Brown (Aaron V. Brown), 1857
Builder: Merry and Gay, Milan, OH
Cost: Unknown
Rig: Schooner
Length: 57' 6"
Beam: 17' 6"
Draft: 5' 10"
Displacement: 50 tons
Keel Laid: Unknown
Launched: Unknown
Completed: June-July 1857
Decommissioned: Unknown
Disposition: Sold on 23 August 1864
Complement: Unknown
Armament: 1 6-pdr.
Design History:
Bids were taken for six shallow-draft cutters in 1856. Merry and Gay of Milan, OH, bid $4,050 for each and received the contract. Captain William C. Pease supervised the construction; the design was based on a reduced scale of a 140-ton model furnished by the Revenue Service. Construction was delayed by winter weather and a controversy over Ohio versus Long Island locust. In the end there was a cost overrun and lien against the builders. The vessels were of white oak, yellow pine, and locust, with copper fastenings. They were provided with centerboards and named for members of the President James Buchanan's cabinet.
Cutter History:
First stationed at Milwaukee, WI, she then sailed to the Atlantic for duty at Salem, MA. In January 1863 she sailed to Beaufort, NC where she operated under Captain Douglass Ottinger, who supervised Revenue Marine activities in that area.
Sources:
Cutter History File. USCG Historian's Office, USCG HQ, Washington, D.C.
Donald Canney. U.S. Coast Guard and Revenue Cutters, 1790-1935. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1995.
U.S. Coast Guard. Record of Movements: Vessels of the United States Coast Guard: 1790 - December 31, 1933. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1934; 1989 (reprint).