USRC Pawtuxet
Encyclopedia
USRC Pawtuxet was a screw
Propeller
A propeller is a type of fan that transmits power by converting rotational motion into thrust. A pressure difference is produced between the forward and rear surfaces of the airfoil-shaped blade, and a fluid is accelerated behind the blade. Propeller dynamics can be modeled by both Bernoulli's...
steam
Steam engine
A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid.Steam engines are external combustion engines, where the working fluid is separate from the combustion products. Non-combustion heat sources such as solar power, nuclear power or geothermal energy may be...
revenue cutter built for the United States Revenue Marine during the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
.
Pawtuxet appears to have spent her brief career with the Revenue Marine working in and around Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
and Rhode Island
Rhode Island
The state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, more commonly referred to as Rhode Island , is a state in the New England region of the United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area...
. After less than three years as a revenue cutter, she was sold in 1867 due to dissatisfaction with her machinery, and earmarked for merchant service in China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
. Nothing further is known of her career.
Construction and design
Pawtuxet was one of six Pawtuxet-class screw schoonerSchooner
A schooner is a type of sailing vessel characterized by the use of fore-and-aft sails on two or more masts with the forward mast being no taller than the rear masts....
s ordered by the Treasury Department in 1863 for the United States Revenue Marine. The lead ship
Lead ship
The lead ship or class leader is the first of a series or class of ships all constructed according to the same general design. The term is applicable military ships and larger civilian craft.-Overview:...
in her class, she was built in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
by Thomas Stack for the sum of $103,000, and launched on 7 July 1863.
Pawtuxet was 130 feet (39.6 m) long, with a beam
Beam (nautical)
The beam of a ship is its width at the widest point. Generally speaking, the wider the beam of a ship , the more initial stability it has, at expense of reserve stability in the event of a capsize, where more energy is required to right the vessel from its inverted position...
of 26 in 6 in (8.08 m) and both draft and hold depth of 11 feet (3.4 m). Like the other ships of her class, her contract called for a hull
Hull (watercraft)
A hull is the watertight body of a ship or boat. Above the hull is the superstructure and/or deckhouse, where present. The line where the hull meets the water surface is called the waterline.The structure of the hull varies depending on the vessel type...
of oak
Oak
An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus Quercus , of which about 600 species exist. "Oak" may also appear in the names of species in related genera, notably Lithocarpus...
, locust
Black locust
Robinia pseudoacacia, commonly known as the Black Locust, is a tree in the subfamily Faboideae of the pea family Fabaceae. It is native to the southeastern United States, but has been widely planted and naturalized elsewhere in temperate North America, Europe, Southern Africa and Asia and is...
and white oak
White oak
Quercus alba, the white oak, is one of the pre-eminent hardwoods of eastern North America. It is a long-lived oak of the Fagaceae family, native to eastern North America and found from southern Quebec west to eastern Minnesota and south to northern Florida and eastern Texas. Specimens have been...
, strengthened with diagonal iron bracing. Her two-cylinder
Cylinder (engine)
A cylinder is the central working part of a reciprocating engine or pump, the space in which a piston travels. Multiple cylinders are commonly arranged side by side in a bank, or engine block, which is typically cast from aluminum or cast iron before receiving precision machine work...
oscillating engine, built by New York's Novelty Iron Works, drove a single 8-foot (2.4 m) diameter screw propeller
Propeller
A propeller is a type of fan that transmits power by converting rotational motion into thrust. A pressure difference is produced between the forward and rear surfaces of the airfoil-shaped blade, and a fluid is accelerated behind the blade. Propeller dynamics can be modeled by both Bernoulli's...
. Pawtuxets speed is unrecorded but was probably similar to the 12 knots achieved by her sister ship USRC Kankakee
USRC Kankakee
USRC Kankakee was a screw steam revenue cutter built for the United States Revenue Marine during the American Civil War.Kankakee spent most of her brief career with the Revenue Marine operating in and around Charleston, South Carolina; Norfolk, Virginia and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania...
. She was topsail schooner-rigged for auxiliary sail power.
Pawtuxets armament consisted of a single 30-pounder Parrott rifle pivot gun
Pivot gun
A pivot gun was a type of cannon mounted on a fixed central emplacement which permitted it to be moved through a wide horizontal arc. They were a common weapon aboard ships and in land fortifications for several centuries but became obsolete after the invention of gun turrets...
, and five 24-pounder howitzers, one mounted in a pivot aft. She was crewed by a complement of seven officers and 34 enlisted men.
Service history
Soon after completion, Pawtuxet was despatched to Boston, Massachusetts, arriving 29 September 1864, the same day as her sister ship USRC MahoningUSS Woodbury
Four ships in the United States Navy have been named USS Woodbury, after the Supreme Court justice Levi Woodbury.*USRC Woodbury was a revenue cutter, launched in 1837 and sold in 1847...
, against whom it was reported she would be tested in trials. Almost a year later, on 18 September 1865, Pawtuxet ran into the schooner
Schooner
A schooner is a type of sailing vessel characterized by the use of fore-and-aft sails on two or more masts with the forward mast being no taller than the rear masts....
Neptune's Bride, which was at anchor below Boston. The collision turned the schooner on her beam ends
Glossary of nautical terms
This is a glossary of nautical terms; some remain current, many date from the 17th-19th century. See also Wiktionary's nautical terms, :Category:Nautical terms, and Nautical metaphors in English.- A :...
, but with a cargo of cotton
Cotton
Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective capsule, around the seeds of cotton plants of the genus Gossypium. The fiber is almost pure cellulose. The botanical purpose of cotton fiber is to aid in seed dispersal....
, the vessel did not sink and was prepared for towing to the city.
In May 1866, the American Medical Association
American Medical Association
The American Medical Association , founded in 1847 and incorporated in 1897, is the largest association of medical doctors and medical students in the United States.-Scope and operations:...
held its 16th Annual Convention in Boston. On the 8th, the Association organized a harbor excursion for its members on the steamers Rose Standish and Russia, which was attended by the Mayor, the Chief of Police, and other Boston dignitaries. As the steamers passed down the harbor, Pawtuxet fired a salute and hoisted its flag, to which the steamers responded by blowing their whistles, while passengers and spectators alike "lustily cheered" the spectacle.
By October, Pawtuxet appears to have been homeported at Newport, Rhode Island
Newport, Rhode Island
Newport is a city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island, United States, about south of Providence. Known as a New England summer resort and for the famous Newport Mansions, it is the home of Salve Regina University and Naval Station Newport which houses the United States Naval War...
. Pawtuxet at this time was engaged in assisting the Western Union Telegraph Company lay a submarine cable between Holmes Hole, Martha's Vineyard
Martha's Vineyard
Martha's Vineyard is an island located south of Cape Cod in Massachusetts, known for being an affluent summer colony....
, and the mainland at Wood's Hole, Falmouth
Falmouth, Massachusetts
Falmouth is a town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States; Barnstable County is coextensive with Cape Cod. The population was 31,531 at the 2010 census....
. A few months later, in January 1867, Pawtuxet towed to safety the schooner Convoy, which had lost her sails off Cape Cod
Cape Cod
Cape Cod, often referred to locally as simply the Cape, is a cape in the easternmost portion of the state of Massachusetts, in the Northeastern United States...
.
Around this time, the Revenue Marine decided to rid itself of a number of its Pawtuxet-class cutters, on the basis that their engines were too complicated. Accordingly, Pawtuxet was laid up on 31 May 1867 and "dismantled". On 7 August, Pawtuxet was sold at Boston to P. L. Everett for $25,600, who planned to dispatch the vessel for merchant service to China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
. She subsequently disappears from shipping registers.