USS Spark (1831)

For other ships of the same name, see USS Spark.
Career (USA)
Name: USS Spark
Laid down: date unknown
Acquired: by the Navy in 1831 at Baltimore, Maryland
In service: 1831
Out of service: 1832
Fate: sold in May 1832
General characteristics
Type:schooner
Displacement:50 tons
Length:not known
Beam:not known
Draft:not known
Propulsion:schooner sail
Speed:not known
Complement:14
Armament:One gun

USS Spark (1831) was a schooner purchased by the Navy during the early days of the republic. She was assigned to patrolling for lumber smugglers along the lower East Coast of the United States.

Purchased in Maryland

The second ship to be so named by the Navy, Spark was purchased by the Navy in 1831 at Baltimore, Maryland, and sailed early in April to Washington, D. C., to be repaired and fitted out; and commissioned on or near 19 May 1832, Lt. William Piercy in command.

Protecting timber from poachers

The schooner departed early in June and remained at Norfolk, Virginia, until the 27th when she headed for the Florida coast to protect live oak timber on public lands in the southern states. She was impeded in her voyage south by adverse winds and did not reach St. Augustine, Florida, until 12 August. She cruised along the coast of Georgia and Gulf of Mexico looking for lumber poachers until May 1832.

Decommissioning

Spark then returned north and was sold.

See also

References