The first USS ''Adirondack'' was a large and powerful screw-assisted

sloop of war In the 18th century and most of the 19th, a sloop-of-war in the Royal Navy was a warship with a single gun deck that carried up to eighteen guns. The rating system covered all vessels with 20 guns and above; thus, the term ''sloop-of-war'' enc ...

with heavy guns, contracted by the

Union Navy ), (official) , colors = Blue and gold , colors_label = Colors , march = , mascot = , equipment = , equipment_label ...

early in 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 ...

. She was intended for use by the Union Navy as a

warship A warship or combatant ship is a naval ship that is built and primarily intended for naval warfare. Usually they belong to the armed forces of a state. As well as being armed, warships are designed to withstand damage and are usually faster a ...

in support of the Union Navy blockade of

Confederate Confederacy or confederate may refer to: States or communities * Confederate state or confederation, a union of sovereign groups or communities * Confederate States of America, a confederation of secessionist American states that existed between 1 ...

waterways. Her career with the Navy proved to be short, yet active and historically important. USS ''Adirondack'' was one of four sister ships which included the , and .

Construction and design

''Adirondack'' was built at the

New York Navy Yard The Brooklyn Navy Yard (originally known as the New York Navy Yard) is a shipyard and industrial complex located in northwest Brooklyn in New York City, New York (state), New York. The Navy Yard is located on the East River in Wallabout Bay, a ...

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, New York. Her machinery, consisting of two cylinder, stroke horizontal back-acting steam engines and two Martin's patent boilers, powering a single screw propeller, was constructed by the

Novelty Iron Works The Novelty Iron Works was an ironworking firm founded to make boilers in New York City. Located at 12th street, New York. The founder was the Rev. Eliphalet Nott President of Union College of Schenectady, New York. Eliphalet Nott had invented ...

of New York City. The engines were fitted with a Sewall's tonface condenser and a distilling apparatus, capable of producing of water in a 24-hour period. ''Adirondack'' was laid down in 1861; launched on 22 February 1862; sponsored by Ms. Mary Paulding, a daughter of

Flag Officer A flag officer is a commissioned officer in a nation's armed forces senior enough to be entitled to fly a flag to mark the position from which the officer exercises command. The term is used differently in different countries: *In many countr ...

Hiram Paulding Hiram Paulding (December 11, 1797 – October 20, 1878) was a rear admiral in the United States Navy, who served from the War of 1812 until after the Civil War. Naval career The son of John Paulding, Paulding was born in Cortlandt, New York. He w ...

, the Commandant of the New York Navy Yard; named for the

Adirondack Mountains The Adirondack Mountains (; a-də-RÄN-dak) form a massif in northeastern New York with boundaries that correspond roughly to those of Adirondack Park. They cover about 5,000 square miles (13,000 km2). The mountains form a roughly circular ...

, and commissioned on 30 June 1862,

Commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countries this naval rank is termed frigate captain. ...

Guert Gansevoort in command.

Civil War

Although ''Adirondack'' was originally slated for duty in the

West Gulf Blockading Squadron The Union blockade in the American Civil War was a naval strategy by the United States to prevent the Confederate States of America, Confederacy from trading. The blockade was proclaimed by President Abraham Lincoln in April 1861, and required ...

, events in the

Bahamas The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to ...

changed her fate. Before she sailed for the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an oceanic basin, ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of ...

, news reached Washington, D.C. that the British-built screw steamer ''Oreto'' — later known as the CSS ''Florida'' — had arrived at the island of

New Providence New Providence is the most populous island in the Bahamas, containing more than 70% of the total population. It is the location of the national capital city of Nassau, whose boundaries are coincident with the island; it had a population of 246 ...

and, although constructed under the pretext of being a merchantman destined for service under the Italian Government, was in reality a cruiser which was then being fitted out as a Confederate commerce raider. Thus, on 11 July,

Secretary of the Navy The secretary of the Navy (or SECNAV) is a statutory officer () and the head (chief executive officer) of the Department of the Navy, a military department (component organization) within the United States Department of Defense. By law, the se ...

(SecNav)

Gideon Welles Gideon Welles (July 1, 1802 – February 11, 1878), nicknamed "Father Neptune", was the United States Secretary of the Navy from 1861 to 1869, a cabinet post he was awarded after supporting Abraham Lincoln in the 1860 election. Although opposed ...

ordered Gansevoort to proceed in ''Adirondack'' to the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...

to investigate the report.

''Adirondack'' sails for the Bahamas, captures ''Emma''

The new Union screw-

departed New York City on 17 July and headed for the Bahamas. Six days out, she chanced upon a

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 ...

and, after a two-hour chase, boarded the stranger which proved to be a

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

-built vessel named which was operating out of

Nassau, Bahamas Nassau ( ) is the capital and largest city of the Bahamas. With a population of 274,400 as of 2016, or just over 70% of the entire population of the Bahamas, Nassau is commonly defined as a primate city, dwarfing all other towns in the country. ...

, under a British colonial register. Since the schooner's master had only recently arrived in the West Indies in command of the blockade runner ''Ann E. Barry'', and since ''Emma'' was laden with ". . . articles of great need in the so-called Confederate States," Gansevoort sent her to

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, under a

prize crew A prize crew is the selected members of a ship chosen to take over the operations of a captured ship. Prize crews were required to take their prize to appropriate prize courts, which would determine whether the ship's officers and crew had sufficie ...

. Two days later, on the morning of the 25th, when in sight of Nassau but still ". . . beyond the territorial jurisdiction of . . . the British Empire," Gansevoort ". . . discovered shortly after daylight a steamer standing in for Nassau." He again gave chase and fired upon the fleeing ship; but, this time, his quarry's speed enabled her to reach the neutral port safely.

British authorities protest chase of ''Herald''

Some two hours later, a boat from the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

pulled alongside ''Adirondack'' as she approached Nassau and delivered a letter to the American steamer protesting her role in the recent chase and informing Gansevoort that the elusive steamer was named ''Herald'' and had been"... struck two or three times with shot ... " during the action. Shortly thereafter, ''Adirondack'' anchored in the roadstead off Nassau harbor, and Gansevoort sent ''Greyhound''s

commanding officer The commanding officer (CO) or sometimes, if the incumbent is a general officer, commanding general (CG), is the officer in command of a military unit. The commanding officer has ultimate authority over the unit, and is usually given wide latitu ...

a written reply to the protest, justifying his course of action. He then went ashore where he learned that ''Herald'' — commanded by " ... the notorious rebel Coxetter, formerly captain of the rebel privateer ''Jeff. Davis''" — had returned from

Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston metropolitan area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint o ...

, laden with cotton after delivering a cargo of ammunition to that Confederate port.

''Adirondack'' reports on legal status of the raider

Since ''Adirondack'' had encountered extremely severe weather during her passage out from New York, she remained at Nassau for three days undergoing voyage repairs and replenishing her coal bunkers. Gansevoort took advantage of his ship's stay in port to learn of conditions there before sailing for the

Virginia Capes The Virginia Capes are the two capes, Cape Charles to the north and Cape Henry to the south, that define the entrance to Chesapeake Bay on the eastern coast of North America. In 1610, a supply ship learned of the famine at Jamestown when it l ...

on 28 July. Upon arriving at

Hampton Roads, Virginia Hampton Roads is the name of both a body of water in the United States that serves as a wide channel for the James, Nansemond and Elizabeth rivers between Old Point Comfort and Sewell's Point where the Chesapeake Bay flows into the Atlantic O ...

, on 4 August, he reported that ''Oreto'' was indeed a Confederate cruiser, but that she was then

"... in charge of a prize crew from the ''Greyhound'', and proceedings have been instituted in the admiralty court of the Bahamas for her condemnation for a violation of the foreign enlistment act of Great Britain ..."

His dispatch to Washington also stated that sentiment in the Bahamas was strongly in favor of the South. Thus the outcome of the judicial action against the

— which would later be freed and win fame as the Southern raider ''Florida'' — was in doubt.

''Adirondack'' sailed to Bahamas again to investigate further rumors

On 12 August, SecNav Welles ordered ''Adirondack'' to proceed to

Port Royal, South Carolina Port Royal is a List of cities and towns in South Carolina, town on Port Royal Island in Beaufort County, South Carolina, Beaufort County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 14,220 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Hilton Head Is ...

, to report to Rear Admiral

Samuel Francis Du Pont Samuel Francis Du Pont (September 27, 1803 – June 23, 1865) was a rear admiral in the United States Navy, and a member of the prominent Du Pont family. In the Mexican–American War, Du Pont captured San Diego, and was made commander of the Ca ...

for duty in the

South Atlantic Blockading Squadron 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 ...

. The next day, a report reached Washington, D.C., that another British built cruiser – which would later prey on Union shipping as CSS ''Alabama'' – had slipped out of England and was heading for Nassau. Anxiety over this new threat prompted Welles to send ''Adirondack'' back to the Bahamas to investigate. Nevertheless, before this message reached Hampton Roads, the steamer had sailed for Port Royal in compliance with her orders of the 12th. Word of her new mission finally caught up with her there on the 18th and she got underway for Nassau that afternoon.

''Adirondack'' strikes a reef in the Bahamas, and sinks

All went well until the morning of 23 August 1862, when ''Adirondack'' struck a reef off the northeast point of

Man-O-War Cay Man-O-War Cay is a small island in the Abaco region of the Bahamas. It had a population of 215 at the 2010 census. History When the American colonies were successful in defeating the British in the U.S. Revolutionary War, some British Loyalis ...

of the

Little Bahama Bank The Bahama Banks are the submerged carbonate platforms that make up much of the Bahama Archipelago. The term is usually applied in referring to either the Great Bahama Bank around Andros Island, or the Little Bahama Bank of Grand Bahama Island ...

group. The shock immediately disabled her engine, and daylong efforts by the ship's crew, with the aid of local wreckers, proved futile. That evening, with her back broken and her keel forced up through the engine room, the ship bilged. Fortunately, she suffered no personnel casualties.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Adirondack Ships built in Brooklyn Ships of the Union Navy Steamships of the United States Navy Sloops of the United States Navy American Civil War patrol vessels of the United States 1862 ships Shipwrecks of the American Civil War Shipwrecks of the Bahamas Maritime incidents in August 1862