USS ''R. B. Forbes'' was a steamer acquired by the Union Navy during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

. Originally built in either 1845 or 1846, the vessel saw service as a

tugboat A tugboat or tug is a marine vessel that manoeuvres other vessels by pushing or pulling them, with direct contact or a tow line. These boats typically tug ships in circumstances where they cannot or should not move under their own power, su ...

and briefly a lightship at Boston, Massachusetts. Built by

Otis Tufts Otis Tufts (February 14, 1804 - November 5, 1869) was a machinist and inventor who built printing machines, steam engines, firefighting equipment and invented the steam pile driver. Biography Otis Tufts was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in ...

and named after

Robert Bennet Forbes Captain Robert Bennet Forbes (September 18, 1804 – November 23, 1889), was an American sea captain, China merchant and ship owner. He was active in ship construction, maritime safety, the opium trade, and charitable activities, including food ...

, she was the first iron mercantile vessel built in

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...

. Purchased by the Union Navy in 1861 for $52,500 (), she was converted to a warship and saw action during the Battle of Port Royal on November 7. On February 25, 1862, en route to join the

Mortar Flotilla The Union blockade in the American Civil War was a naval strategy by the United States to prevent the Confederacy from trading. The blockade was proclaimed by President Abraham Lincoln in April 1861, and required the monitoring of of Atlantic ...

, she was wrecked on the Currituck Banks in a storm and was burned to prevent capture.

Construction and characteristics

''R. B. Forbes'' was constructed in 1845 or 1846 at Boston, Massachusetts. A screw steamer used as a

, as well as a wrecking tug, she was long with a

beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy *Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy **Laser beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially localized grou ...

of had a draft of , could go a speed of , and displaced 320 or 329 tons. The vessel's

depth of hold Depth(s) may refer to: Science and mathematics * Three-dimensional space * Depth (ring theory), an important invariant of rings and modules in commutative and homological algebra * Depth in a well, the measurement between two points in an oil w ...

was . Power came from the set of two screw propellers, which were driven by two condensing engines measuring by . The engines were fed by two boilers. Her

hull Hull may refer to: Structures * Chassis, of an armored fighting vehicle * Fuselage, of an aircraft * Hull (botany), the outer covering of seeds * Hull (watercraft), the body or frame of a ship * Submarine hull Mathematics * Affine hull, in affi ...

was made of iron. She was built by shipbuilder and inventor

and named after

, a captain and ship owner who helped originate the concept of the ship. ''R. B. Forbes'' was the first iron mercantile vessel built in

Service career

''R. B. Forbes'' was in service by early January 1846. She was used as a towboat in Boston Harbor, bringing

clipper ship A clipper was a type of mid-19th-century Merchant ship, merchant Sailing ship, sailing vessel, designed for speed. Clippers were generally narrow for their length, small by later 19th century standards, could carry limited bulk freight, and had ...

s into the open ocean. In 1847, when USS ''Jamestown'' began her journey to Ireland to provide relief related to the Great Famine, the organizers of the relief mission watched from aboard ''R. B. Forbes''. In September 1850, she suffered about $100 () of damage in a fire. ''R. B. Forbes'' also briefly saw service as a lightship: from April 18 to May 22, 1851, she was stationed at

Minots Ledge Minot's Ledge, also known as the Cohasset Rocks, is a reef off the harbor of Cohasset, Massachusetts, 15 miles (24 kilometers) southeast of Boston, Massachusetts. It is the site of the Minot's Ledge Light Minot's Ledge Light, officially Minots L ...

while the regularly assigned lightship was en route. She towed the clipper ''Great Republic'' from Boston to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

in 1853. Seven years later, the vessel towed the

schooner A schooner () is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than the mainmast. A common variant, the topsail schoon ...

''Spring Hill'' (later known as ''United States'') to Nantasket Roads in preparation for Isaac Israel Hayes's Arctic expedition. In 1860, the '' Wilmington Daily Herald'' described her as "as sound now as when first built" and compared her favorably to the similar, but wooden, vessel ''Enoch Train''. ''R. B. Forbes'' was not financially successful, and went through several owners. In 1861, the Union Navy purchased the ship for use in the

, at a cost of $52,500 (). The acquisition began on August 17, but was not formalized until September 20. The vessel was commissioned in August. After being outfitted in Boston, ''R. B. Forbes'' left on August 25 under the command of

Acting Acting is an activity in which a story is told by means of its enactment by an actor or actress who adopts a character—in theatre, television, film, radio, or any other medium that makes use of the mimetic mode. Acting involves a broad r ...

Master William G. Gregory for the

Washington Navy Yard The Washington Navy Yard (WNY) is the former shipyard and ordnance plant of the United States Navy in Southeast Washington, D.C. It is the oldest shore establishment of the U.S. Navy. The Yard currently serves as a ceremonial and administrativ ...

, where she spent most of September. The Navy armed her with two 32-pounder cannons and a

rifled In firearms, rifling is machining helical grooves into the internal (bore) surface of a gun's barrel for the purpose of exerting torque and thus imparting a spin to a projectile around its longitudinal axis during shooting to stabilize the proj ...

30-pounder gun. She was manned by a crew of 51. ''R. B. Forbes'' was first assigned to service in the

Chesapeake Bay The Chesapeake Bay ( ) is the largest estuary in the United States. The Bay is located in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region and is primarily separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Delmarva Peninsula (including the parts: the ...

area, but then was ordered to join the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron. Having left to join the blockading squadron in late October, she arrived in time to fight in the Battle of Port Royal on November 7; the battle ended with Union forces capturing Fort Walker and Fort Beauregard from the Confederates. Under the command of

Lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often sub ...

Henry S. Newcomb, the vessel fired 43 artillery rounds at a Confederate

artillery battery In military organizations, an artillery battery is a unit or multiple systems of artillery, mortar systems, rocket artillery, multiple rocket launchers, surface-to-surface missiles, ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, etc., so grouped to fac ...

on land. Newcomb reported that some of the shells fired had issues with jamming in the cannons' barrels. After remaining in the Port Royal area until December, she was towed to New York by the steamboat ''Atlantic'', as she had suffered damage to her port shaft and propeller. After arriving on December 20, she was decommissioned for repairs. After being recommissioned on February 8, 1862, ''R. B. Forbes'' was ordered to journey to join the

, a collection of ships armed with mortars designed to bombard fortifications into submission, near New Orleans, Louisiana. During the way, she was caught in a storm on February 25, off of Nags Head, North Carolina, and driven onto the Currituck Banks. Her propellers were broken during the wreck, and as it was deemed impossible to get her dislodged, she was burned to prevent capture. The ship's crew and salvageable equipment were taken off by .

References

Sources

* * * * * * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:R. B. Forbes Ships of the Union Navy Steamships of the United States Navy Gunboats of the United States Navy American Civil War patrol vessels of the United States Shipwrecks of the Carolina coast Shipwrecks of the American Civil War Maritime incidents in February 1862 Ship fires 1845 ships

Construction and characteristics

Service career

See also

References

Sources