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USS Wild Cat (I)

Schooner
  • Build, date and location unknown
  • Purchased in late 1822 at Baltimore, MD. for service with Commodore David Porter's "mosquito fleet" to suppress piracy in the West Indies
  • Commissioned USS Wild Cat early in 1823 at Norfolk, VA., LT. Charles W. Skinner in command
  • Wild Cat was one of eight, shallow-draft Chesapeake Bay schooners acquired to give the West Indies Squadron the capability of pursuing pirates into the shoal waters along the coasts of Cuba and Puerto Rico
  • Wild Cat departed Hampton Roads, 15 February 1823, in company with the other ships of Commodore Porter's squadron, arriving on station, 5 March 1823, off the coast of Puerto Rico
  • Wild Cat intermittently patrolled the northern coast of Cuba and Puerto Rican waters for the next 18 months searching for pirates and escorting convoys of merchantmen.
  • In the fall of 1823, yellow fever broke out among the crews of the squadron causing them to return north
  • During the remaining months of 1823, she completed repairs and recruited replacements for her decimated crew
  • Early in 1824, Wild Cat returned south with the squadron and resumed her anti-piracy patrols and escorting merchantmen
  • She continued that duty until the summer of 1824 when yellow fever again broke out
  • Early in June, she was sent ahead of the squadron to carry word to Washington that squadron was returning north to recoupe the health of the crews
  • Wild Cat returned to the West Indies that fall and resumed the campaign against the pirates
  • Final Disposition sank with all hands during a storm in October 1824
    Specifications:
    Displacement 48 t.
    Length unknown
    Beam unknown
    Depth of Hull unknown
    Draft unknown
    Speed unknown
    Complement 31
    Armament three guns
    Propulsion sail
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    USS Wild Cat (I)
    Dictionary of American Navy Fighting Ships (DANFS)
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    Last Updated 17 September 2021