The first USS Relief was a supply ship 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...

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Relief was laid down in 1835 at the Philadelphia Navy Yard and launched on 14 September 1836. Designed by Samuel Humphreys

Samuel Humphreys

Samuel Humphreys was a noted U.S. naval architect in the early 19th century.- Naval architect :Samuel Humphreys constructed ships at the Philadelphia Navy Yard. He built the USS Franklin in 1815...

, she was built along merchant vessel lines and included trysail mast and gaffsail on all three masts to enable her to work to windward in strong winds. Her hull was pierced for 16 small guns, but she usually carried only four to six 18-pounder and two 12-pounders.

United States Exploring Expedition

In early December 1836, Relief, commanded by Lieutenant Thomas A. Dornin, left Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...

 for Norfolk, Virginia

Norfolk, Virginia

Norfolk is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. With a population of 242,803 as of the 2010 Census, it is Virginia's second-largest city behind neighboring Virginia Beach....

 to join the ships assigned to the United States South Sea Surveying and Exploring Expedition. However, that expedition, held up by lack of money, ships, equipment, and trained personnel - and by administrative feuding since its first authorization in 1828 - continued to be delayed until the summer of 1838. During her 19-month wait, Relief remained at Norfolk or engaged in runs along the east coast.

On 19 August 1838, the squadron, commanded by Lt. Charles Wilkes

Charles Wilkes

Charles Wilkes was an American naval officer and explorer. He led the United States Exploring Expedition, 1838-1842 and commanded the ship in the Trent Affair during the American Civil War...

, cleared Hampton Roads

Hampton Roads

Hampton Roads is the name for both a body of water and the Norfolk–Virginia Beach metropolitan area which surrounds it in southeastern Virginia, United States...

 and set a course for Rio de Janeiro

Rio de Janeiro

Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...

. Sailing with the prevailing winds - westerlies and northeast trades - their planned course took them across the Atlantic to Madeira

Madeira

Madeira is a Portuguese archipelago that lies between and , just under 400 km north of Tenerife, Canary Islands, in the north Atlantic Ocean and an outermost region of the European Union...

; then straight to Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

. However, Relief, under Lt. A. K. Long, proved to be a slow sailer. She soon fell behind and was detached with orders to rejoin the other five vessels in the Cape Verde Islands. The rendezvous was accomplished in early October and the squadron sailed for Brazil. Relief, the last to arrive, reached Rio on 26 November.

On 6 January 1839, the squadron sailed for the Río Negro and Cape Horn

Cape Horn

Cape Horn is the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile, and is located on the small Hornos Island...

. Relief, bypassing the former where surveys were conducted, rounded the Cape and reached Orange Harbor, on the Hardy Peninsula

Hardy Peninsula

Peninsula Hardy is a peninsula at one of the most southerly extremes of South America. It is the southern landform which extends into the Drake Passage to make the Bahia Nassau. It is part of a large island called Hoste, next to Isla Navarino and Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego...

, Hoste Island, on the 30th. There for almost three weeks, her crew kept hourly registers of the tides, placed navigation lights, and cut wood. On 18 February, the others arrived and toward the end of the month they were dispersed on various missions. Two followed James Weddell

James Weddell

James Weddell was a British sailor, navigator and seal hunter who in the early Spring of 1823 sailed to latitude of 74°15' S and into a region of the Southern Ocean that later became known as the Weddell Sea.-Early life:He entered the merchant service very...

's course to Antarctica; others traced James Cook

James Cook

Captain James Cook, FRS, RN was a British explorer, navigator and cartographer who ultimately rose to the rank of captain in the Royal Navy...

's path. Relief was ordered north to the Straits of Magellan, via the Cockburn Channel, to survey harbors in the straits. Caught in storms, however, she was unable to penetrate the channel and, in mid-March, was almost wrecked off Noir Island

Noir Island

Noir Island is an island, belonging to Chile, located west of Tierra del Fuego at -54.468441,-73.02063. Cabo Noir is the south-west cape of Isla Noir....

. The loss of her anchor during her battle with the sea off Noir, prohibited further attempts to enter the channel and she headed for Valparaíso

Valparaíso

Valparaíso is a city and commune of Chile, center of its third largest conurbation and one of the country's most important seaports and an increasing cultural center in the Southwest Pacific hemisphere. The city is the capital of the Valparaíso Province and the Valparaíso Region...

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On 15 April she entered the anchorage to make repairs and await the remainder of the squadron which by mid-May was reunited. In June, they moved on to Callao

Callao

Callao is the largest and most important port in Peru. The city is coterminous with the Constitutional Province of Callao, the only province of the Callao Region. Callao is located west of Lima, the country's capital, and is part of the Lima Metropolitan Area, a large metropolis that holds almost...

, where the ships were refitted and replenished. When Relief was unloaded and smoked, her dead rats filled three barrels.

Because of her slowness, Relief was ordered to proceed from Callao to Sydney

Sydney

Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

, then sail home - carrying the sick and malcontents with her. Sailing in mid-July, she spent two weeks in the Sandwich Islands (Hawaiian Islands

Hawaiian Islands

The Hawaiian Islands are an archipelago of eight major islands, several atolls, numerous smaller islets, and undersea seamounts in the North Pacific Ocean, extending some 1,500 miles from the island of Hawaii in the south to northernmost Kure Atoll...

) and three months after leaving Peru

Peru

Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....

, put into Sydney. She discharged her remaining cargo, took on water, wood, and rock ballast and headed east. En route home, she again doubled Cape Horn and on 28 March 1840 she reached 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...

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Further service

At the end of the year, Relief, repaired and overhauled, sailed again for the Pacific, where she remained for five years operating primarily off the west coast of South America

South America

South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...

. She returned to New York in April 1846. In May, war with Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

 broke out; and, in July, Relief joined the Home Squadron

Home Squadron

The Home Squadron was part of the United States Navy in the mid-19th century. Organized as early as 1838, ships were assigned to protect coastal commerce, aid ships in distress, suppress piracy and the slave trade, make coastal surveys, and train ships to relieve others on distant stations...

. From then until June 1848, she cruised in the Gulf of Mexico

Gulf of Mexico

The Gulf of Mexico is a partially landlocked ocean basin largely surrounded by the North American continent and the island of Cuba. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States, on the southwest and south by Mexico, and on the southeast by Cuba. In...

, attempting to maintain a steady supply line to the ships engaged in the blockade of the Mexican coast despite the distance to supply bases and the scarcity of ships of her type.

In July 1848, Relief returned to New York and in the fall sailed from Norfolk for the Brazil Station. The following spring, she was back at Norfolk, but, with the autumn, she headed east. She operated in the Mediterranean Sea

Mediterranean Sea

The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...

 until she returned to the United States in July 1850, and engaged in resupply runs to Brazil until placed out of commission for overhaul 20 November 1855. She recommissioned 19 February 1856 and resumed her runs to the Brazil Station and continued them through 1857.

In late 1858 she rejoined the Home Squadron and cruised in the Gulf of Mexico. In 1861, she crossed the Atlantic again, resupplied the African Squadron and, with the outbreak of 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...

, returned to the United States to resupply the ships of the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron. In July 1862, she returned to the Gulf of Mexico and, until the fall of 1863, served primarily as station store ship at Ship Island in Mississippi Sound

Mississippi Sound

The Mississippi Sound is a sound along the Gulf Coast of the United States. It runs east-west along the southern coasts of Mississippi and Alabama, from Waveland, Mississippi, to the Dauphin Island Bridge, a distance of about 145 kilometers...

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Then ordered to Boston, Massachusetts for overhaul, she was decommissioned 5 December 1863. Recommissioned 29 April 1864, she was ordered back to the Pacific. In July she delivered supplies at Rio de Janeiro, whence she continued on 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...

, arriving at the Portuguese

Portugal

Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

 colony of Macau

Macau

Macau , also spelled Macao , is, along with Hong Kong, one of the two special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China...

 in December. After service on the Asiatic Station, she returned to New York in late 1866 and was placed in ordinary. In 1871 she was ordered to Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

, where she served as receiving ship until 1877. The following year she was laid up, at Washington, and on 27 September 1883 she was sold to J. B. Agnew.