USS Amanda ( 1856 ) USS " Amanda " ( 1856 ) was a bark acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War . She was used by the Union Navy primarily as a gunboat stationed off Confederate ports to prevent their trading with foreign countries . Her gallant service with the Union Navy was cut short in 1863 when she ran aground and was destroyed . Built in New York City in 1858 . " Amanda " — a wooden - hulled bark built in 1858 at New York City — was purchased there by the Navy on 6 August 1861 . Civil War operations . Assigned to the North Atlantic Blockade . Since no logs recording this vessel ' s operations prior to 7 November 1862 have survived , the date of her commissioning is unknown , but — since she arrived in Hampton Roads on 29 October 1861 and her commanding officer , Acting Volunteer Lieutenant Nathaniel Goodwin , reported for duty in the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron — we know that her active career began somewhat earlier . " Amanda " s anchor breaks loose , and she collides with " Braziliera " . The bark joined the forces blockading Wilmington , North Carolina on 8 November ; and , but for occasional runs back to Hampton Roads for provisions and water , she operated off that vital Confederate port through most of the winter . Then , somewhat the worse for wear after battling the constantly rough seas off the North Carolina coast , she headed for the Virginia Capes late in February 1862 and reached Hampton Roads on the evening of the 26th to receive repairs and to obtain fresh provisions . There , during a severe storm on the 3rd of March , she dragged anchor and fouled sister blockader , causing considerable harm to both ships . The need to patch the damage caused by this accident delayed " Amanda " s , return to Wilmington and thus allowed the bark to play a minor , but important , role in the most memorable naval action of the Civil War . A glance back to the early days of the conflict should shed light on her past in this drama . " Merrimack " burned by the Union , raised by the Confederate Navy . When Virginia seceded from the Union , the Navy tried to remove its warships from the Norfolk Navy Yard ; but sunken light boats obstructed the channel between Craney Island and Sewell ' s Point and prevented the escape of and several other Federal men - of - war . Therefore , Union sailors put the torch to this screw frigate and scuttled her as they evacuated their strategically important , but untenable , base up Virginia ' s Elizabeth River . Once in control of the shipyard , Southerners raised this vessel and rebuilt her as an ironclad ram . Renamed CSS " Virginia " — the former Federal warship — left the Elizabeth on 8 March 1862 and attacked her erstwhile sister ships in Hampton Roads , destroying sailing frigates and . During the engagement , both sailing frigate and steam frigate ran aground , and steam frigate came dangerously close to being likewise stranded as her keel plowed through mud during her maneuvers to move into action . Upon the approach of darkness , " Virginia " retired behind Sewell ' s Point and anchored for repairs . Post - battle scramble to recover and save Union ships . These setbacks to the Union fleet prompted orders to the captain of the powerful chartered tug " America " to go to the assistance of " Minnesota " ; but her master " . . . refused to get up steam on the vessel . . . . " To meet this emergency , " Amanda " s executive officer , Acting Master Richard J . Hoffner and a crew of 12 from the bark boarded the tug and enabled her to join other Union steamships in labors which enabled " Roanoke " to reach the comparative safety of deeper water . They also refloated " Minnesota " ; but soon she again ran aground . " Monitor " arrives to battle with the " Virginia " . Meanwhile , on the evening of the 8th , " Amanda " moved to a position near the inner lightship at the mouth of Chesapeake Bay to await the Union Navy ' s eagerly expected champion , . When that innovative ironclad arrived , Goodwin explained the tactical situation to her commanding officier , Lt . John L . Worden , and permitted Acting Master Samuel Howard to leave the bark temporarily so that he might pilot " Monitor " to a position close to " Minnesota " . When " Virginia " reappeared the following morning , " Monitor " intercepted the ram as she headed toward " Minnesota " and checked her advance in an inconclusive ensuing battle which lasted about four hours before " Virginia " withdrew . " Amanda " towed to Baltimore for repairs . That morning , Captain John Marston , the senior Union naval officer in the vicinity , directed Goodwin to proceed without delay in " Amanda " to Baltimore , Maryland , a safer place in which her repairs could be completed . The dispatch reached Goodwin at noon ; and , " . . . considering it as a peremptory order admitting of no delay . . . " he weighed anchor immediately , without waiting for the bark ' s absent officers and crewmen to return on board . Towed by the steamer , the bark proceeded up Chesapeake Bay and arrived at Baltimore the following day . " Amanda " reassigned to the East Gulf Blockade . While she was there , Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles reassigned " Amanda " to the East Gulf Blockading Squadron on 27 March 1862 . She reached Key West , Florida , on the night of 18 – 19 April and promptly began cruising between the Dry Tortugas and Cuba , staying close to the coast of the latter in the hope of intercepting vessels operating between Havana , Cuba , and Confederate ports . During this assignment , which continued into the summer , she captured the " Swan " some southwest of Tortugas about midday on 24 May . This Confederate steamer had escaped from Mobile , Alabama with 900 bales of cotton and 200 barrels of resin to be delivered to Havana . " Amanda " captures a slave trader ship . The bark seized an unnamed slave ship some northwest of Mariel , Cuba . Goodwin arrested and took on board his own ship the 11 men " . . . all intoxicated and inclined to be troublesome . . . " who had manned the bark and replaced them with a crew from " Amanda " who took the prize — which , the day before , had delivered 750 blacks to Cuba — to Key West , Florida . There she was condemned in admiralty court . Permanently assigned to St . George ’ s Sound . On 30 June , Goodwin resigned his commission and was relieved by Acting Volunteer Lt . George E . Welch in command of the bark . At this time , " Amanda " ended her cruising out at sea and took station off the eastern entrance to St . George ' s Sound , Florida , her area of service for the remainder of her career . Expedition up the Ocklockonee River . There , on 20 March 1863 , Welch — having heard that a schooner in the Ocklockonee River was loading cotton — ordered his executive officer to lead an expedition to that stream to capture this potential blockade runner . That morning , Acting Master Hoffner — with two other officers , a pilot , and 27 men — left the bark and proceeded in her launch and the tender sloop to the mouth of the Ocklockonee which he finally reached after a three - day struggle against heavy seas , contrary winds and tides , and tropical vegetation which clogged the marshy waters of St . George ' s Sound . Up this small stream , the Union sailors found " . . . a dismasted vessel lying close to [ the river ' s ] starboard bank . . . . " While the Union party approached the Southern ship , the people who had been on board her escaped to shore in boats . When his party reached the schooner " Onward " , Hoffner tried to tow her back toward the sound ; but , after two hours of rapid rowing , the prize grounded as the tide ebbed . Under attack by Confederate forces , the expedition fails . Afloat again the next morning , the expedition resumed its movement seaward , but took the wrong channel and soon again struck bottom . The most strenuous efforts failed to free the schooner . About noon , while Hoffner was waiting for the rising tide to refloat " Onward " , some 40 Confederate horsemen and about three or four times as many foot soldiers appeared and opened fire on the expedition . Some bluejackets fought back with their muskets , others fired the party ' s howitzer , while the remaining men set fire to the schooner . After fighting for about one and one - half hours , Hoffner ordered his force to escape in the tender and the launch . Both scraped on the bottom but were kept in motion by wading sailors who dragged the boats for about half a mile over mud flats before reaching sufficiently deep water . Throughout the retreat , Confederate riflemen kept the party under fire , killing one man outright and wounding eight others . Expedition survivors return to Union Navy vessel . Hoffner was among the latter with a Minie ball lodged in his neck . Once both boats were safely afloat , they made for the St . Mark ' s blockade where they were received on board the Union steamer . " Amanda " runs aground and is destroyed . " Amanda " continued to serve on the blockade of St . George ' s Sound into the spring . Late in May 1863 , the barometer began falling rapidly along the gulf coast ; and , by the 27th , the storm had grown to hurricane intensity . " Amanda " , on blockade duty just inside the east entrance to St . George ' s Sound , was driven ashore on Dog Island . Two days later , her crew destroyed the bark to prevent her falling into Southern hands .