USRC Massachusetts
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USRC Massachusetts was one of the original ten cutters[a] built and used by the United States Revenue Cutter Service.[b][3] While not the first USRS cutter to be launched, it was the first to enter active service.[3]
History
Massachusetts was built at Newburyport, MA by shipwright William Searle.[4] She was designed as a schooner.[5] She was rigged with fore-and-aft sails on two masts.
On July 15, 1791 Massachusetts was launched.[3] John Foster Williams was its first master.[3] Her crew consisted of four officers, four enlisted men and two cabin boys.[6] She was 60 feet (18 m) long by 17 feet 8 inches (5.38 m) wide and had a shallow draft of only 7 feet 8 inches (2.34 m).[7] Williams ordered an increase in her size without getting approval by the service.[6] This increased her cost over what was originally budgeted. But the government accepted the Massachusetts as changed by Williams.[6]
She had the shortest service life of any of the original ten cutters.[6] The first Massachusetts turned out to be too expensive to operate and was too slow.[8] On 9 October 1792 she was sold.[3] In 1793 she was replaced by a smaller lighter sloop, the Massachusetts II.[6]
Related pages
Notes
- ↑ The term cutter came from the boats used by Great Britain's Royal Customs Service.[1] Modern Coast Guard cutters are any larger ship no matter what the type.[1]
- ↑ Also called the Revenue Marine. Together with the United States Life-Saving Service, the United States Revenue Cutter Service formed the United States Coast Guard on 28 January 1915.[2]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Eighteenth, Nineteenth & Early Twentieth Century Revenue Cutters". United States Coast Guard, U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Retrieved 14 October 2016.
- ↑ Robert Scheina. "The Coast Guard At War". United States Coast Guard, U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 "The First Ten Cutters; The first commissioned U.S. Revenue cutters". United States Coast Guard, U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Retrieved 17 October 2016.
- ↑ "Birthplace of the United States Coast Guard - Newburyport, MA". Waymarking.com. Groundspeak, Inc. Retrieved 17 October 2016.
- ↑ Horatio Davis Smith, Early History of the United States Revenue Marine Service, ed. Elliot Snow (Washington, DC: Coast Guard Bicentennial Publication, 1989), p. 34
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 "Massachusetts, 1791" (PDF). United States Coast Guard, U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Retrieved 17 October 2016.
- ↑ Paul H. Silverstone, The Sailing Navy, 1775-1854 (London; New York: Routledge, 2006), p. 77
- ↑ "1790 - 1915: Revenue Cutters, The First Ten". Coast Guard Modeling. Archived from the original on 24 April 2017. Retrieved 17 October 2016.