USS Levant ( 1837 ) The first USS " Levant " was a second - class sloop - of - war in the United States Navy . " Levant " was launched on 28 December 1837 by New York Navy Yard ; and commissioned on 17 March 1838 , with Commander Hiram Paulding in command . Service history . West Indies & Pacific , 1838 – 1845 . " Levant " sailed from New York on 1 April 1838 for four years ’ service in the West Indies Squadron protecting American interests in the Caribbean and South Atlantic . Returning to Norfolk , Virginia , the sloop - of - war decommissioned 26 June 1842 . She recommissioned 27 March 1843 , Comdr . Hugh N . Page in command , and departed Norfolk to join the Pacific Squadron under Commodore John D . Sloat . From 1843 to 1845 " Levant " cruised between Panama and Latin American ports carrying diplomats and dispatches and generally furthering American national policy . Mexican - American War , 1846 – 47 . With the Mexican - American War impending , " Levant " was ordered to the California coast to protect American citizens and property , and was en route when Mexico declared war on 12 May 1846 . The sloop arrived off Monterey , California on 1 July , and six days later a landing force from " Levant " , , and took possession of the recently proclaimed Republic of California . On 23 July , Commodore Sloat relinquished command of the Pacific Squadron because of illness , and sailed 29 July in " Levant " for the east coast . Upon arriving at Norfolk on 28 April 1847 , the sloop was placed in ordinary . Mediterranean , 1852 – 1855 . " Levant " was recommissioned on 12 July 1852 , Comdr . George P . Upshur in command , and sailed for the Mediterranean . When Commander Upshur died on board " Levant " off Spezia , Italy on 3 November , Comdr . Louis M . Goldsborough , later to win fame in the American Civil War , took command . On 7 April 1853 at Leghorn , Italy , " Levant " loaded statues by American sculptor Horatio Greenough , including one of George Washington , destined for the Capitol at Washington , D . C . After embarking the U . S . Minister to Turkey and his family at Piraeus , Greece on 24 June , " Levant " sailed to Constantinople , arriving on 5 July . Returning to Hampton Roads , Virginia , on 29 April 1855 , " Levant " decommissioned at New York Navy Yard on 4 May . East India Squadron , 1855 – 58 . Recommissioned on 31 October , Comdr . William N . Smith in command , " Levant " sailed on 13 November for Rio de Janeiro , the Cape of Good Hope , and Hong Kong , where she arrived to join the East India Squadron on 12 May 1856 . On 1 July she embarked the U . S . Commissioner to China for transportation to Shanghai , arriving 1 August . At the outbreak of hostilities between the British and the Chinese , " Levant " arrived Whampoa on 28 October . Comdr . Andrew H . Foote then sent a landing party from " Levant " and his own ship , , to Canton to protect American lives and property there . On 15 November , while in the process of withdrawing this force , Commander Foote was fired on while passing in a small boat by the " Barrier Forts " on the Pearl River below Canton . On the 16th " Levant " was towed upriver to join " Portsmouth " and in keeping the Pearl open to American shipping . As the forts were being strengthened in disregard of American neutrality , Foote was ordered by Commodore James Armstrong , commanding the squadron , " " to take such measures as his judgment would dictate . . . even the capture of the forts . " " Commander Foote complied with all the dash and courage for which he became famous during the Civil War . On 20 November he took the first fort by leading an amphibious assault with 300 men , then silenced the second with cannon captured from the first . Next day he took the third , and by the 24th all four were in American hands and the Pearl once again safe for American shipping . " Levant " , close in through most of the action , received the major part of the Chinese bombardment , with 22 shot holes in her hull and rigging , one man dead , and six injured . Destruction of the earthworks was completed by 5 December , and " Levant " cruised between Hong Kong and Shanghai until she departed Hong Kong on 7 December 1857 for home , arriving at the Boston Navy Yard 6 April 1858 . Pacific Squadron , 1859 – 60 . After repairs into 1859 , " Levant " , Comdr . William E . Hunt in command , sailed on 15 June for the Pacific , arriving at Valparaíso , Chile on 11 October , to serve as Pacific Squadron flagship , wearing Commodore John B . Montgomery ' s broad pennant , through December . In January 1860 " Levant " sailed for the coast of Nicaragua , where she relieved and began five months of showing the flag off the coasts of Central and South America . In May 1860 , " Levant " was ordered to the Hawaiian Islands at the request of the Secretary of State to investigate the disbursement of relief funds to American merchant seamen . After receiving a state visit by King Kamehameha IV at Honolulu on 7 May , and investigating at Lahaina , Maui , and Hilo , Hawaii , " Levant " sailed for Panama on 18 September , but never made port . Disappearance . Commodore Montgomery reported that a violent hurricane had occurred in September in a part of the Pacific Ocean which " Levant " was to cross . In June 1861 , a mast and a part of a lower yardarm believed to be from " Levant " were found near Hilo . Spikes had been driven into the mast as if a form a raft . Rumors also circulated that she had run aground on an uncharted reef off California ; or that she had defected to the Confederacy . In July 1861 , a small bottle was found at Cape Sable Island , Nova Scotia . It was corked and contained a card that read in part : " Pacific Ocean " " Levant " " Written by the last remaining " " three " " in a boat " " God forgive us " . Unfortunately , the card was damaged when it was removed from the bottle and parts of the message were unreadable . This card was in the possession of Thomas Willett of Pubnico , Nova Scotia , in 1862 , who lost a son aboard this vessel . On 24 July 1861 , the United States Congress passed a law to compensate the widows and orphan children of the officers , seamen , marines and others who were lost with the " Levant " . The law made a provision for accounts paid and received by the ships purser , Andrew J . Watson , which were to be settled . The law was included in the “ Private Acts ” section of the statutes book . Literary Reemergence . In 1863 , when Edward Everett Hale wrote " The Man Without a Country " the announcement of the death of Philip Nolan while at sea is while he is aboard the USS Levant in 1861 .