Texan brig Wharton
Brig Wharton
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| History | |
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 Republic of Texas
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| Namesake: | John Austin Wharton |
| Builder: | Schott and Whitney, Baltimore |
| Launched: | 1839 |
| Commissioned: | October 18, 1839 |
| Decommissioned: | May 11, 1846 |
| Renamed: | Originally called the Colorado |
| Homeport: | Galveston, Texas |
| Fate: | transferred to the United States Navy and then sold |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Brig |
| Displacement: | 405 tons |
| Tons burthen: | 419 tons |
| Length: | 112 ft (34 m) |
| Beam: | 29 ft (8.8 m) |
| Draught: | 11 ft (3.4 m) |
| Propulsion: | wind |
| Speed: | variable |
| Complement: |
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| Armament: |
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The Texan brig Wharton was a two-masted brig of the Second Texas Navy from 1839-1846. She was the sister ship of the Archer. Accompanying the Texas flagship, Austin, she defeated a larger force of Mexican Navy steamships in the Naval Battle of Campeche in May 1843. Transferred to the United States Navy in 1846, she was sold for $55.
The Texas Navy was officially formed in January 1836, with the purchase of four schooners: Invincible, Brutus, Independence, and Liberty. These ships, under the command of Commodore Charles Hawkins, helped Texas win independence by preventing a Mexican blockade of the Texas coast, seizing Mexican ships carrying reinforcements and supplies to its army, and sending their cargoes to the Texas volunteer army. Nevertheless, Mexico refused to recognize Texas as an independent country. By the middle of 1837, all of the ships had been lost at sea, run aground, captured, or sold. With no ships to impede a possible invasion by Mexico, Texas was vulnerable to attack.
In 1838, President Mirabeau B. Lamar responded to this threat by forming a second Texas Navy. Unlike Sam Houston, Lamar was an ardent supporter of the Texas Navy and saw the urgent need for its continuation. The second Texas Navy was placed under the command of Commodore Edwin Ward Moore, an Alexandria Academy graduate who was recruited from the United States Navy. One of the ships of this second navy was the Wharton along with her sister ship, the Archer.
Wharton was built in Baltimore, Maryland at the Schott and Whitney shipyard. Originally called the Colorado, she was rechristened in honor of John Austin Wharton, a hero of the battle of San Jacinto.
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Wikipedia