The Perrysburg journal. [volume] (Perrysburg, Ohio) 1853-1861, 1855-07-07
Lost National Ships.

little curious that one of its first prizes
should have been the first vessel lost without
any one being able to say how she was lost.
In 1899 the frjgate Constellation, then under
the command Of Captain Truxton, captured
the French frigate llnsurgente, after very
gallant action. This was during what was
called the quasi war with France, caused by
the depredationS that were made upon our
commerce by the cruisers of that country
which we very properly resented. The prize
was taken into the navy, and was first com
manded by Captain Murray, who was sue
cecded by Captain Fletcher. The latter off
Ger sailed on cruise in July 1900, with a
sort of rowing commission. Some letters
were received from pcrs OnS on board of her,
sent in by vessels hat she spoke but, though
she was 70 have been absent only eight weeks,
nothing has ever been seen of her for almost
four and fifty years. The Pickering Capt.
Hilar, II gun vessel which sailed month
later than the Insurgente for the West In
ddies was never heard from again. The
Saratoga, of l6 guns, was lost in the same
way in 1907,
One of the finest vessels that ever sailed
from this country was the sloop-o war
Wasp, which left Portsmouth, n. H., in
1914, under the command of Capt Blakely.
On the Gath of June she captured and de-
stroyed the British sloop-of-war Reindeer,
and on the first Of September the Avon, a
vessel of the same class. One of her prizes
was taken Oh the 2lst Of September and sent
10 America, under command Of Mr.. Geisin-
ger, and no direct intelligence was ever af
forwards received from her. She was spoken
by Swedish brig on the 9th of October, out
of which she took two American officers
who had belonged to the frigate Essex and
were passengers in the Swede from Rio de
Janeiro. This was the last time that she
was seen and known. Various stories as to
her fate were current for years. Mr.. Cooper
says:
There is only one rumor in reference to
this ship that has any appearance Of proba
bility, 1t is said that two English frigates
chased an American sloop- of war, off the
southern coast, about the lime the Wasp
ought to have arrived, and that the three ships
were struck with heavy squall, in which
the sloop- f-war suddenly disappeared"
The Wasp was uncommonly well manned
and otticered, and her loss was severe one
to the navy. Capt. Blakely was an admi-
rable commander, and the gentlemen under
him were of high merit. Two of the Lieu
tenants, Mr.. Reilly and Mr.. Baury, had ia
ken part in the capture of the Guerriere and
the Java, and another, Mr.. Tillinghast, was
an officer on board the Enterprise when she
took the Boxer
The brig Epervier, l8guns, sailed from the
Mediterranean for the u. S. in 1878, and was
never heard from after she passed the straits
of Gibraltar. She had been taken from the
English in 1914, by the Peacock, Captain
Warrington. We believe at the time of her
loss she was commanded by one of the Shu-
bricks, an historical name in our navy.
The most remarkable instance of the loss
of national ship, since the close of the last
war with England, was that Of the Hornet,
which is supposed to have foundered in
"norther" in the Gulf of Mexico. about a
quarter of century ago. Nothing was
heard Of her, if we remember, after she left
Tampico some time in the year 1880. The
Hornet was one of the lucky ships of the
navy, and great favorite both with the