Curlew (steamboat)
US gunboat Curlew; from a sketch by A. R. Waud
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History | |
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United States | |
Name | Curlew |
Owner | Commercial Steamboat Company, Providence Rhode Island, 1856 |
Port of registry | Providence, Rhode Island |
Builder | Samuel Sneden, Greenpoint, New York |
Completed | 1856 |
Fate | Sank in Chesapeake Bay 5 November 1863 after colliding with Louisiana |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Propeller steamer |
Tons burthen | 343 |
Length | 150 ft (46 m) |
Beam | 28 ft (8.5 m) |
Draft | 8 ft (2.4 m) |
Depth | 8.75 ft (2.67 m) |
Propulsion | Propeller, direct acting vertical engine |
Curlew was built in 1856 as a wooden-hulled propeller freight boat for the run between
Merchant service
The 150-foot (46 m) wooden propeller steamer Curlew, was built in 1856 by Samuel Sneden of
Curlew sank off of Point Judith, Rhode Island in May 1859 when a steam pipe burst and she began to fill with water.[3] She was salvaged and a new boiler and engine were installed in 1860.[2]
Civil War service
Curlew was purchased for $44,000 by the
Curlew was chartered by the Quartermaster's Department in October 1862 and voyaged as far as New Orleans, Louisiana under Captain H.N. Parrish.[6]
In the panic over the commerce raider CSS Tacony, Curlew was again chartered in June 1863 for use as a gunboat, this time by the Navy Department.[7] She was returned in October of that year.
Final voyage
Back in commercial service Curlew inaugurated a freight service between New York and
Notes on tonnage
Curlew was listed in the Custom House Register in Providence at 34349⁄95 tons burden. The register dimensions shown in the box also result in that number when entered in the contemporary tonnage equation. The New York Marine Register and the succeeding American Lloyds Register both show 380 tons. The Navy appears to quote 380 tons from those registers. In February 1862 the registration was changed to New York and the tonnage remeasured at 55783⁄95.[2]
Other vessels
A ferryboat Curlew of 392 tons, which was built in 1853, was purchased by the Quartermaster's Department for use during the Civil War.
References
- ^ "American Lloyd's Register of American and Foreign Shipping", 1861.
- ^ a b c "Ship Registers & Enrollments of Providence, R.I.", Survey of Federal Archives, 1941.
- ^ "Loss of a Providence Propeller". The Repository. 18 May 1859.
- ^ "Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion", Series II - Vol. 1, p. 69.
- ^ "Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion", Series I - Vol. 12, p. 354.
- ^ "News from Key West". New York Times. 12 Jan 1863. p. 1.
- ^ "The Pirates and the Navy". New York Times. 16 June 1863. p. 8.
- ^ "The Collision between the Steamers". Baltimore Sun. 9 November 1863. p. 1.