Alert, 1855
ex-Lookout
Vigilantly attentive; watchful.
Tender History:
The United States tender Alert began life as the private schooner Lookout. She was purchased in 1855 and was commissioned as Alert in May of that year. She was assigned to the 8th Lighthouse District.
She was seized at Mobile, Alabama by "State authorities" on 18 January 1861 and was commissioned in the Confederate Navy as CSS Alert. She was armed with a 32-pounder and served under the command of Acting Master A. Pacetty, CSN on the Mobile Station.
In October, 1862 she was captured by USS Roanoake but was found to be of little use.
Sources:
Cutter History File. USCG Historian's Office, USCG HQ, Washington, D.C.
Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Washington, DC: USGPO.
Douglas Peterson. United States Lighthouse Service Tenders, 1840-1939. Annapolis: Eastwind Publishing, 2000.
U. S. Navy, Naval History Division. Civil War Naval Chronology, 1861-1865. Washington: USGPO, 1971.