- USS Yorktown (1839)
The first "USS Yorktown" was a 16-gun
sloop-of-war of theU.S. Navy .She was laid down in
1838 by theNorfolk Navy Yard , launched in1839 , and commissioned on 15 November 1840, CommanderJohn H. Aulick in command."Yorktown" departed Hampton Roads on
13 December , bound for the Pacific. After calling atRio de Janeiro from23 January to 5 February 1841, the sloop roundedCape Horn and arrived atValparaíso ,Chile , on20 March .The ship operated along the Pacific coast of
South America until26 May , when she sailed fromCallao ,Peru , bound for the Pacific isles. Looking after the interests of the Americanwhaling industry and of the nation's ocean commerce, she called at theMarquesas , theSociety Islands ,New Zealand , and theHawaiian Islands . After completing her mission in the South and Central Pacific, she departedHonolulu on6 November and headed for the coast ofMexico ."Yorktown" called at
Mazatlán before heading south to resume operations along the coast of South America. She continued her cruising - primarily out of Callao and Valparaíso – through the early fall of1842 , when she departed Callao on23 September , bound forSan Francisco , where she arrived on27 October .Shifting to Monterey on
11 November , the sloop called again at Mazatlán on the 22d before she proceeded to Valparaiso. "Yorktown" remained at that port until she got underway on 2 May 1843 for the east coast of the United States. After rounding Cape Horn and calling at Rio de Janeiro, she arrived at New York on5 August . Six days later, the sloop was decommissioned.Placed in active service once more, on 7 August 1844, with Commander Charles H. Bell in command, "Yorktown" departed New York on
11 October , bound forFunchal ,Madeira . After proceeding thence toPorto Praya , the sloop joined theAfrica Squadron on27 November ."Yorktown" ranged up and down the west coast of Africa, going as far south as
Cape Town ,Cape Colony , as she labored to curtail theslave trade . In the course of her patrols, the vigilant sloop captured slave-ships "Pons", "Panther", and "Patuxent".On 2 May 1846, Yorktown departed Porto Praya and returned to the east coast of the United States, reaching
Boston on the 29th. There, on 9 June, the sloop was once again decommissioned.Subsequently recommissioned at Boston, she sailed on 22 November 1848 for her second deployment with the African Squadron. Still engaged in hunting down slave ships, "Yorktown" cruised along the African coast, carefully observing each ship she encountered for any sign of the illicit traffic in human flesh. On
6 September 1850 , she struck an uncharted reef atIsle de Mayo in theCape Verde Islands. Although the ship broke up in a very short time, not a life was lost in the wreck.References
*DANFS|http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/y1/yorktown-i.htm
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.