USS Onkahye (1843)

History
Name:	Onkahye
Builder:	William Capes
Laid down:	1839
Launched:	1840
Acquired:	1843
Commissioned:	1843
Fate:	Shipwrecked 1848
General characteristics
Tons burthen:	250
Length:	96 ft (29 m)
Beam:	22 ft (6.7 m)
Draft:	12 ft (3.7 m)
Armament:	2 guns

USS Onkahye was a schooner of the United States Navy. A unique ship in the American Navy under sail, the vessel occupied a significant place in ship development, being the only converted sailing yacht to serve on distant station before the American Civil War. Its design was influential and it is considered the model for modern American sailing yachts.

Used in the anti-piracy/anti-slave trade patrols in the Caribbean, it went down in 1848 off East Caicos, in the Turks & Caicos Islands. A NOAA-supported expedition in 2008 conducted field work in search of the Onkahye and the USS Chippewa, also known to have gone down in that area in 1816.

Onkahye, a schooner yacht of a radical Robert L. Stevens design, was laid down in 1839 by William Capes, Williamsburg, New York, opposite the Brooklyn Navy Yard. After it was launched in 1840, it was purchased by the Navy in early 1843 and converted to a warship. It was commissioned at Gosport Navy Yard, Virginia, 11 July 1843, with Lt. William C. Whittle in command. Because of its speed, the schooner's unique design strongly influenced the development of modern American sailing yachts.

Departing Norfolk 23 October 1843, Onkahye spent her first commission as a dispatch vessel in Charleston, South Carolina, returning to Norfolk 18 June 1844 and decommissioning two days later. She recommissioned 10 April 1845 and sailed 9 May 1845 for duty in the Caribbean and the West Indies. She was among the ships used for anti-piracy/anti-slave trade patrols, as the United States and Great Britain had worked cooperatively since 1808 to suppress the international slave trade.

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