Miami, 1862
ex-Lady Le Marchant
A member of an Algonquian tribe of Indians once living in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin.
Rig: Schooner
Builder: River Clyde, Great Britain
Length: 115'
Beam:
Draft:
Displacement: 213 tons
Cost: $25,000 (purchase price)
Commissioned: 28 January 1862
Decommissioned: 1871
Disposition: Sold
Machinery: 2 oscillating cylinder steam engine; 1 propeller
Performance & Endurance:
Max:
Cruising:
Complement:
Armament: 1 x 24-pounder; 1 x 12-pounder
History:
The Miami was the former British yacht Lady Le Marchand that was purchased for use by the Revenue Cutter Service on 28 January 1862 for $25,000 from Arthur Leary. Her name was changed to Miami. She was a 115-foot schooner-rigged steamer with a hull of teak planks over oak frames. After her purchase she was fitted out at New York and sailed for Washington, D.C.
In April, 1862, she carried President Abraham Lincoln and other VIP guests to Hampton Roads, Virginia, soon after the famous battle between the ironclads CSS Virginia and USS Monitor (photo at left; the original photo caption stated that this photo was taken on the deck of the Miami as she made her way to Fortress Monroe and that President Lincoln was the figure on the right). She then served out of New York.
In March of 1864 she was ordered to convoy the Confederate steamer Chesapeake from Halifax to New York. On 14 November 1864 she was transferred to Newport, Rhode Island. She underwent repairs there in October of 1865. She was laid up at Staten Island from 8 June to 19 November 1867 and was repaired at a cost of $1,200. She then saw service out of Wilmington, Delaware, before being sold to Mason, Hobbs & Company of Philadelphia for $2,149 in 1871.
Revenue Cutter Miami supporting the landing of Union troops on the beach at Ocean View, Virginia for the invasion of Norfolk on 10 May 1862. Painted by Charles Mazoujian.
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).