USS G. W. Blunt (1856)

USS G. W. Blunt was a Sandy Hook pilot boat acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War in 1861. See George W. Blunt (1856) for more details.^[1][2] She was used by the Union Navy as a gunboat as well as a dispatch boat in support of the Union Navy blockade of Confederate waterways.

History
6 September 1856United States
Name	George W. Blunt (1856–1861) G. W. Blunt (1861–1865)
Namesake	George W. Blunt, nautical publisher
Operator	Joseph Henderson and James Callahan (1856–1861) U.S. Navy (1861–1865)
Builder	Daniel Westervelt of New York City
Cost	$10,000, 23 November 1861
Launched	6 September 1856
Completed	1856
Acquired	23 November 1861
Commissioned	4 December 1861
Decommissioned	13 May 1863
In service	2 June 1863
Out of service	16 August 1865
Stricken	1865 (est.)
Nickname(s)	Blunt
Fate	Sold, 20 October 1865
General characteristics
Class and type	sails; wood
Tonnage	Uncertain[note 1]
Length	76' 6"
Beam	20' 6"
Draught	depth of hold 8' 9"
Propulsion	schooner sail
Speed	10 knots
Complement	not known
Armament	one 12-pounder gun one 12 pounder rifle

Towards the war's end, she was reconfigured as a rescue and salvage ship. Her new task was to remove many of the shipwrecks, hulks, and other in-water debris of war.

Construction and service – commissioned in 1861

The G. W. Blunt, formerly the pilot schooner George W. Blunt, was a wooden two-masted schooner built by Daniel Westervelt in New York and launched 6 September 1856. The schooner was acquired by the Navy Department in New York City on 23 November 1861 by George D. Morgan, who was the purchase agent for the U.S. government. The cost was $10,000.^[3] As a result of this purchase, the Sandy Hook pilots had a replacement boat built in July 1861, from Boston builders Brown & Lovell^{[4][note 2]} She was commissioned on 4 December 1861 and acting Master was Henry Sherwood who was in command.^[1][2][5]

Union Navy service

Arriving at Port Royal, South Carolina, on 11 December 1861, G. W. Blunt served as a mail and dispatch boat for the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron between Charleston, South Carolina, Wassaw Sound, Georgia, and Fernandina, Florida. En route to Georgetown, South Carolina, on 19 April 1862 she captured the blockade-running schooner Wave with a cargo of cotton.^[2]

For the following year, the G. W. Blunt was on a blockade duty off Charleston and assisted in capturing several more vessels. She departed Port Royal, South Carolina, for Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on 7 May 1863 and was decommissioned for repairs on 13 May 1863. Recommissioned on 2 June 1863, the G. W. Blunt rejoined the blockading squadron off Charleston, patrolling the many small inlets and bays near the main harbor.^[2]

Cruising on Charleston station on 1864, the G. W. Blunt was sent to Port Royal on 7 August 1864 and on 25 August was fitted with diving equipment for salvage duty. She worked on many wrecks, including Constance on 13 November and the USS Housatonic, (sunk 17 February 1864 by Confederate submarine H. L. Hunley) from 15 to 19 November. She was sent to Savannah, Georgia, on 1 March 1865 to clear obstructions from the harbor, and returned to Charleston 1 April 1865.^[2][6]

Post-war decommissioning and sale

The G. W. Blunt was decommissioned on 16 August 1865 at Port Royal and was sold there on 20 October 1865.^[2]

Footnotes

1. Various sources, at least one in serious error on year, give varied, unspecified tonnages. Navy gives 121, again unspecified measurement of tonnage, though not the usual Navy displacement figure.
2. Causing some confusion is the second pilot boat, replacing the 1856 schooner and named George W. Blunt, constructed in 1861 by Brown & Lovell of East Boston, Massachusetts, and delivered to the owners of the first schooner.

References

1. "Shipping News – Miscellaneous". The New York Herald: 8. 2 December 1861. Retrieved 1 September 2020.
2. Naval History And Heritage Command (9 July 2015). "G. W. Blunt". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Naval History And Heritage Command. Retrieved 31 August 2020.
3. "Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion, U.S.S. G. W. Blunt". United States Naval Records Office. Washington. 1921. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
4. "The American Yacht List: Containing a Complete Register of the Yacht Clubs, List of Pilot Boats, Port of New York". 1874. Retrieved 1 September 2020.
5. "New Pilot Boat". New-York Daily Times. 17 December 1856. Archived from the original on 2 September 2020. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
6. Naval History And Heritage Command (20 July 2015). "Housatonic I (ScSlp)". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Naval History And Heritage Command. Retrieved 31 August 2020.

External links

 This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.

• United States Navy
• American Civil War