Davis farther up the river. The ships remained off Vicksburg in July and Henry Janes bombarded the city’s defenses on the 15th, before proceeding downriver, engaging shore batteries as she went.
Assigned to the blockading forces off the coast of Texas, the schooner’s next action, at Sabine Pass, was against Confederate batteries near Sabine City. The Union vessels entered the pass on 21 September 1862 and forced the defenders to evacuate their fortifications four days later. Although Sabine City was captured, the Union could dominate only the waters in the area as no occupying troops were available. Henry Janes returned to blockading duties, with occasional boat expeditions into the innumerable passes and inlets of the Texas coast. On one such expedition, 20 November 1862, an entire boat crew from the schooner was captured by Confederates at Matagorda Bay.
For the next 18 months, Henry Janes performed blockade and gunfire duties at various stations of the West Gulf Blockading Squadron. She was below Port Hudson in June 1863 and from February to May 1864 operated off Fort Powell, near Mobile, and Pensacola, Florida. She was sent to New York on 5 May 1864 for repairs to her hull and replacement of her mortar. The ship was subsequently turned over to the ordnance department on 8 August, and assigned to the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron as an ordnance vessel.
Henry Janes sailed from New York on 30 August 1864 to report in the sounds of North Carolina on ordnance duty. She remained there until sent north in June 1865, decommissioned on 12 July 1865, she was sold to George Burnham, Jr., on 20 July 1865 at Portsmouth, N.H.
Updated, Robert J. Cressman
20 October 2020
