7 - Steam in the Civil War Era

(Part 2)

World Voyager

The United States Navy did not have any ship named Enterprise in service during the Civil War. The fifth USS Enterprise was a steam and sail sloop-of-war commissioned, under Commander George Remey, on March 16, 1877. This ship spent a great part of her service career in peaceful surveys of the Earth's rivers and oceans and in "showing the flag" as she circled the globe.

The Enterprise departed port at Hampton Roads, Virginia in November 1877, to conduct oceanographic surveys of the Mississippi River. She completed her survey assignment in March 1878, and returned to Norfolk in April. Before departing on her next assignment, Commander Thomas Selfridge was placed in command. The Enterprise arrived at Para, Brazil on May 2, 1878, and spent the next 4 months surveying a total of 1,300 miles of the Amazon and Madeira Rivers. She returned to New York on September 25, 1878 for repairs.

The Enterprise then joined the United States naval force in the Mediterranean, arriving at Gibraltar on December 21, 1878. She sailed European waters for several months, making calls at such ports as Le Havre and Toulon, France; Antwerp, Belgium; Wilhemshafen, Holland; Christiana, Norway; Copenhagen, Denmark; and Cronstadt, Russia. On her southbound voyage, she made calls at Kiel, Germany; the Isle of Wight, England; Morocco; Sicily; Alexandria, Egypt; Beirut, Lebanon; and Constantinople (now Istanbul, Turkey). The Enterprise returned to the Washington Navy Yard on May 20, 1880, where she was decommissioned, for the first of many times.

The Enterprise was recommissioned on January 12, 1882, under command of Commander Edwin Sheppard, and spent a year cruising the United States east coast and the Caribbean. She was then placed under command of Commander Albert Barker and set sail on January 1, 1883, on a 3-year hydrographic survey that took her around the world. She steamed first to the Cape Verde Islands, taking soundings every 100 miles. She then proceeded around the Cape of Good Hope, across the Indian Ocean, and on to Java. She departed Java on September 19, 1883, and sailed along the coast of China to Korea and then to Nagasaki, Japan.

On August 23, 1884, the Enterprise was in port at Foochow, China when seven French gunboats engaged a fleet of nine Chinese warships. During and after the battle, the Enterprise's crew lent assistance to wounded from both sides in the conflict. She departed the area of China and Japan in July 1885, and set sail for Java; Albany and Melbourne, Australia; and Wellington, New Zealand. She navigated the Strait of Magellan on December 19, 1885, enroute to New York. On her northbound trip, the Enterprise made stops at Montevideo, Uruguay; Bridgetown, Barbados; and St. Thomas, Danish West Indies (now the United States Virgin Islands). Upon arrival at New York on March 17, 1886, she was decommissioned for the second time.

The 1877 screw sloop USS Enterprise served during a time of relative peace, and her main duties included oceanographic surveys and "showing the flag." [Photo: U.S. Naval Historical Center]

The Enterprise was reactivated on October 4, 1887, with Commander Bowman McCalla in command. On January 19, 1888, she sailed to European waters, where she made numerous calls at such ports as Southampton, England; St. Petersburg, Russia; Stockholm, Sweden; and others. She returned to Gibraltar on December 23, 1888, and sailed the Mediterranean enroute to the Suez Canal. She passed through the canal on March 19, 1889, for a tour which took her to Aden, Madagascar, Mozambique, and Zanzibar. The Enterprise returned through the Suez Canal on June 4, 1889, and sailed back to New York, with stops in Italy, France, and England. She entered the New York Navy Yard on March 7, 1890 and was again decommissioned in May 1890.

The Enterprise was recommissioned for the final time on July 8, 1890, and operated for a year in the Caribbean, with stops at Kingston, Jamaica; Havana, Cuba; Port-au-Prince, Haiti; Santo Domingo; and the Danish West Indies (U.S. Virgin Islands). From September 17, 1891, to September 2, 1892, she served as the training ship of the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland.

The Massachusetts Nautical Training School

On October 17, 1892, the Enterprise was lent to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as the official training vessel of the Massachusetts Nautical Training School (later called the Massachusetts Maritime Academy). She remained in drydock until March 25, 1893, when she was commissioned by Commander J.F. Mercy, U.S. Navy. During the months from October 1892 to March 1893, the Enterprise was completely rebuilt and brought up to peak condition for her new duties. The ship's first year of service with the Training School was reported in the 1893 Annual Report of the School's Board of Commissioners as follows:

The ship was undocked March 25, coal and stores were taken in, sails bent, and on April 6 forty cadets received on board and the course of instruction was commenced. On April 15 the cruise commenced. The ship was sent to Provincetown and to cruise in Massachusetts Bay. There were then in the school sixty cadets. On April 22 the ship was sent to New York, and was assigned a position in the naval review, returning to Boston on May 1. On May 4 she sailed on another cruise, visiting different ports in the State, including Marblehead, Gloucester, Vineyard Haven, and New Bedford, and thence to Gardner's Bay, Long Island, N.Y. At the different ports the ship was visited by large numbers of people, and examinations were held for those desiring to join the school. The time at Gardner's Bay was devoted to exercises aloft and in the boats and preparation for a foreign cruise....

On July 1 the Enterprise sailed for Southampton with ninety-two cadets on board, arriving there after a very good passage of twenty-four days, made almost entirely under sail. At Southampton the cadets were taken by their instructors on board the Paris and the New York of the American line for instructions, and were also instructed in the methods of docking at Southampton and London.

It was the intention of the commissioners that the ship visit Havre, to give instruction in the docking method in use at that port, but the commander exercised his discretion in not visiting that harbor, on account of the cholera restrictions, and proceeded to Lisbon, where she arrived on the 18th of August. The ship touched at Funchal, Madeira, on the 29th, and sailed for Las Palmas, in the Grand Canaries, which is an important coaling station. The ship left Las Palmas September 9 and arrived at Boston after a pleasant passage of thirty-one days. The cruise was a very successful one, the route insured pleasant weather, which permitted the instruction in seamanship, navigation and engineering to go on almost uninterruptedly, and the cadets, with few exceptions, were studious and well behaved. The cadets who were sufficiently advanced in mathematics were carried as far as possible in navigation, and at the end of the cruise the first class was able to find the latitude in meridian altitude of the sun and the moon and longitude by time sights of sun and stars, and to work out Azimuth observations, while nearly all could work dead reckoning and find the course and distance from the ship's position to any part of the world. The work of the ship was done almost entirely by the cadets, and only enough seamen were carried to act as instructors in the practical work and as leading men. Whenever the ship was under steam the cadets have taken the watches in the engine and fire room.34

The Enterprise was then secured for the winter months, and instruction continued on land.

On a later summer cruise, an incident imperiled the life of a cadet. However, the heroic actions of the crew and other cadets resulted in a happy ending. On August 19, 1897, Cadet H. Proctor Smith was thrown overboard by the sudden tightening of a sail. Two life buoys were immediately dropped to the cadet, and he managed to hold on to one. The Enterprise was brought around and a lifeboat, manned by four seamen and three cadets, was lowered.

The plucky youngster was soon picked up and brought on board. The wind was fresh, making a heavy following sea, and carry the ship along at the rate of ten knots an hour, dragging her propeller. The rescue of the cadet under such conditions bespoke the excellent discipline and steady courage that pervaded the ship from cabin to forecastle.35

Although the Enterprise herself was not involved in the Spanish-American War, she was affected by the hostilities. During the first two weeks of April 1898, all five naval officers detailed to the Enterprise were recalled to active duty on United States Navy vessels. Realizing that the Enterprise herself might also be called to active service, the nautical school made inquiries of the Secretary of the Navy concerning that possibility. Upon being informed that the Enterprise would not be needed, the school then set about the difficult task, because of the existing military demands, of finding replacements for the five naval officers. Retired Navy Commander Andrew Iverson took command of the ship on May 1, 1898. Because of the obvious dangers of sending the Enterprise overseas during a time of war, that year's summer cruise was limited to ports along the New England coast. When war was finally declared between the United States and Spain, the school's cadets were inspired to give service to their country. A total of 61 of the Enterprise's cadets and graduates enlisted in the United States Navy, and another five enlisted in the Army.

On April 26, 1909, after almost 17 years of service with the Massachusetts Nautical Training School, the Enterprise was replaced by the USS Ranger. The Enterprise had successfully completed 13 overseas cruises and at least as many local cruises, graduating thousands of cadets. She was returned to the United States Navy and, after a career which took her to virtually every corner of the world, was decommissioned on August 6, 1909, and finally sold on October 1, 1909.

By the late-20th Century, the Massachusetts Nautical Training School had become the Massachusetts Maritime Academy, a co-educational institution of higher education with Bachelor of Science programs in marine engineering and marine transportation, with secondary concentrations in such diverse areas as mechanical engineering, business management, marine fisheries, and facilities/plant engineering. In 1991, the Academy celebrated the 100th anniversary of its beginning, a beginning which included a ship named Enterprise. Twelve years later, another Enterprise would become a part of the Academy's maritime heritage.

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Last Updated: January 1, 2003