USS Jamestown ( 1844 ) The first USS " Jamestown " was a sloop in the United States Navy during the Mexican - American War and the American Civil War . " Jamestown " was launched in 1844 by the Gosport Navy Yard , Virginia ; and commissioned there on 12 December , with Commander Robert B . Cunningham in command . Service history . Africa , Ireland , 1845 – 1850 . She departed Hampton Roads on 25 June 1845 as flagship of Commodore Charles W . Skinner in command of United States naval vessels operating off the western coast of Africa to suppress the slave trade . At the end of her first deployment the sloop arrived at Boston , Massachusetts on 6 August 1846 . While she was moored at the Boston Navy Yard word reached the United States that for the second consecutive year blight had ruined the potato crop of Ireland , depriving the people of that country of their chief means of subsistence . A joint resolution of Congress approved 3 March 1847 authorized the Secretary of the Navy to place " Jamestown " and at the disposal of Captains Robert Bennet Forbes and George Coleman De Kay to carry food to the starving poor of Ireland . " Jamestown " sailed from Boston on 28 March and arrived at Cork , Ireland on 12 April . After unloading her life - saving cargo , the sloop returned to Boston on 17 May . As flagship of Commodore William Compton Bolton , " Jamestown " again stood out of Boston on 22 July to operate on the west coast of Africa . A year later she was transferred to the Mediterranean Squadron to assist in protecting American citizens and interests during the epidemic of revolutions which convulsed Europe in 1848 . After political conditions became more stable , " Jamestown " returned to Norfolk , Virginia on 4 May 1850 . South America , Africa , West Indies , 1851 – 1860 . After a year at home , she was assigned to the Brazil Squadron departing Norfolk on 1 June 1851 to begin operations off South America lasting until her return to Philadelphia Navy Yard on 2 May 1854 . She decommissioned there nine days later . Recommissioning on 22 February 1855 , " Jamestown " sailed as flagship of the African Squadron under Commodore Thomas Crabbe , departing Key West on 9 June and returning to Philadelphia on 2 June 1857 and decommissioning . She re - commissioned on 16 December and cruised the West Indies with the Home Squadron until decommissioning at Philadelphia , Pennsylvania on 14 February 1860 . Civil War , 1861 – 1865 . After the outbreak of the Civil War , " Jamestown " re - commissioned on 5 June 1861 and was assigned to the Atlantic Blockading Squadron , where she compiled a record of outstanding efficiency . The sloop chased the bark " Alvorado " ashore off Fernandina , Florida and set her on fire on 5 August , and captured the schooner " Aigburth " off the coast of Florida on 31 August 1861 . Four days later she captured , dismantled , and scuttled the schooner " Colonel Long " . Next she captured the schooner " Havelock " on 15 December . Her final prize was the brig " Intended " , taken off Wilmington , North Carolina on 1 May 1862 . " Jamestown " departed for the Pacific on 12 October to protect American commerce from Confederate privateer s ; and she remained on that duty until after the end of the war , decommissioning at Mare Island on 17 September 1865 . Pacific , 1866 – 1881 . Having been converted to a transport and store ship , she recommissioned on 3 September 1866 to serve at Panama as a store and hospital ship . Because of fever on board , " Jamestown " was ordered north on 2 April 1867 and was disinfected at San Francisco , California . Joining the North Pacific Squadron , she served as guard and storeship at Sitka , Alaska , from 11 September 1867 until 30 May 1868 . " Jamestown " was present at the hoisting of the U . S . Flag at Sitka on 18 October 1867 after Alaska was purchased from Russia . " Jamestown " arrived at Mare Island on 23 July 1868 ; decommissioned there on 13 August ; and recommissioned on 25 January 1869 , following repairs . For almost three years , " Jamestown " cruised the Pacific on the west coasts of North and South America , and as far west as Tahiti and the Fiji and Hawaiian Islands . Decommissioning on 7 October 1871 , " Jamestown " was placed in ordinary at Mare Island until 16 March 1876 when she recommissioned for use as a State Public Marine School . She operated at the Hawaiian Islands in this capacity until she was returned to the Navy Department and decommissioned on 3 March 1879 . She was recommissioned on 8 May and sailed for Sitka , Alaska , where she surveyed the harbor and protected American interests . In 1881 , she sailed the Pacific until decommissioning at San Francisco on 21 September . Training and hospital ship , 1882 – 1913 . Having been fitted out as an apprentice training ship , " Jamestown " recommissioned on 14 February 1882 and proceeded to the Atlantic coast via Cape Horn . In her new capacity , she sailed the Atlantic Ocean , voyaging to the West Indies , Spain , and as far north as the State of Maine . While at the Brooklyn Navy Yard on 20 December 1883 , Landsman J . W . Norris and Ordinary Seaman Robert Augustus Sweeney jumped overboard and rescued a man from drowning , for which they were each awarded the Medal of Honor . On 31 August 1888 , " Jamestown " decommissioned at Norfolk . Recommissioning 13 April 1889 , " Jamestown " cruised to France and to the West Indies with apprentices , and decommissioned again on 6 September 1892 at Norfolk . On 9 September she was transferred to the Treasury Department for Marine Hospital Service for quarantine purposes in Hampton Roads . She was destroyed by fire at the Norfolk Navy Yard on 3 January 1913 , after being returned to the Navy Department .