USS Grampus ( 1821 ) USS " Grampus " was a schooner in the United States Navy . She was the first U . S . Navy ship to be named for the " Grampus griseus " , also known as Risso ' s Dolphin . " Grampus " was built at the Washington Navy Yard under the supervision of naval constructor William Doughty , based on a design by Henry Eckford . Her keel was laid down in 1820 . She was launched in early August 1821 . The need to suppress piracy and to maintain ships to catch slavers led to the building of five such schooners , the largest of which was " Grampus " . This was the first building program undertaken by the Navy since the War of 1812 . Service history . Lieutenant Francis Gregory commanded " Grampus " on her first cruise as part of the West Indies Squadron , which took her to the Antilles in pursuit of pirates . In the company of , , , , and , " Grampus " engaged in convoying merchant vessels throughout 1821 , the presence of the squadron having a marked effect on piratical activity among the islands . On 16 August 1822 , " Grampus " fought a brig flying Spanish colors , but which Lt . Gregory suspected was a pirate . When he called upon her commander to surrender , he was met with cannon and small arms fire . " Grampus " answered in turn , and reduced the bogus Spaniard to a floating wreck in 3½ minutes . The brig struck her colors and Lt . Gregory discovered that she was " Palmyra " , a Puerto Rico - based pirate carrying the papers of a privateer as a subterfuge . In 1825 , Captain John D . Sloat — commander of " Grampus " — engaged another Puerto Rican pirate , Roberto Cofresí , in battle . Cofresí was captured along with eleven members of his crew , and they were turned over to the Spanish government . Cofresí was jailed in El Castillo del Morro in San Juan . " Grampus " had a small part in the " Amistad " trials : in November – December 1839 , the U . S . government had " Grampus " standing by in New Haven Harbor , so that if the court ruled in favor of the slaves ' Spanish " owners , " they could deport the Africans to Cuba before they could file an appeal . However , the district judge ruled that the Africans had been illegally enslaved and must be returned to Africa . It was the government that appealed on behalf of the slaveholders , and " Grampus " was not needed . " Grampus " continued her duties in the protection of shipping in the Caribbean Sea and in the South Atlantic Ocean until August 1841 , when she was detached from the Africa Squadron while lying at Boston Navy Yard and attached to the Home Squadron at Norfolk , Virginia on 23 January 1843 . " Grampus " was last spoken to by off St . Augustine , Florida on 15 March 1843 . She is presumed to have foundered in a gale off Charleston , South Carolina with all hands . Fictional Namesake . Author Herman Melville created a fictional whaling ship in his novel Moby - Dick by the name of " Grampus " , its crew briefly mentioned in Chapter 3 as they enter the Spouter Inn after a three years voyage . Although no connection to the U . S . Navy ' s " Grampus " seems to be intended , nor is it even remotely implied , it is still interesting to note that the real " Grampus " disappeared while Melville was serving in the Navy aboard the " USS United States " , the topic of its loss possibly a subject among Melville ' s shipmates . The enigmatic character of Bulkington disappears from the Spouter Inn in the midst of the " Grampus " crew ' s revelries , his shipmates pursuing him into the night with cries of " Where ' s Bulkington ? " Later in the book Bulkington turns up as a crewman on board the Pequod , the narrator Ishmael noting it would be Bulkington ' s fate to die at sea , but never mentioning him again in the book .