USS Quaker City (1854)

Wash drawing of USS Quaker City (1861-1865) by Clary Ray, circa 1900.
History
United States
Name:	USS Quaker City
Namesake:	A former name retained.
Laid down:	date unknown
Launched:	1854
Acquired:	25 April 1861
Commissioned:	14 December 1861 at New York City
Decommissioned:	18 May 1865 at the Philadelphia Navy Yard
Struck:	1865 (est.)
Fate:	sold, 20 June 1865 at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Status:	continued to serve American commerce until 1869
General characteristics
Type:	Steamship
Displacement:	1,428 long tons (1,451 t) (burden)
Length:	244 ft 8 in (74.57 m)
Beam:	36 ft 0 in (10.97 m)
Draft:	13 ft 8 in (4.17 m)
Depth of hold:	29 ft 0.5 in (8.852 m)
Propulsion:	Steam engine, side wheel-propelled
Speed:	13 kn (15 mph; 24 km/h)
Complement:	163 officers and enlisted
Armament:	1 × 20-pounder Parrott rifle, 8 × 32-pounder guns

USS Quaker City (1854) was a heavy, 1,428 long tons (1,451 t) sidewheel steamship leased by the Union Navy at the start of the American Civil War. She was subsequently purchased by the navy, outfitted with a powerful 20-pounder long rifle, and assigned to help enforce the Union blockade of the ports of the Confederate States of America.

Quaker City — a sidewheel steamer built at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1854 — was chartered by the navy for 30 days on 25 April 1861 from Hargous & Co., re-chartered for three months on 25 May; purchased on 12 August 1861, and commissioned at New York City on 14 December 1861, Commander James M. Frailey in command.

Placed in service only six days after President Abraham Lincoln declared a blockade of the Confederate coast, Quaker City was one of the most active and effective blockaders in the Union Navy. Stationed off the entrance to Chesapeake Bay, she shared in the capture of ship North Carolina on 14 May, of bark Pioneer in Hampton Roads on the 25th, and of bark Winifred off Cape Henry the same day.

She captured schooner Lynchburg, carrying coffee in the Chesapeake Bay on 30 May and took bark General Green off Cape Henry on 4 June. Already a veteran, she shared in the capture of Amy Warwick in Hampton Roads on the 10th, took bark Sally Magee there on the 26th, and shared in taking schooner Sally Mears on 1 July.

Schooner Fair Wind became her prize on 29 August, and the sidewheeler shared in the capture of steamer Elsie on 4 September. Three days later she sailed north for repairs and to receive a naval crew and organization.

Commissioned at New York City on 14 December, Quaker City was detached from the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron to cruise in search of CSS Sumter and turned her attention to hunting Confederate raiders. She captured Model in the Gulf of Mexico on 30 June 1862 and Lilla carrying drugs off Hole-in-Wall, Virginia on 3 July. Four days later, she helped Huntsville take Adela off the Bahamas, and on the 24th blockade runner Orion at Champeche Bank, south of Key West, Florida.