Texan schooner San Jacinto
Schooner San Antonio, San Jacinto's sister ship
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| History | |
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 Republic of Texas
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| Namesake: | San Jacinto River |
| Builder: | Schott and Whitney, Baltimore |
| Launched: | 1836 |
| Commissioned: | 27 June 1839 |
| Decommissioned: | 31 October 1840 |
| Renamed: | Originally called the Viper |
| Homeport: | Galveston, Texas |
| Fate: | wrecked in a storm at the Cayos Arcas in 1840 |
| 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 Jacinto was a two-masted schooner of the Second Texas Navy from 1839-1840. She was the sister ship of the San Antonio and the San Bernard. In 1840, San Jacinto 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. In a storm, San Jacinto ran aground at Cayos Arcas and was wrecked. The crew were rescued by the flagship Austin.
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 Antonio and San Bernard.
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Wikipedia