Texan schooner Zavala
Zavala
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| History | |
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 Republic of Texas
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| Namesake: | Lorenzo de Zavala |
| Builder: | John Vaughan and Son |
| Completed: | 1836 |
| Acquired: | November 1838 |
| Commissioned: | 23 March 1839 |
| Decommissioned: | May 1842 |
| Homeport: | Galveston, Texas |
| Fate: | ran aground, later broken up and sold for scrap |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Schooner |
| Length: | 201 ft (61 m) |
| Beam: | 24 ft (7.3 m) |
| Draft: | 12 ft (3.7 m) |
| Propulsion: | steam |
| Capacity: | 120 |
| Complement: |
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| Armament: |
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The Texan steamship Zavala was a Texas Navy ship in Texas' second Navy after the Texas Revolution. She was the first steamship-of-war in the Texas Navy.
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 Zavala.
The Zavala was built in 1836 as a passenger steamship named the Charleston serving the Philadelphia-Charleston route. In 1838, when Lamar began rebuilding the Texan fleet, the navy purchased the Charleston for $120,000 and renamed it Zavala in honor of Lorenzo de Zavala, the first Vice President of the Republic of Texas.
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Wikipedia