USS Peterhoff (1863)

The Peterhoff was a 416-ton iron-hulled yacht originally built for the Tsar of Russia by C. J. Mare & Co. of Blackwall, London, with 140 hp steam engines by J & G. Rennie.[2] Launched in 1850,[3]

During her delivery voyage to Saint Petersburg, Peterhoff was driven ashore on Saaremaa on 1 November 1850.[4] She was abandoned by the crew and her insurers made a payment of £15,000 to the Imperial Russian Government. She was later refloated and sank to preserve her from damage from the waves. Peterhoff was refloated in the spring of 1851 and taken in to Riga, where temporary repairs were made. Departing in early July, she reached London on 17 July.[5] The ship was acquired by British interests and fitted out as a cargo ship.[6]

Peterhoff sailed from Falmouth, Cornwall on 27 January 1863. On 20 February 1863, she was boarded and searched by the USS Alabama off the island of Saint Thomas in the Danish West Indies. Alabama found her papers in order and released her. Peterhoff then entered the harbour at St. Thomas where two U.S. Navy ships commanded by Acting Rear Admiral Charles Wilkes were at anchor. Wilkes, already notorious for his part in the "Trent Affair", ordered that the Peterhoff be boarded by the USS Vanderbilt just after she had left harbour on 25 February.[6]

Peterhoff had papers that stated that she was bound for Matamoros in Mexico, but then a sailor aboard let slip that she was really bound for Brownsville, Texas, just across the Rio Grande. This comment was taken as sufficient justification for Vanderbilt to seize the ship as a blockade runner, and she was sent to Key West. Both the Danish and British governments vigorously protested the seizure, but the ship was eventually condemned by the New York prize court and bought by the Union Navy.[6] She was commissioned in February 1864 with Acting-Volunteer Lieutenant Thomas Pickering in command,[7] and assigned to the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron.[6]

The ship departed Hampton Roads, Virginia, on 28 February to blockade Wilmington, North Carolina.[7] However, early on the morning of 6 March 1864, the Peterhoff was rammed by the gunboat Monticello who mistook her for a blockade runner. Although Peterhoff sank within half an hour, all of her crew were saved. On the night of 7 March 1864, men from Mount Vernon and Niphon boarded the wreck at low tide and destroyed as much as they could, cutting down the masts and spiking all the guns that they could reach.[6]