Marcy, 1853

Feb. 14, 2021
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Marcy, 1853


TYPE/RIG/CLASS: Cushing Class, 1853

BUILDER: J. M. Hood, Somerset, MA

LAUNCHED:

COMPLETED:

DISPOSITION: To Coast Survey, 1862

DISPLACEMENT (tons): 152 (CUSHING), 174 (DOBBIN)

DIMENSIONS:

RIG:    Topsail Schooner

COMPLEMENT: 13, + Officers

ARMAMENT:    1 30-pdr rifle (CAMPBELL, 1861); 1 32-pdr, 1 12-pdr (CUSHING, 1863); 1 32-pdr (DOBBIN, 1861)


DESIGN: 

These vessels were significantly larger than those built in the same year by Page and Allen.  They were also quite different from the JOE LANE and class; about 10 feet shorter on deck and 2 feet deeper in the hold.  (The photograph in the book of the CAMPBELL) shows that she had more freeboard than the JOE LANE had.  This extra freeboard may have been the result of rebuilding, but she also exhibits considerably less rake in her stem, a characteristic less easily changed in refittings.  Note: The CUSHING Class vessels were named after members of the Franklin Pierce administration: James Campbell, postmaster general; Caleb Cushing, attorney general; Jefferson Davis, secretary of war; James C. Dobbin, secretary of the Navy; William A. Marcy, secretary of state; Robert McCelland, secretary of the interior.


History:

Sent to San Francisco, California shortly after her completion, she was at Port Townsend, Washington, in 1861 and transferred to the Coast Survey in March, 1862.


Sources:

Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.  Washington, DC: USGPO.

Donald Canney.  U.S. Coast Guard and Revenue Cutters, 1790-1935.  Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1995.

U.S. Coast Guard.  Record of Movements: Vessels of the United States Coast Guard: 1790 - December 31, 1933.  Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1934; 1989 (reprint).