Texan schooner San Bernard
Schooner San Antonio, sister ship of San Bernard
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| History | |
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 Republic of Texas
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| Namesake: | San Bernard River |
| Builder: | Schott and Whitney, Baltimore |
| Launched: | 1836 |
| Commissioned: | 31 August 1839 |
| Decommissioned: | 11 May 1846 |
| Renamed: | Originally called the Scorpion |
| Homeport: | Galveston, Texas |
| Fate: |
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| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Schooner |
| Displacement: | 170 tons |
| Length: | 66 feet |
| Beam: | 21.5 |
| Draught: | 8 ft. |
| Propulsion: | wind |
| Speed: | variable |
| Complement: |
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| Armament: |
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The Texan schooner San Bernard was a two-masted schooner of the Second Texas Navy from 1839-1840. She was the sister ship of the San Jacinto and the San Antonio. In 1840, San Antonio was part of the Texas Navy flotilla led by Commodore Edwin Ward Moore which was dispatched to assist Yucatecan rebels that had taken up arms against Mexico. Returning to the Yucatan in 1841, San Bernard assisted in the capture of three Mexican prizes. Upon return to Galveston, San Bernard was driven ashore and was not repaired. When Texas joined the United States in 1846, San Bernard was transferred to the United States Navy and then sold for $150.
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 San Jacinto along with her sister ships, the San Jacinto and San Bernard.
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Wikipedia