After relinquishing command of the "Essex", Townsend was given command of the . The "Wachusett" was a wooden steam frigate with a detachable propeller, carrying nine guns and a complement of 170 men. She was a large (1,032-ton) steam sloop-of-war that served the United States Navy in the American Civil War. She was outfitted as a gunboat and used by the Navy as part of the Union blockade of the Confederate States of America. On February 17, 1865, the ship was given orders to proceed to the East India Station by way of the Cape of Good Hope. There, she joined and in an effort to track down the Confederate commerce raider .