USS Leonidas (1861)

USS "Leonidas" was originally built as a whaling bark of 231 tons, 320 feet long.

It was active in the Pacific Ocean in 1849, captained by Captain Swift of New Bedford, Massachusetts. From 1850 to 1854, it was partially owned, and captained by, Benjamin Smith Clark, Jr.

Purchased on 27 October 1861 by the US Navy at New Bedford, Massachusetts for $3,050 for use as part of the Stone Fleet. Filled with stone, it sailed from New Bedford in charge of Master John Howland on November 20 1861. Exactly one month later, it was intentionally sunk, along with 15 other vessels, in an unsuccessful effort to stop blockade runners from using the main shipping channel into Charleston Harbor about four miles south-southeast of Fort Sumter and three miles east-southeast of the light on Morris Island, South Carolina. ["Treasures of the Confederate Coast: the "real Rhett Butler" & Other Revelations" by Dr. E. Lee Spence, (Narwhal Press, Charleston/Miami, 1995) [ISBN 1886391017] [ISBN 1886391009] , p. 146]

References

* [http://www.thekeokuk.com/charleston/First_Stone_Fleet.htm Military Correspondence related to the stone fleet]
* [http://www.du.edu.~ttyler/ploughboy/starbuck.htm Captain Swift]
* [http://the-orchard-street-manor.com/history/history.htm Benjamin Smith Clark, Jr.]