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USS Fahkee

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Former tugboat of the United States Navy
The merchant steamship Fah-Kee, which served as USS Fahkee during the Civil War
History
United States
NameFah Kee or Fah-Kee
Owner
  • 1862-1863: Wetmore & Cryder
  • 1863-1863: Adams Express
  • 1865-1869: Waydell & Co
  • 1869-1872: J Norman Harvey
Port of registryNew York
BuilderEdward F Williams, Greenport NY
Launched24 November 1862
CompletedFebruary 1863
FateSold
United States
NameUSS Fahkee
Acquired15 July 1863
Commissioned24 September 1863
Decommissioned28 June 1865
Stricken1865 (est.)
HomeportPort Royal, South Carolina
FateSold, 10 August 1865
Canada
NamePictou
NamesakePictou
OwnerQuebec and Gulf Ports Steamship Co
Port of registryQuebec
FateMissing 1873, probably burnt
General characteristics
TypePassenger-cargo and naval collier
Tonnage745 GRT; from c1866 601GRT; from 1872 757GRT
Displacement660 long tons (670 t)
Length163 ft (50 m)
Beam29 ft 6 in (8.99 m)
Draft13 ft 3 in (4.04 m)
Installed power300hp (later 100nhp)
Propulsion
Speed12 kn (14 mph; 22 km/h)
Complement(naval) 73
Armament
  • 2 × 24-pounder howitzers
  • 1 × 10-pounder rifle (1863-65)

The passenger-cargo steamer Fah-Kee (or Fah Kee) was launched in 1862 at Greenpoint, Brooklyn and operated on the United States coast until purchased in July 1863 by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. The Navy used USS Fahkee as a collier and freight supply ship assigned to assist Union Navy ships patrolling Confederate waterways.

At the end of the war she returned to mercantile service, as a mail ship to Cuba and Bermuda. In 1872 she was sold to Canadian owners, and renamed Pictou for service between that port and Quebec. In November 1873 she went missing and was believed lost by fire.

Construction and commercial service

Fah Kee or Fah-Kee, designed to carry both cargo and passengers was built of white oak in 1862 by the New York shipbuilder Edward F. Williams at his yard at Greenpoint, Brooklyn. She measured 745 GRT, with a length of 175 ft (53 m), beam of 30 ft (9.1 m), depth of hold 18 ft (5.5 m) and draft of 14 ft (4.3 m). The ship was powered by a 300hp steam engine with a single vertical cylinder of 42 inches diameter and 42 inches stroke, made by Pusey and Jones of Wilmington, Delaware and driving a single propeller. In addition, she carried sail, rigged as a brigantine.

The ship, intended for trading in the Far East, was launched on 24 November 1862 for Wetmore & Cryder of New York City, and named Fah Kee ("flowery flag" in Cantonese), a Chinese nickname for the USA. By then, however, she was already expected to be taken up for service with the United States Navy. Nevertheless, when Fah Kee was completed in February 1863, she was sold to the Adams Express Company and put into passenger-cargo service between the ports of New York, Beaufort, North Carolina and Port Royal, South Carolina. On 15 July the ship was purchased by the Union Navy.

Civil War service

North Atlantic Blockade

USS Fahkee was commissioned on 24 September 1863 with Acting Master F. R. Webb in command, and served the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron as a collier and freight supply ship from the time of her commissioning to the close of the war. She carried cargo from New York City, Norfolk, Virginia, and Newport News, Virginia to the fleet on the North Carolina coast, as well as providing towing services and patrolling on blockade at frequent intervals.

Operation in Battle

Fahkee first came under fire on 3 January 1864 in Lockwood's Folly Inlet near Wilmington, North Carolina, when she passed through musket and shell fire from the shore to investigate Bendigo, a blockade runner grounded and afire. Fahkee shelled the ship to further her destruction, which was completed the next day by other ships.

While blockading Wilmington, North Carolina, in the spring and summer of 1864, Fahkee was several times fired upon by Confederate shore batteries, and on 24 August, engaged a blockade runner. Returning to the same area after a voyage to New York and Hampton Roads, she twice fired on grounded blockade runners in December. In January 1865, she carried cargo from Norfolk to Beaufort and to the fleet operating against Fort Fisher.

South Atlantic Squadron and disposal

In April 1865, at the close of the war, Fahkee was assigned to the South Atlantic Squadron, and from Port Royal, South Carolina, provisioned ships at Charleston, South Carolina, and those cruising the coast of the Carolinas. She also cruised with the Squadron off Cuba before arriving at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on 19 June.

Fahkee was decommissioned on 28 June 1865, and sold in Philadelphia on 10 August.

Further commercial service

Fahkee steamer in a gale, painting by Conrad Freitag.

Reverting to Fah Kee, the ship was bought by Waydell & Co, New York for their US Mail contract, operating from November 1865 between Santiago de Cuba and New York, via Bermuda; she was remeasured at 601 GRT. On 1 August 1867, on a mail voyage from New York to Santiago via Nuevitas, she was severely damaged in a hurricane in 36.40N 73.50W - about 80 nautical miles (150 km; 92 mi) east of Virginia Beach, Virginia - with the engine disabled and the ship leaking badly. After passengers and crew manned the pumps and the engine was eventually restarted, Fah Kee returned to New York on 5 August. She continued in the Cuba and Bermuda trades until mid-1869, when she was sold to J Norman Harvey, was refurbished, and continued in the mail service with Bermuda.

In March 1872, Fah Kee was sold to the Quebec and Gulf Ports Steamship Company to run between Pictou, Nova Scotia and ports on the Saint Lawrence River, and was renamed Pictou. She was registered as a British ship at Quebec on 23 May 1872 with Official Number 66004 and under British regulations was measured as 757GRT and 544NRT, with a length of 166.0 ft (50.6 m), beam of 28.8 ft (8.8 m) and depth of hold 18.2 ft (5.5 m); the engine was then rated at only 100 nominal horsepower.

Loss

In November 1873 Pictou sailed from Quebec City for Pictou with calls along the way. She was last seen passing Father's Point, near Rimouski, Quebec, and it was reported that there were heavy gales in the area shortly afterwards. However, there were later reports of a fire at sea being observed from Fairfield, north-east Prince Edward Island, from the Magdalen Islands and from Pleasant Bay, Cape Breton Island on the night of 18 November. Wreckage also came ashore showing signs of burning.

Notes

  1. DANFS has place of build as Williamsburg, but the Williams shipyard had moved from there to Greenpoint in 1850.
  2. The Mercantile Navy List mis-spelled the ship's name as "Picton".

References

  1. ^ American Lloyd's Register of American and Foreign Shipping. New York: E & G W Blunt. 1863. pp. 576–577. Retrieved 5 April 2021.
  2. ^ American Lloyd's Register of American and Foreign Shipping: Steamers. New York: Blunt & Nichols. 1867. p. 12. Retrieved 6 April 2021.
  3. ^ "Shipbuilding". Brooklyn Daily Eagle. Vol. 36, no. 177. 28 July 1875. p. 2. Retrieved 5 April 2021.
  4. Silka, Henry (2014). "Shipbuilding and the Nascent Community of Greenpoint, New York, 1850-1855" (PDF). The Northern Mariner/Le Marin du Nord. XVI (2). Ottawa, Canada: Canadian Nautical Research Society: 18–19. ISSN 1183-112X. Retrieved 5 April 2021.
  5. Colton, Tim. "Pusey & Jones, Wilmington DE". Shipbuilding History. Retrieved 5 April 2021.
  6. ^ "Launch of the steamship Fah-Kee". New York Herald. No. 9569. 25 November 1862. p. 1. Retrieved 5 April 2021.
  7. Tiffany, Osmond (1849). The Canton Chinese (PDF). Boston: James Munroe & Company. p. 231. Retrieved 5 April 2021.
  8. ^ "Miscellaneous News". New York Herald. No. 9653. 18 February 1863. p. 4. Retrieved 5 April 2021.
  9. "Important from Port Royal". New York Herald. No. 9672. 9 March 1863. p. 1. Retrieved 5 April 2021.
  10. ^ "Fahkee". DANFS. Naval History & Heritage Command. 18 December 2014. Retrieved 6 April 2021.
  11. Gallagher, Scott (February 1994). "Answers to problem covers in Issue 160" (PDF). The Chronicle. 46, No.1 (161). Wheeling, IL: US Philatelic Classics Society: 68–71. Retrieved 6 April 2021.
  12. "Disaster to Steamer Fah Kee". Portland Daily Press. Vol. 6. Portland, Maine. 6 August 1867. p. 3. Retrieved 6 April 2021.
  13. "Shipping Notes". New York Herald. No. 11985. 13 June 1869. p. 10. Retrieved 6 April 2021.
  14. "For Bermuda". New York Herald. No. 12120. 26 October 1869. p. 1. Retrieved 6 April 2021.
  15. "Shipping Notes". New York Herald. No. 12992. 17 March 1872. p. 12. Retrieved 7 April 2021.
  16. Register of American and Foreign Shipping. New York. 1873. p. . Retrieved 7 April 2021.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  17. "Appropriation Book". Crew List Information Project. Retrieved 7 April 2021.
  18. Mercantile Navy List. London. 1874. p. 69.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  19. "Dominion of Canada". The Scotsman. No. 9485. British Newspaper Archive (subscription). 18 December 1873. p. 2. Retrieved 7 April 2021.
  20. "American Shipwrecks". Shields Gazette. Vol. XXV, no. 6005. British Newspaper Archive (subscription). 29 December 1873. p. 3. Retrieved 7 April 2021.
  21. "Wreck". The Central Press. No. 3371. London: British Newspaper Archive (subscription). 9 January 1874. p. 3. Retrieved 7 April 2021.
Public Domain This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
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