Louisiana, 1804
Originally named by the French to honor King Louis XIV, Louisiana was admitted to the Union 30 April 1812 as the 18th State.
Type/Rig/Class: Schooner
Builder: ?; Baltimore, Maryland
Length: 70' 6"
Beam: 22' 4"
Draft: 5' 7"
Displacement: 75 tons
Cost: $
Commissioned: 1804
Decommissioned: 1812?
Disposition: Sold?
Propulsion: Sail
Performance & Endurance:
Max:
Cruising:
Complement:
Armament:
History:
After the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, the federal government needed a cutter to serve in New Orleans, Louisiana. On 18 June 1804 the Collector at Baltimore, Maryland, was authorized to build a cutter of about 60 tons and 6 feet draft for service at New Orleans. After being completed, the cutter, named Louisiana, set sail for New Orleans on 16 December 1804.
On 16 April 1805, while under the command of Revenue Captain Joseph Newcomb, she recaptured the schooner Felicity from privateers. On 17 April 1812 the commanding officer of Louisiana, Revenue Captain Angus O. Frazer, wrote that his cutter had engaged two pirate vessels that had outfitted in the port of New Orleans in which "20 shots were exchanged, but by their superior sailing and night coming on, they made their escape."
The cutter was placed out of commission and sold sometime soon after 1812.
Sources:
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).