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Naval History and Heritage Command

Naval History and Heritage Command

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Jasmine (Tug)

1863-1866

A genus of shrubs of the olive family noted for their fragrant blossoms.

(Tug: tonnage 120; length 79'; beam 18'3"; draft 7'6"; complement 19; armament 1 20-pounder Parrott rifle, 1 12-pounder howitzer)

The wooden tug Peter B. Van Houten was purchased at New York from Palmer, Crary, & John Reid, on 29 May 1863. Renamed Jasmine, she was commissioned at the New York Navy Yard, Brooklyn, N.Y., on 17 June 1863, Acting Master A. L. B. Zerega in command.

Assigned to the West Gulf Blockading Squadron, Jasmine sailed for the Gulf of Mexico on 21 June 1863. On 14 July, she captured the sloop Relampago with an assorted cargo, including supplies of critical copper boiler tubing, and towed her to Key West, Florida. For the remainder of the war the tireless tug served as a supply and dispatch vessel maintaining communications between the various ships of the squadron. The end of hostilities found her at Pensacola, Fla., where she remained providing varied services while the squadron demobilized and the Navy resumed peacetime operations.

Jasmine steamed north early in 1866 and decommissioned at New York on 12 May. She was sold to the Treasury Department on 13 June 1866.

Updated, Robert J. Cressman

24 September 2020

Published: Thu Sep 24 11:19:48 EDT 2020