page_title: Texan schooner Zavala
section_title: History of Zavala
hierarchical_section_title: Texan schooner Zavala / History of Zavala
context_page_description: The Texan steamship Zavala was a Texas Navy ship in Texas' second Navy after the Texas Revolution. She was the first steamship-of-war in the Texas Navy.
context_section_description: Zavala was built in 1836 as a passenger steamship named the Charleston serving the Philadelphia-Charleston route. In 1838, when Lamar began rebuilding the Texan fleet, the navy purchased Charleston for $120,000 and renamed it Zavala in honor of Lorenzo de Zavala, the first vice president of the Republic of Texas.
  On 10 May 1839, Zavala assisted in the refloating of the French frigate Néréide, which had run aground at Galveston. Captain A. C. Hinton was her first commander in the Texas Navy. Capt. John T. K. Lothrop took command of Zavala on 4 March 1840 and led her on her only campaign.  After the successful Texas revolt, other parts of Mexico had rebelled against the regime of Santa Anna, including the Yucatan peninsula. President Lamar was determined to assist the rebels in their struggle with Mexico City. So, on 24 June 1840, Zavala accompanied by Commodore Moore's flagship, the sloop-of-war Austin, and three armed schooners, slipped out of Galveston Bay and turned south across the Gulf to the Bay of Campeche near the Yucatan Peninsula.
  During the cruise off the Yucatan, Zavala never engaged the enemy directly, but she proved invaluable in the only action that the flotilla saw. On 20 November 1840, the steamship towed Moore's flagship, Austin and the schooner San Bernard 90 miles (140 km) up the San Juan Bautista River to Villahermosa, the seat of government control in the state of Tabasco.  The squadron had made a deal with federalist rebels to drive the centralistas out for $25,000, the first $10,000 to be paid up front.  The federalists agreed.  Soon the small flotilla pointed their guns at the city and then sent troops into the seemingly deserted capital. Commodore Moore encountered a man bearing a white flag on a tree branch, and when he ascertained that this was the mayor, the Texas commodore demanded $25,000 or he would level the town.  The mayor asked if silver would be acceptable, and upon receiving an affirmative reply, delivered the ransom.  The commodore set sail with his booty and used the money to repair and outfit his ships.
caption: Pennant of the Zavala