Sacramento (1865): links, questions, comments, coordination, ...

[Randi]

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NARA URL	JPG Link	General area(s)
https://catalog.archives.gov/id/169774852	January February	Portugal Spain
https://catalog.archives.gov/id/169775049	February March April May June July August	Spain and Portugal England Holland Belgium England Ireland Azores Massachusetts

Decommissioned 21 August


Muster Rolls of U.S.S. Sacramento, 1863-1866

[Michael]

Lisbon, Portugal
28 March 1865

At 10, Rebel Ram Stonewall steamed down the harbor toward us, cleared ship for action. Stonewall steamed past, then passed down.

And so ends the battles between the USS Niagara and USS Sacramento and CSS Stonewall. The article is very interesting, and I recommend it. It also explains why we left harbour, and then immediately turned around and anchored again. Not once, but on two successive days.

We had been near the Stonewall on a number of occasions, although this is the first entry I that I noticed it.

From Captain Page of the CSS Stonewall on 24 March:

The day was very fine, earth, sky and sea were alike beautiful, and nothing could be more lovely and picturesque than the mountains behind Ferrol and Corona [sic], alive with human beings; the whole population of Ferrol, Corona [sic] and the neighboring villages and hamlets seemed to have gathered there to witness the battle of the little “Stonewall” and the two goliaths

The people were disappointed, however, because even though the Stonewall taunted the two U.S. Navy ships all day by steaming back and forth before A Coruña, the Navy did not engage because they thought their wooden ships were inferior. Commodore Thomas T. Craven, commander of the “Niagara,” who, by his inaction on that day was court-martialed months later, said: “With feelings no one can imagine, I was obliged to undergo the deep humiliation of knowing that it (the “Stonewall”) was there, steaming back and forth, flaunting its flags, and waiting for me to go out to the attack. I dared not to do it!” And so, without even firing a shot, the “Stonewall” inflicted the greatest embarrassment on the U.S. Navy during the Civil War off the Galician coast. Captain Page never understood why the heavily armed federal ships didn’t engage.


But Commodore Craven was afraid of the “CSS Stonewall” as reflected in his reports to his superiors: “The ‘Stonewall’ is a much more formidable vessel than any of our monitors … in smooth water and open sea it would be more than a match for three such vessels as the ‘Niagara’.” (Official Records, op. cit., pp. 435-436). Stories had been circulating of the supposed capabilities of the ship, and everybody believed them.

After the non-battle at El Ferrol, the “CSS Stonewall” arrived in Lisbon on March 27 for additional supplies before it started the Atlantic crossing on March 28. It was shadowed all the while by the “Niagara” and the “Sacramento.” A few hours after the “Stonewall” left, the “Niagara” started to change its anchorage. The commander of the Belem tower mistakenly believed that the “Niagara” had resumed its pursuit in violation of the 24-hour internationally recognized window after a belligerent had left a neutral port, and opened fire on the ship. This was the only time a foreign country fired upon a U.S. warship during the Civil War.

When it was scrapped in 1908, the ship had served under six flags: French, Danish, Confederate States, Spanish, United States, and Japanese.

This article, which is about her time in Japan and her construction, is also very interesting. It says she was scrapped in 1888, not 1908 as above.

[Michael]

More from the same day.

Note: At 3:30 hove up anchor, ship riding to the flood tide. The Niagara steamed toward the entrance of the harbor, apparently with the intention of getting more room to turn round in. When our anchor was away, we backed the engine, moving all the time nearer the city, to give the Niagara more room to turn in. When the Niagara bore off our st'bd bow, and she was still going ahead (our engine backing), Belem Castle first opened fire, one shot struck the water astern of the Niagara. We still continued to back, casting to port until half-way round, when we went ahead and turned the ship's head toward the city and waited for the Niagara to pass us. Belem Castle fired several shots at the Niagara, even when she was more than half-way round and her flag at half mast. The Niagara was some distance inside the Castle when it opened fire. The Sacramento was not fired at.

I guess the previous days when Sacramento started to leave and then suddenly returned back to her anchorage must have been due to something else. Both times the Niagara told us to leave, and both times she changed her mind within an hour.

[Randi]

https://www.history.navy.mil/research/h ... ra-ii.html
"In February and March, with Sacramento she [the Niagara] lay at El Ferrol, Spain, to prevent Confederate ironclad Stonewall from departing, but the much more powerful southern ship was able to make good her escape."

[Michael]

I guess that's one way to spin it.

[Michael]

5 August 1865
3 AM position near 39.2439, -44.5222 or 39°14'38"N 44°31'19"W

Aurora Borealis burning brightly from 3 A. M. to 4.

[Michael]

The voyage for 1865 has been done. You can see a plot of the voyage here and, for more details, you can download the KML file and view it with Google Earth. No people were mentioned.

These are the weather statistics for this voyage:

Weather Element	Records
DirT	5,491
Kts	5,496
Baro	1,276
Dry	1,132
Weather	5,495
Total	18,890

Sacramento travelled a total of 7,715 miles.