USS James Adger
USS James Adger, capturing the Emily St. Pierre off Charleston, 18 March 1862
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History | |
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United States | |
Name | SS James Adger |
Owner | James Adger & Co. |
Route | Charleston, South Carolina – New York City |
Builder | William H. Webb |
Completed | 1851 |
Fate | Seized at the outset of the Civil War, 1861 |
United States | |
Name | USS James Adger |
Acquired | By purchase, 20 July 1861 |
Commissioned | 20 September 1861 |
Decommissioned | 1865 |
Fate | Sold, 9 October 1866 |
General characteristics | |
Type | Sidewheel steamer |
Displacement | 1,152 long tons (1,170 t) |
Length | 215 ft (66 m) |
Beam | 33 ft 6 in (10.21 m) |
Depth of hold | 21 ft 3 in (6.48 m) |
Installed power |
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Sail plan | Auxiliary sails |
Speed | 11 kn (13 mph; 20 km/h) |
Complement | 120 officers and enlisted |
Armament | 8 × 32-pounder guns, 1 × 20-pounder Parrott rifle |
USS James Adger was a sidewheel steamer in the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She retained her former name.
Before being pressed into service by the United States Navy, the SS James Adger was a United States Mail Steamship operating between Charleston, South Carolina and New York City, New York. Owned by James Adger II (James Adger & Co) of Charleston, she was seized while in New York City at the outset of the Civil War and converted for military duty by the Union Navy. There is at least one instance in which the USS James Adger was used to transport a slave, 35-year-old "Margarette," from Charleston to New York. Her owners or shippers were Thomas P. Tainter and John Dickinson; the steamer arrived in NY on 7 July 1852 (see Slave Manifests for the Port of NY, 1822–1852, National Archives Catalog).
James Adger was built at New York City by William H. Webb in 1851. Her 240 hp (180 kW) side-lever engine was supplied by the Allaire Iron Works.[1]
James Adger was purchased at New York for the sum of $85,000
Civil War service
The Trent Affair, 1861
James Adger departed New York on 16 October 1861 in pursuit of the
While in port, the captain of James Adger began the legal questions that would be used in the Trent Affair by loudly speaking of his mission while intoxicated on brandy. Earl Russell would hear of his mission and set the Law offices of the Crown to work deciding on the status of diplomats as a form of contraband.
South Atlantic Blockading Squadron, 1861-1863
James Adger arrived
At Charleston, smooth teamwork was the key to success, and James Adger was unusually adept in cooperating with other ships in the area to assure the effectiveness of the blockade. As senior ship, she usually remained on station while others chased
James Adger sailed for Baltimore on 19 September for repairs and departed for the South on 31 December touching at Hampton Roads on 2 January 1863 to take monitor Montauk in tow before proceeding to Beaufort and Port Royal in preparation for an attack on Charleston. Arriving Port Royal on 19 January, the ships learned that Nashville, now a privateer called Rattlesnake, was in the Ogeechee River. James Adger stood out of Port Royal, monitor Montauk in tow on 22 January and steamed to Ossabaw Sound, where she arrived two days later. Montauk ascended the Ogeechee independently to begin operations which resulted in the destruction of Rattlesnake on 28 February. Meanwhile, James Adger — her vital towing service completed — returned to Port Royal on 29 January.
On 2 April, the veteran ship became
Back in Port Royal on 16 May, James Adger was assigned blockade duty off Charleston. A month later, she was recalled to Port Royal to embark prisoners captured with Atlanta for passage to Fort Monroe, whence she steamed to Philadelphia for repairs. She arrived Philadelphia 25 June but immediately after coaling sailed in pursuit of Confederate commerce railer CSS Tacony, then operating against Union merchantmen far up the East Coast. She arrived New York on 3 July.
North Atlantic Blockading Squadron, 1863
Four days later, James Adger — not yet repaired — received orders to
Without the normal overhaul periods due ships and men, service was taking a daily toll in wear and tear. When the ship's long postponed repairs could be delayed no longer, James Adger sailed north and decommissioned at Philadelphia on 28 December for the necessary yard work.
South Atlantic Blockading Squadron, Caribbean, 1864-1865
After recommissioning on 17 June 1864, James Adger served in the
James Adger decommissioned at New York Navy Yard on 2 May and was sold at New York to James B. Campbell on 9 October.
As of 2005, no other ship in the United States Navy has been named James Adger.
Footnotes
- ^ Bauer and Roberts, p. 87.
- ^ "To The Projectors Of Steam Companies", Daily Southern Cross, 1866-08-20, p. 4.
References
- Bauer, Karl Jack and Roberts, Stephen S. (1991): Register of Ships of the U.S. Navy, 1775-1990: Major Combatants, Greenwood Publishing Group, ISBN 978-0-313-26202-9.
- This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
External links
- Photo gallery at Naval Historical Center