Pursuit I (Bark)
The act of pursuing.
I
The first Pursuit, purchased at New York 3 September 1861 was commissioned 17 December 1861, Acting Volunteer Lt. David Cate in command. Assigned to the East Gulf Blockading Squadron, she operated off the Florida coast, with several cruises to Cuba, during the course of the Civil War.
Operating as named, she captured her first prize, the schooner Anna Belle, off Appalachicola 6 March 1862. In April she took the sloop La Fayette (4th) and the steamer Florida (6th), both in St. Joseph's Bay near Pensacola, and on 28 May she ran down the schooner Andromeda off the Cuban coast. On 23 June 1863 she captured the sloop Kate at the mouth of the Indian River and, at the end of December, destroyed two salt works on St. Joseph-s Bay.
Pursuit took her final prizes, the cotton boat Peep O'Day and the British schooner Mary, in the Indian River, 4 December 1864 and 16 March 1865 respectively. At the close of the war she returned to New York where she was decommissioned 5 June 1865 and sold 12 July 1865.
