USS Pickering was a topsail schooner in the United States Navy

United States Navy

The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

 during the Quasi-War

Quasi-War

The Quasi-War was an undeclared war fought mostly at sea between the United States and French Republic from 1798 to 1800. In the United States, the conflict was sometimes also referred to as the Franco-American War, the Pirate Wars, or the Half-War.-Background:The Kingdom of France had been a...

 with France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

. She was named for Timothy Pickering

Timothy Pickering

Timothy Pickering was a politician from Massachusetts who served in a variety of roles, most notably as the third United States Secretary of State, serving in that office from 1795 to 1800 under Presidents George Washington and John Adams.-Early years:Pickering was born in Salem, Massachusetts to...

, then the Secretary of State

United States Secretary of State

The United States Secretary of State is the head of the United States Department of State, concerned with foreign affairs. The Secretary is a member of the Cabinet and the highest-ranking cabinet secretary both in line of succession and order of precedence...

.

USRC Pickering was built at Newburyport

Newburyport, Massachusetts

Newburyport is a small coastal city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States, 35 miles northeast of Boston. The population was 21,189 at the 2000 census. A historic seaport with a vibrant tourism industry, Newburyport includes part of Plum Island...

, 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...

 in 1798 for the Revenue Cutter Service, Captain Jonathan Chapman, USRCS in command. Taken into the Navy in July at the outbreak of the Quasi-War, she departed Boston on her first cruise 22 August.

Service history

In 1799 and the early part of 1800, she was with Commodore

Commodore (rank)

Commodore is a military rank used in many navies that is superior to a navy captain, but below a rear admiral. Non-English-speaking nations often use the rank of flotilla admiral or counter admiral as an equivalent .It is often regarded as a one-star rank with a NATO code of OF-6, but is not always...

 Barry's squadron in the West Indies. Lieutenant Edward Preble

Edward Preble

Edward Preble was a United States naval officer.-Early life and Revolutionary War:Preble was born at Falmouth, Eastern Massachusetts, now Portland, Maine, 15 August 1761, the son of Gen. Jedidiah Preble. As a boy, his home was destroyed in the burning of Falmouth by British Naval Commander Henry...

 commanded Pickering from January through June 1799, when he was promoted to captain and left to command the frigate .

Pickering was permanently transferred to the Navy on 20 May and redesignated as USS Pickering. Master Commandant

Master Commandant

Master commandant was a rank within the early United States Navy. The rank of master commandant was slightly higher than lieutenant, and a master commandant would often command warships too small to justify the command of a full captain. In the United States Navy, the rank was shortened to...

 Benjamin Hillar, USN, assumed command in June. It was under Hillar's command that Pickering fought a notable engagement with the French privateer

Privateer

A privateer is a private person or ship authorized by a government by letters of marque to attack foreign shipping during wartime. Privateering was a way of mobilizing armed ships and sailors without having to spend public money or commit naval officers...

 L'Egypte Conquise on October 8, 1799. The Frenchman was well fitted out and manned to capture Pickering. Against her fourteen 9-pounders, four 6-pounders, and crew of 250, the cutter had only fourteen 4-pounders and seventy men. But after a nine-hour battle, the larger ship surrendered. Pickering continued to cruise in the West Indies, and before her return to the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 she captured four French privateers, including the Voltigeuse, Atalanta, L'Active and Fly and recaptured the American ship Portland.

She departed Boston 10 June 1800. Ordered to join the squadron of Commodore Thomas Truxton on the Guadeloupe Station, West Indies, she sailed from Newcastle, Delaware

Delaware

Delaware is a U.S. state located on the Atlantic Coast in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It is bordered to the south and west by Maryland, and to the north by Pennsylvania...

on 20 August, but was never heard from again. She is supposed to have been lost with all hands in a gale that September although this is not proven. The exact cause of her disappearance remains a mystery.