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USS Antona (I)
Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons
Civil War Medal
Screw Steamer
The iron-hulled screw steamer Antona, a British blockade runner bound for Mobile, Alabama, was captured by
USS Pocahontas, 6 January 1863, after a long chase in the Gulf of Mexico.
Antona and her contraband cargo consisting of gunpowder, small arms, tea, and brandy was seized by by Pocahontas
With a prize crew from Pocahontas aboard she set sail for Philadelphia for adjudication but turned back and made port at New Orleans to repair a
badly leaking hull
Repairs completed, Antona was placed in commission, 19 March 1863, at New Orleans
Formally purchased by the US Navy, 28 March 1864, after litigation against he for violation of the blockade had been concluded by the New York prize court in absentia
Upon commissioning, USS Antona began operations on the lower Mississippi as a dispatch vessel, working primarily between New Orleans and Port Hudson, LA..
Antona continued this duty until the fall of Vicksburg on 4 July 1863
The steamer commanded by Acting Master Charles T. Chase, departed New Orleans in the evening of 13 July heading downstream
Shortly before 0400 on the morning of 14 July she collided with USS Sciota, sinking that
gunboat
Since Antona was unharmed, she was able to resume her voyage on the 15th bound for Galveston, TX.
While enroute to Galveston she captured the British schooner Cecelia D., on the 16th and sent the schooner to New Orleans under a prize crew
On the 18th upon arrival at Galveston, Chase reported to CDR. Henry H. Bell, commanding the Union blockading forces at Galveston
Two days later, Bell ordered Antona to patrol the coast between Velasco, TX., and the mouth of the Rio Grande
Antona reached the latter on the morning of the 24th, and Chase immediately went ashore to mail dispatches for the United States consul at Matamoras,
Mexico.
While Chase was returning to his ship in the Mexican boat Margarita that boat was forced ashore by a band of armed men on the Texas shore
The men, proved to be Southern soldiers, arrested Chase and sent him to Brownsville
Acting Master Spiro V. Bennis, Antona's executive officer assumed command after learning of Chase's capture.
The steamer returned to Galveston 27 July, remaining in the vicinity until 4 August
Antona got underway on the 6th heading back down the coast, Acting Master Lyman Wells in command
She captured Betsy off Corpus Christi, flying English colors and purportedly from Matamoras to New Orleans with a general cargo
Wells sent that schooner to New Orleans under a prize crew for adjudication
Antona arrived off the mouth of the Rio Grande on the 8th and reembarked Chase who had been released by Brigadier General Hamilton P. Bee, CSA, who
commanded Confederate troops in Texas, because of his having been captured in neutral waters
She proceeded to Galveston two days later reaching her blockade station off that port on the 12th
Suffering from damage to her boilers, machinery, and propeller she was towed to New Orleans by USS Bermuda, where she remained
under repair until heading downriver on 16 November to return to the coast of Texas
On the 27th, Acting Master Alfred L. B. Zerega, in commanded, Antona captured the Southern schooner Mary Ann with a cargo of cotton
Mary Ann's cargo was transferred to Bermuda for delivery to the New Orleans prize court and the badly leaking schooner was then destroyed
by Zerega
Antona scored again on Christmas Eve 1863 when she took the British schooner Exchange 10 miles east of Velasco, TX.
Exchange had departed Veracruz, Mexico, with a widely varied general cargo including a large quantity of liquor and was bound for New Orleans
Since she was far off course for that port, Zerega seized the schooner, removed her liquor since he ". . . did not deem it safe to allow it to go in the schooner to
New Orleans. "After promising to". . . send it on for adjudication . . ." by ". . . the first safe opportunity . . .," Zerega sent the prize to New Orleans and resumed
Antona's patrol.
The steamer's last notable action occurred 10 February 1865 when a boat from the steamer joined an expedition led by LT. Charles E. McKay of
USS Princess Royal to destroy the large iron-hulled steamer Will O'The Wisp which had run aground off Galveston
Antona departed Pensacola after the end of the war on 27 July 1865 and proceeded North
She decommissioned at New York, 12 August 1865, and was sold at auction there to G. W. Quintard, 30 November 1865. Re-documented Carlotta, 5 January 1867, serving as
as a merchantman operating out of New York
Final Disposition, destroyed by fire in 1874
Specifications:
Displacement 549 t.
Length 157'
Beam 30'
Depth of Hull unknown
Draft 13'
Speed 8 kts.
Complement unknown
Armament
two 32-pdr guns
one 20-pdr Parrott rifle
two 24-pdr smoothbores
Propulsion
one steam engine
single propeller
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USS Antona (I)
Dictionary of American Navy Fighting Ships (DANFS)
This page is created and maintained by Gary P. Priolo
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Last Updated 13 August 2021