USS Niagara ( 1855 ) The second USS " Niagara " was a screw - steamer driven frigate in the United States Navy . " Niagara " was launched by New York Navy Yard on 23 February 1855 ; sponsored by Miss Annie C . O ' Donnell ; and commissioned on 6 April 1857 , Captain William L . Hudson in command . Service history . Transatlantic telegraph cable , 1857 — 1858 . " Niagara " sailed from New York on 22 April 1857 for England , arriving Gravesend on 14 May . A log of the ship ' s voyage across the Atlantic was kept by the correspondent of the " New York Daily Times " , where it was published on Thursday , 14 May 1857 . On arrival in England " Niagara " was equipped to lay cable for the first transatlantic telegraph , which was to follow the shallow tableland discovered between Newfoundland and Ireland by Matthew F . Maury . By 11 August , when a break in the cable defied recovery , she had laid several hundred miles westward from Valentia Island , Ireland . She returned to New York 20 November and decommissioned 2 December to prepare for a second essay at cable - laying . Recommissioning 24 February 1858 , Captain William L . Hudson in command , she sailed 8 March , arrived Plymouth , England , 28 March , and experimented with . The ships returned to Plymouth to fit out , then made a mid - ocean rendezvous on 29 July , spliced their cable ends , and each sailed toward her own continent . On 5 August , " Niagara ' s " boats carried the end of the cable ashore at Brills Mouth Island , Newfoundland , and the same day " Agamemnon " landed her end of the cable . The first message flashed across 16 August , when Queen Victoria sent a cable to President James Buchanan . This first cable operated for three weeks ; ultimate success came in 1866 . Voyage to Africa , 1858 . During the summer of 1858 , the U . S . Navy experienced increased pressure to interdict slave traffic in the Caribbean Sea . On 21 August , the captured the slave ship " Echo " off of Cuba with men , women , and children taken from Kabenda , Guinea . There were originally 450 to 470 Africans , but that number had dwindled to 306 when they arrived at Castle Pickney , Charleston , South Carolina . Congressional law required the return of the Africans to Monrovia , Liberia and the huge size of the " Niagara " made her well suited for returning them . On 20 September , Capt . John S . Chauncey boarded 271 Africans who were suffering terribly from scurvy and dysentery . Chauncey expected to reach Africa in twenty days , but that changed when a heavy northwest wind took the " Niagara " way off course . Seventy - one Africans died before he reached Monrovia on 9 November . Captain Chauncey sent 200 survivors ashore and arrived back in New York Harbor on 11 December . Six days later , the " Niagara " was decommissioned . Voyage to Japan , 1860 — 1861 . " Niagara " recommissioned on 14 May 1860 , Captain William McKean in command . Another unique assignment awaited ; she was to carry Japan ' s first diplomatic mission to the United States from Washington to New York , and then home . Leaving New York on 30 June , " Niagara " called in Porto Grande , Cape Verde Islands ; São Paulo - de - Loande ( now Luanda ) , Angola ; Batavia ( now Djakarta ) , Java ; and Hong Kong . The frigate entered Tokyo Bay on 8 November to land her distinguished passengers , then sailed on 27 November for Hong Kong , Aden , and Cape Town , returning Boston on 23 April 1861 to learn of the outbreak of the Civil War . Civil War , 1861 — 1865 . Quickly preparing for duty on the blockade of southern ports , USS " Niagara " arrived off Charleston , South Carolina on 10 May , and two days later captured blockade runner CSS " General Parkhill " attempting to make Charleston from Liverpool . Through the summer she gave similar service at Mobile Bay , and was at Fort Pickens , Florida on 22 September when Flag Officer William McKean in " Niagara " took command of the East Gulf Blockading Squadron . She engaged Confederate defenses at Fort McRee , Pensacola , and Warrington on 22 November , and was hulled twice above the waterline . On 5 June 1862 she sailed for repairs at Boston Navy Yard , where she decommissioned 16 June . Recommissioned 14 October 1863 , " Niagara " steamed from New York on 1 June 1864 to watch over Confederate warships then fitting out in Europe . She reached her base at Antwerp on 26 June , and from there roved the English Channel , the French Atlantic Coast and the Bay of Biscay . On 15 August she took steamer " Georgia " , a former Confederate warship , off Portugal . In February and March , with she lay at Ferrol , Spain , to prevent Confederate ironclad " Stonewall " from departing , but the much more powerful southern ship was able to make good her escape . " Niagara " patrolled with the European Squadron until 29 August when she cleared Cadiz for Boston , arriving on 20 September . There she decommissioned on 28 September 1865 < CSS Stonewall , Wikipedia > < / ref > , remaining in the Boston Navy Yard until sold on 6 May 1885 .