USS James S. Chambers (1861)

USS ''James S. Chambers'' was a schooner acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was used by the Union Navy as a gunboat in support of the Union Navy blockade of Confederate waterways.

Naming

The Navy named the ship after James S. Chambers. He was appointed Navy agent for the Port of Philadelphia on August 10, 1861, by U.S. President Abraham Lincoln. He was already a co-owner and editor of the ''Philadelphia Bulletin'' (then known as the ''Evening Bulletin'').
In 1860, one partner sold out and, with increased ownership, the co-owners voted Chambers publisher, a position he held at least as late as 1878 (also listed as publisher of the ''Philadelphia Day''). Chambers was an unabashed support of Lincoln not only due to his own position as Navy agent but also because his aged father had been made superintendent of warehouses for the Philadelphia customs service.

Service history

''James S. Chambers'' was a three-masted schooner purchased by the Navy at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 4 September 1861; and commissioned at Philadelphia Navy Yard 16 December, Lt. Dennis Condry in command. The schooner sailed from Philadelphia 6 days later and joined the Gulf Blockading Squadron at Ship Island, Mississippi, 23 January 1862. Her diligent service in the Gulf of Mexico and off the Florida coast was first rewarded on 23 August when she captured blockade-running schooner ''Corelia'' with a cargo of supplies badly needed by the South. Two days later she took Confederate steamer ''Union'' attempting to escape with a cargo of 350 bales of cotton.

''James S. Chambers'' scored again on 4 March 1863—the second anniversary of Lincoln's inauguration—when men from her whaleboats boarded and took Spanish sloop ''Relampago'' with a cargo of coffee, liquors, and soldiers shoes. The triumph was capped late that afternoon when a sail was sighted to the south standing in for land. The unidentified ship ignored a shot across her bow and continued to race for the beach without showing any colors. The Union schooner continued the chase firing at her quarry until she ran aground. The following morning men from ''James S. Chambers'' boarded the wreck, a schooner of pilot boat-build, and identified her as ''Ida''. They removed several boatloads of cargo before setting her afire. A final prize came on 18 June 1863 when the vigilant blockader captured schooner ''Rebekah''.

A period of almost a year's blockading duty stationed at West Pass, St. George's Sound, Florida, ensued. On 12 May 1864 boats from ''James S. Chambers'' and drove off a body of Confederate sailors embarking on a boat expedition ordered to capture the Union's side-wheel steamer . In August 1864 ''James S. Chambers'' encountered a new enemy: yellow fever. The epidemic forced her to return to Philadelphia after taking the lives of 13 sailors and 3 officers. Only two or three members of her crew escaped the disease. On New Year's Day 1865 the indomitable ship was back in action with the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron stationed at Bull's Bay, South Carolina She was in the joint expeditionary force which attacked the rear of Charleston, South Carolina, 12 February. A fortnight later, her boat crews raided and destroyed extensive Confederate salt works and stockpiles at Palmetto Point, South Carolina.

Toward the end of the war ''James 8. Chambers'' served as a quarantine vessel at Port Royal, South Carolina. She sailed for the North 27 July and decommissioned 31 August. ''James S. Chambers'' was sold at public auction in New York City to Mr. Rhinehart 27 September 1865.

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External sources

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Ships of the Union Navy
Gunboats of the United States Navy
Schooners of the United States Navy
American Civil War patrol vessels of the United States