Skip to main content
Naval History and Heritage Command

Naval History and Heritage Command

Related Content
Topic
Document Type
  • Ship History
Wars & Conflicts
File Formats
Location of Archival Materials
South Carolina
(Sch.: t. 187; cpl. 50; a. 12 guns)

South Carolina, the eighth state, ratified the United States Constitution on 23 May 1788.

L'lndien (q.v.), a frigate originally built in Amsterdam for Continental American agents in France during the American Revolution, never served in the Continental Navy. A shortage of funds and diplomatic pressure from the still neutral Dutch government forced the United States Commissioners to transfer the ship to the King of France. She subsequently served the South Carolina Navy as South Carolina.

I

The first South Carolina was a schooner built for the Revenue Cutter Service in 1797 and 1798 at Charleston, S.C., during the Quasi War with France. While she was being fitted out, South Carolina was placed under jurisdiction of the Navy for operation. On 13 December 1798, Captain of a Galley James Payne was ordered to assume command of the schooner, and she cruised in the West Indies, principally off Cuba and Haitim until the summer of 1799. She was returned to the Treasury Department in August, and she was commissioned in the Revenue Cutter Service on 29 August 1799 and remained in that service until 1803.

Published: Thu Sep 10 14:25:27 EDT 2015