USS Roebuck ( 1856 ) USS " Roebuck " ( 1856 ) was a barque used by the Union Navy during the American Civil War . She was used by the Navy as a gunboat to patrol navigable waterways of the Confederacy to prevent the South from trading with other countries . At war ' s end , she was converted to a storeship before eventually being decommissioned . " Roebuck " , a bark rigged clipper ship built at New York in 1856 by Thomas Collyer , operated as a merchantman and made at least one voyage around Cape Horn to California . She was purchased by the Navy at New York City on 21 July 1861 from Reynolds and Cushman of that city ; and commissioned at the New York Navy Yard on 8 November 1861 , Act . Vol . Lt . George A . Trundy in command . Assigned to the South Atlantic Blockade . Assigned to the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron , " Roebuck " took station off Charleston Bar late in November and continued blockade duty there , interrupted only by occasional brief visits to Port Royal , South Carolina , for supplies or repairs , until returning to New York on 15 July 1862 for repairs . The bark , back in fighting trim and now commanded by Acting Master John Sherrill , departed New York on 30 August to return to blockade duty off the Carolina coast . She reported for duty to Rear Admiral Samuel Francis Du Pont upon arriving at Port Royal on 5 September , but 2 days later she sailed for the Gulf of Mexico in compliance with new orders reassigning her to the East Gulf Blockading Squadron . Reassigned to the East Gulf Blockade . Reporting to Commodore J . L . Lardiner upon arriving at Key West , Florida , on the 19th , " Roebuck " was assigned to the blockade off St . Marks , Florida . On this duty , she caught the English schooner , " Kate " , on 27 December attempting to slip into the St . Marks River , laden with salt , coffee , copperas , and liquors from Havana , Cuba . On 1 February 1863 , " Roebuck " relieved bark on blockade station off St . Andrews Bay , Florida . On 20 March a party from the bark ' s launch landed to investigate a report that a vessel was loading with cotton up the Bay . The landing party was attacked by a guerrilla band and suffered heavy losses . Two boats from the ship captured the British schooner , " Emma Amelia " , on 2 May . Between 1 and 3 August , she picked up 10 bales which apparently had been thrown overboard by some blockade runner fleeing from capture . Intercepting blockade runners off the Indian River . On the 28th , Acting Master Joseph B . Barclay was ordered to St . Andrews Bay to relieve Acting Master Sherrill in command of " Roebuck " . Early in October , the bark returned to Key West to prepare for duty off Indian River , Florida . There she seized a small sloop on 13 December . Four days later she captured English schooner " Ringdove " bringing salt , coffee , tea , and whiskey from the Bahamas . On 11 January 1864 , she made a prize of English schooner " Suzan " ; and on the 19th , she caught British schooner " Eliza " attempting to escape from the Confederate coast laden with cotton . On 26 February , she brought to the British sloop , " Two Brothers " . British sloop , " Nina " , surrendered to the bark on the 27th , the same day she burned Nassau schooner , " Rebel " . On 1 March British schooner " Lauretta " , was added to " Roebuck ' s " prize list . On the 30th , a boat crew from " Roebuck " took possession of sloop , " Last Resort " , and , on 10 July , Nassau schooner , " Terrapiss " , struck her colors to the bark . Final operations and post - war decommissioning . Late that month , " Roebuck " , because of weakened rigging , proceeded to Tampa Bay where she acted as a storeship . There , yellow fever broke out among the crew . On 12 September the bark was ordered north to recuperate and she reached Portsmouth , New Hampshire , on the 28th . She decommissioned 17 October and was sold at public auction there to Mr . Bartlett on 20 July 1865 .