Naval History and Heritage Command

(Bark: t. 606)

South America, a whaler purchased by the Navy on 9 November 1861 at New London, Conn., was acquired to be sunk as an obstruction in the channel leading to a Confederate port. However, instead of duty in the "stone fleet," she was beached with Peter Demill and Cossack on 8 December 1861 to serve as a wharf during the landing of troops at Tybee Island, Ga., at the mouth of the Savannah River.