Mosswood, 1866
later-Hugh McCulloch
Builder: ?
Length: 123'
Beam: 20'
Draft: 8' 11"
Displacement: 140 tons
Cost: $12,000 (purchased from War Department)
Commissioned: 14 December 1866
Decommissioned: 19 November 1888
Disposition: Sold
Machinery: Single-stroke steam engine; single propeller
Performance & Endurance:
Max:
Cruising:
Complement:
Armament:
Cutter History:
The Mosswood, originally built for service with the War Department in 1864, was purchased by the Revenue Marine in 1866. After undergoing repairs in Baltimore, Maryland she was ordered to duty out of Eastport, Maine. She was ordered to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in August of 1870 to receive a new boiler. In January of 1871 she was ordered to temporary duty in New York and in April was ordered to return to Eastport.
In November of 1874 she was ordered to New York City, arriving there on 26 January 1875 after first putting into Rockland, Maine "in a disabled condition." On 9 February 1875 she was placed under the orders of the New York Collector of Customs and assigned to duty in Long Island Sound. On 24 November 1875 she was ordered to New London for duty and arrived there on 14 January 1876. In February of the following year she was ordered back to New York to be dismantled and her crew discharged, which was reported as having occurred on 31 March 1877. Her name was changed to Hugh McCulloch on 15 October 1877 after the cutter McCulloch then in service was decommissioned.
On 14 November 1877 she was ordered to Castine, Maine for duty. She transferred back to Eastport in 1880. The following year she was transferred to Charleston, South Carolina for duty. Here her cruising grounds were from Beaufort to Georgetown, South Carolina. In 1882 her cruising ground was expanded to include Fernandina while the cutter Boutwell was under repair.
On 23 October 1883 she was ordered to "convoy" the cutter John A. Dix from Charleston to Wilmington, North Carolina. On 10 August 1885 she was surveyed and it was determined that she required extensive repairs. Her officers were transferred and her crew discharged and the cutter was laid up. She was completely repaired by 17 February 1886 and placed back in commission on 24 February 1886.
On 16 October 1888 she was ordered to Baltimore, sailing on the 31st and arriving on 4 November 1888. She was placed out of commission on 19 November 1888 and was sold in Baltimore to John G. Bolander of New York for $4,200 and her "outfits" were sold for $503.50. She saw service as the merchant vessel Jupiter.
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).