USS Magnolia (1854)
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States
|
|
| Laid down: | date unknown |
| Launched: | 22 Aug 1854 |
| Acquired: | 9 April 1862 |
| Commissioned: | 22 July 1862 |
| Decommissioned: | 10 June 1865 |
| Struck: | 1865 (est.) |
| Captured: |
|
| Fate: | sold, 12 July 1865 |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 843 tons |
| Length: | not known |
| Beam: | not known |
| Draught: | 8 ft (2.4 m) |
| Installed power: | Vertical beam steam engine, auxiliary sails |
| Propulsion: | 2 × sidewheels |
| Sail plan: | Schooner-rigged |
| Speed: | 12 knots |
| Complement: | 95 |
| Armament: |
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USS Magnolia (1854) was a steamer captured by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was planned to be used by the Union Navy to patrol navigable waterways of the Confederacy to prevent the South from trading with other countries.
Magnolia, a wooden, seagoing, sidewheel steamer built by J. Simonson of Greenpoint, New York for Charles Morgan's Southern Steamship Company. Launched in 1854, the ship was impressed as a public vessel in New Orleans, Louisiana, 15 January 1862, by Maj. Gen. Mansfield Lovell, CSA, acting for the Confederacy's Secretary of War Judah P. Benjamin. The South’s original plan to arm her as a ram was dropped in favor of turning her into a blockade runner.
In 1858 Floridian cattle man Captain James McKay Sr. of Tampa made a contract with the Morgan Line. This contract allowed McKay to use Magnolia twice a month at a price of $1,500 each run in order to ship cattle to Cuba, making Magnolia the first of many ships to be used in the same way. For this reason, the introduction of Spanish doubloons to Florida can be traced back to the trading trips made by Magnolia.
Magnolia made at least two successful runs to nearby British islands in 1861 carrying large cargoes. On 19 February 1862, while trying to escape from Pass a’ l’Outre in the Gulf of Mexico with a large cargo of cotton and rosin, in a very dense fog, she was captured by Union ships Brooklyn and South Carolina.
After her capture, Magnolia was sent to Key West, Florida, where she was evaluated and condemned. She was purchased 9 April 1862 at New York City, by the Navy Department from the Key West Prize Court. After repairs, she commissioned at New York City 22 July 1862, Lt. William Budd in command.
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Wikipedia