USS Vincennes

### Captain

William Compton Bolton (1826), William B. Finch (1826 - 1830), Charles Wilkes (1838 - 1842), Franklin Buchanan (1842 - 1847), Cadwalader Ringgold (1853 - 1854), etc.

### Coordinates of Wreck

None

Long Navy Service

The USS Vincennes was approved by Congress March 3rd, 1825 and launched on April 27th, 1826, with William Compton Bolton in command. She set sail for the first time on September 3rd, 1826 from New York, heading to visit the Hawaiian Islands by the Cape Horn route. The vessel made it there in 1829 and also visited Macau under command of William B. Finch in 1830. The way back to the US was taken through the Indies and the Indian Ocean, using the Cape of Good Hope to cross the Atlantic. She arrived back at New York on June 8th, 1830, becoming the first US Navy vessel to circumnavigate the Earth, but the ship was then decommissioned on June 10th, 1830. In 1831, she was inspected and repaired and recommissioned to serve in the West Indies Squadron of 1831 - 1832. For a while in 1833, yellow fever broke out on the vessel and she was decommissioned for a short time period. She departed for a second Pacific deployment in 1833 and became the first American warship to call at Guam. She circumnavigated the globe again and returned to the Eastern US Coast by June 1836. Once more, she was decommissioned in 1836 to undergo remodeling. She was refitted with a light spar deck and declared the flagship of the South Sea Surveying and Exploring Expedition for the Antarctic Region. Led by Charles Wilkes, the Vincennes made surveys along the South American coast and made its first brief survey of Antarctica in early 1839. She then drifted through the South Pacific and mapped out the area using her Cartographers. After more scientific operations in the Pacific, she sailed to a base in Australia for a pioneering cruise back to Antarctica. In early 1840, she operated along the coast of the icy, barren continent of what is now known as Wilkes Land. The res5 of her operations consisted of trips through the East Pacific. Her third circumnavigation ended at New York in June 1842. Under the new command of Franklin Buchanan and the home squadron, she sailed to the West Indies and cruised off of he Mexican coast until 1844. Though uneventful, she rescued two grounded brigs off of the Texan coast. Buchanan was then sent to the Gulf of Mexico to protect any invasion of the newly instated Republic of Texas which didn’t last long. Under new command of Hiram Paulding, the Vincennes then sailed to the Far East Pacific coast of Asia, along with the Columbus, to deliver a letter to China. There were many strange close calls with Japanese vessels. She remained decommissioned until 1849, when she journeyed to Cape Horn to monitor revolutionaries. After going through many more expeditions and eventually serving in the African Squadron, the Civil War broke out in 1861. USS Vincennes was recommissioned on June 29th, 1861 and assigned to duty with the Gulf Blockading Squadron. She came to Fort Pickens, Florida on September 3rd, 1861 and was ordered to assist in the Battle of the Head of Passes. On October 12th, 1861, the Confederate ram, the CSS Manassas and armed steamers, CSS Ivy and the James L. Day, drove Union blockades into battle, forcing the USS Richmond and the USS Vincennes to ground. The Vincennes was ordered to be abandoned and exploded but the ship’s engineer cut the fuse and threw it into the water and the Confederates backed away. Once she was refloated, the battle was over and blockading duties were resumed, capturing a blockade runner British bark the Empress aground, but was found with only a large cargo of coffee and ordered to Pensacola, Florida to do routine duties between Pensacola and Mobile. The captured Empress and the vessel Clifton were ordered to command the blockade off Ship Island and ended up capturing the barge H. McGuin in Bay St. Louis on July 18th, 1863. The Vincennes also reported the capture of ships with food on Christmas Eve of 1863. For the remainder of the war, the USS Vincennes remained off of Ship Island and was laid up in the Boston Navy Yard on August 26th, 1865. The World-traveling Veteran was decommissioned that month and sold at a public auction on October 5th, 1867 for five-thousand dollars. The end of her career made her the most widely traveled ship of the US Navy.