USS Beagle (1822)
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States
|
|
| Name: | USS Beagle |
| Acquired: | 20 December 1822 |
| Commissioned: | 1823 |
| Decommissioned: | March 1825 |
| Fate: | Sold |
| General characteristics | |
| Tonnage: | 52 tons |
| Propulsion: | Sail |
| Complement: | 31 |
| Armament: | 3 guns |
USS Beagle was a schooner in the United States Navy during the 1820s. Beagle was purchased by the Navy on 20 December 1822 in Baltimore, Maryland, and commissioned early in 1823, Lieutenant John T. Newton in command.
On 15 February 1823, the schooner put to sea from Hampton Roads, Virginia, in company with Commodore David Porter's squadron, bound for the West Indies. Depredations inflicted on American shipping by pirates in the Caribbean constituted the reason this and other punitive expeditions were launched. The squadron arrived in the Virgin Islands at the island of St. Thomas on 3 March and soon thereafter began searching for pirates.
On 21 July, while Beagle and schooner Greyhound were reconnoitering Cape Cruz on the southern coast of Cuba, the commanding officers of both warships went ashore to investigate but found nothing on that side of the cape. Thereupon, they reembarked in their boat and pulled around to the other side of the promontory. When close to the shoreline, they came under fire that forced them to retreat around the cape to their ships.
The following day, Beagle and Greyhound rounded the cape and anchored within gunshot of the shoreline. One landing party went ashore to work around behind the pirates and cut off their retreat while another, supported by the guns of the two schooners, assaulted the pirates frontally. The pirates retreated, evaded the attempted encirclement, and escaped. The Americans located the pirates' base and destroyed it, carrying off the heavier weaponry. Beagle then resumed her patrols and continued to ply the waters of the West Indies until the autumn of 1823 when a severe outbreak of yellow fever forced her and several other ships of the squadron to return home for new crews.
Beagle returned to the West Indies sometime in 1824. Late in October, she was at St. Thomas when some pirates from Fajardo, Puerto Rico, stole about 5,000 dollars worth of merchandise from an American-owned store. One of the store's owners requested Lt. Platt—then commanding Beagle—to help in recovering the goods. Platt agreed and quickly set Beagle's sails for Fajardo. Late that evening, the schooner entered the outer harbor at Fajardo and anchored for the night.
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