Original page can be found at the Naval Historical Center homepage
USS Niagara
Fort
Niagara
was captured from the British by American forces 28 November 1812.
II
(StFr: dp. 5,540; l. 328’10”;
b. 55’; dr. 24’5”; cpl. 251; a. 12 11” D. sb.)
The second Niagara, a steam
frigate, was launched by New York Navy Yard 23 February 1855; sponsored by Miss
Annie C. O’Donnell; and commissioned 6 April 1857, Captain William L. Hudson in
command.
Niagara
sailed from New
York 22 April 1857
for England,
arriving Gravesend
14 May. Here she was equipped to lay cable for the first transatlantic
telegraph, which was to follow the shallow tableland discovered between Newfoundland
and Ireland
by Matthew F. Maury. By 11 August, when a break in the cable defied recovery,
she had laid several hundred miles westward from Valentia
Bay, Ireland.
She returned to New York
20 November and decommissioned 2 December to prepare for a second essay at
cable-laying. Recommissioning 24
February 1858, Captain William L. Hudson in command,
she sailed 8 March, arrived Plymouth,
England,
28 March, and experimented with HMS Agamemnon. The ships returned to Plymouth
to fit out, then made a mid-ocean rendezvous 29 July, spliced their cable ends,
and each sailed toward her own continent. On 5 August, Niagara’s
boats carried the end of the cable ashore at Brills
Mouth Island, Newfoundland,
and the same day Agamemnon landed her end of the cable. The first
message flashed across 16 August, when Queen Victoria
sent a cable to President James Buchanan. This first cable operated for three
weeks; ultimate success came in 1866.
Niagara’s
next mission was one of profound humanity, carrying 200
Africans liberated from slave brig Echo off Cuba
by brig Dolphin 21 August to Liberia.
She sailed with them from Charleston
20 September, reached Monrovia
9 November, and returned to New
York 11 December, decommissioning
there 17 December.
Niagara
recommissioned 14 May 1860, Captain William
W. McKean in command. Another unique assignment awaited; she was to carry Japan’s
first diplomatic mission to the United
States from Washington
to New York,
and then home. Leaving New York 30 June, Niagara called in Porto Grande,
Cape Verde Islands; Sao Paulo-de-Loande (now Luanda), Angola; Batavia (now
Djakarta), Java; and Hong Kong. The frigate entered Tokyo Bay 8 November to
land her distinguished passengers, then sailed 27 November for Hong
Kong, Aden,
and Capetown, returning Boston
23 April 1861
to learn of the outbreak of the Civil War.
Quickly preparing for duty on the
blockade of southern ports, Niagara
arrived off Charleston,
S. C., 10 May and two days later captured blockade runner General Parkhill attempting
to make Charleston
from Liverpool.
Through the summer she gave similar service at Mobile
Bay,
and was at Fort Pickens,
Fla.,
22 September when Flag Officer McKean in Niagara
took command of the East Gulf Blockading Squaron. She
engaged Confederate defenses at Fort
McRea,
Pensacola,
and Warrington
22 November, and was hulled twice above the waterline. On 5 June 1862
she sailed for repairs at Boston Navy Yard, where she decommissioned
16 June. Recommissioned 14
October 1863, Niagara
steamed from New York
1 June 1864
to watch over Confederate warships then fitting out in Europe.
She reached her base, Antwerp, 26 June, and from there roved the English
Channel, the French Atlantic Coast and the Bay of Biscay. On 15 August she took
steamer Georgia, a former Confederate warship, off Portugal. In February
and March, with Sacramento she lay at El Ferrol, Spain, to prevent
Confederate ironclad Stonewall from departing, but the much more powerful
southern ship was able to make good her escape.
Niagara patrolled
with the European Squadron through 29 August when she cleared Cadiz for
Boston, arriving 20 September. There she decommissioned 28 September, remaining
in the Boston Navy Yard until sold 6 May 1885.
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suggestions kindly
received by the editor at
kaighin@iname.com
Copyright 2004, 2005, Gregory D.
Kaighin, All rights reserved
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