USS Vincennes ( 1826 ) USS " Vincennes " ( 1826 ) was a 703 - ton Boston - class sloop of war in the United States Navy from 1826 to 1865 . During her service , " Vincennes " patrolled the Pacific , explored the Antarctic , and blockaded the Confederate Gulf coast in the Civil War . Named for the Revolutionary War Battle of Vincennes , she was the first U . S . warship to circumnavigate the globe . Built in Brooklyn . " Vincennes " — the first American ship to be so named — was one of ten sloops of war whose construction was authorized by Congress on 3 March 1825 . She was laid down at New York in 1825 , launched on 27 April 1826 , and commissioned on 27 August 1826 , with Master Commandant William Compton Bolton in command . First world cruise . The ship set sail for the first time on 3 September 1826 , from New York bound for the Pacific by way of Cape Horn . She cruised extensively in that ocean , visiting the Hawaiian islands in 1829 and made her way to Macau by 1830 , under Commander William B . Finch . Her return voyage was made by way of China , the Philippines , the Indian Ocean , and the Cape of Good Hope . Ship chaplain Charles Samuel Stewart published a book about the voyage . After nearly four years , " Vincennes " arrived back in New York on 8 June 1830 , becoming the first U . S . Navy ship to circumnavigate the Earth . Two days later the ship was decommissioned . West Indies and Guam operations . Following repairs and recommissioned , " Vincennes " then operated in the West Indies and the Gulf of Mexico as part of the West Indies Squadron in 1831 – 32 . After a long bout of yellow fever , she was decommissioned again for a time in 1833 before sailing once more . She departed for a second Pacific deployment in 1833 , becoming the first American warship to call at Guam . She again sailed around the globe to return to the U . S . East Coast in June 1836 . Supporting the Wilkes Expedition . Decommissioned once again in 1836 , while she underwent remodeling , she was refitted with a light spar deck and declared the flagship of the South Sea Surveying and Exploring Expedition to the Antarctic region . Commanded by Lieutenant Charles Wilkes , the expedition sailed from Hampton Roads in August 1838 , and made surveys along the South American coast before making a brief survey of Antarctica in early 1839 . Entering into the South Pacific in August and September 1839 , her cartographers drafted charts of that area that are still used today . Following survey operations and other scientific work along the west coast of South America and in the South Pacific during the rest of the year , in late 1839 " Vincennes " arrived at Sydney , Australia , her base for a pioneering cruise to Antarctica . Between mid - January and mid - February 1840 , she operated along the icy coast of the southernmost continent . The coast along which the ship sailed is today known as Wilkes Land , a name given on maps as early as 1841 . The remainder of her deployment included visits to the islands of the South Pacific , Hawaii , the Columbia River area , Puget Sound , California , Wake Island , the Philippines and South Africa . This third voyage around the world ended at New York in June 1842 . 1842 – 1847 operations . " Vincennes " was next assigned to the Home Squadron and placed under the command of Commander Franklin Buchanan , a distinguished officer destined to become the first Superintendent of the United States Naval Academy . She sailed to the West Indies and cruised off the Mexican coast until the summer of 1844 . Though this duty proved relatively uneventful , " Vincennes " did rescue two grounded English brig s off the coast of Texas and received the thanks of the British government for this service . Buchanan was also ordered to prevent any attempted invasion by Mexico of the new Republic of Texas . Fortunately , this eventuality never materialized ; and " Vincennes " returned to Hampton Roads on 15 August to enter dry dock . On 4 June 1845 , " Vincennes " sailed for the Far East under command of Captain Hiram Paulding . She was accompanied by the ship - of - the - line , under the command of Captain Thomas Wyman ; and the two vessels formed a little squadron under the command of Commodore James Biddle , who carried a letter from Secretary of State John C . Calhoun to Caleb Cushing , American commissioner in China , authorizing Cushing to make the first official contact with the Japan ese Government . The squadron sailed for Macau by way of Rio de Janeiro and the Cape of Good Hope . Commodore Biddle arrived safely in Macau only to find that Cushing had already left for home and that his successor , Alexander H . Everett , was too ill to make the trip . Therefore , Biddle determined to conduct the negotiations himself . Accordingly , " Vincennes " and " Columbus " sailed for Japan on 7 July 1846 and anchored off Uraga on 19 July . The Japanese surrounded the vessels and allowed no one to land . Otherwise the visitors were treated with courtesy . However , Commodore Biddle ' s attempts to discuss the opening of feudal Japan to foreign trade were politely rebuffed , and the vessels weighed anchor on 29 July . " Columbus " returned to the United States by way of Cape Horn , but " Vincennes " remained on the China Station for another year before returning to New York on 1 April 1847 . Here , she was decommissioned on the 9th , dry - docked , and laid up . 1849 – 1860 operations . " Vincennes " remained in ordinary until 1849 . Recommissioned on 12 November 1849 , she sailed from New York exactly one month later , bound for Cape Horn and the west coast of South America . On 2 July 1850 , while lying off Guayaquil , Ecuador , she harbored the Ecuadoran revolutionary General Elizalde for three days during one of that country ' s frequent civil disturbances . Sailing on to San Francisco , California , the vessel lost 36 members of her crew to the gold fever sweeping California at the time . Turning south , " Vincennes " cruised off South America until late 1851 , closely monitoring the activities of revolutionaries ashore . She made a courtesy call to the Hawaiian Islands at the end of the year and proceeded thence to Puget Sound where she arrived on 2 February 1852 . She anchored briefly there and returned via San Francisco and the Horn to New York where she arrived on 21 September and was decommissioned on the 24th . Following repairs and a period in ordinary , " Vincennes " was recommissioned on 21 March 1853 and sailed into Norfolk , Virginia on 13 May to join her second exploratory expedition , serving as flagship to Commander Cadwalader Ringgold ' s survey of the China Sea , the North Pacific , and the Bering Strait . Comdr . Ringgold was a veteran of the Wilkes expedition . The squadron stood out of Norfolk on 11 June 1853 , rounded the Cape of Good Hope , and charted numerous islands and shoals in the Indian Ocean before arriving in China in March 1854 . Here Commodore Matthew Calbraith Perry relieved Ringgold for medical reasons and gave command of the expedition to Lt . John Rodgers . " Vincennes " sailed on to survey the Bonin and Ladrone Islands and returned to Hong Kong in February 1855 . The expedition sailed again in March and surveyed the islands between the Ryūkyū chain and Japan , and then the Kuril s . " Vincennes " left the squadron at Petropavlovsk , Russia , and entered the Bering Strait , sailing through to the northwest towards Wrangel Island . Ice barriers prevented the vessel from reaching this destination , but she came closer than any other previous ship . " Vincennes " returned to San Francisco in early October and later sailed for the Horn and New York , where she arrived on 13 July 1856 to complete yet another circumnavigation of the globe . " Vincennes " operated with the African Squadron in 1857 – 1860 . American Civil War service . After the outbreak of the American Civil War in April 1861 , " Vincennes " was recommissioned on 29 June and assigned to duty in the Gulf Blockading Squadron . She arrived off Fort Pickens , Florida , on 3 September , and was ordered to assist in the occupation of Head of Passes , Mississippi River , and remain there on blockade duty . Though the Federal warships did successfully deploy , on 12 October 1861 the Confederate metal - sheathed ram and armed steamers and drove the Union blockaders from Head of Passes , forcing and " Vincennes " aground . " Vincennes " was ordered abandoned and destroyed to prevent her capture , and a slow match was set to the vessel ' s magazine while her men took refuge on other ships . However , the magazine failed to explode ; and , after the Confederate vessels withdrew early in the afternoon , " Vincennes " was refloated . After the Confederate attack , the Union sloop - of - war continued on blockade duty off the Passes of the Mississippi , capturing the blockade - running British bark " Empress " , aground at North East Pass with a large cargo of coffee on 27 November . On 4 March 1862 , she was ordered to proceed to Pensacola , Florida , to relieve and spent the next six months shuttling between Pensacola and Mobile , Alabama , performing routine patrol and reconnaissance duty . On 4 October , she was ordered to assume command of the blockade off Ship Island , Mississippi , and to guard the pass out of Mississippi Sound . While so deployed , boat crews from the vessel and captured the barge " H . McGuin " in Bay St . Louis , Mississippi , on 18 July 1863 . " Vincennes " also reported the capture of two boats laden with food on 24 December . End - of - war service and decommissioning . " Vincennes " remained off Ship Island for the duration of the war and was laid up in ordinary at the Boston Navy Yard on 28 August 1865 . The veteran world traveler was decommissioned in August 1865 and sold at public auction at Boston on 5 October 1867 for approximately $ 5 , 000 . 00 , completing a career that made her one of the Navy ' s most widely - traveled ships .