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Wooden
side-wheel steamer Metacomet was launched 7 March 1863 by Thomas
Stack, Brooklyn, N.Y., and commissioned at New York 4 January 1864, Comdr.
James H. Jovett in command.
Metacomet joined the West Gulf Blockading Squadron in the blockade
of Mobile Bay and captured British blockade runner Donegal 6 June.
On the 30th Glasgow forced blockade running steamer Ivanhoe
ashore near Fort Morgan, whose guns protected the ship from destruction
by the Union. Unsuccessful in efforts to destroy her by long-range fire
from Metacomet and Monongahela, Admiral Farragut ordered a
boat expedition to attempt the task. Under cover of darkness, boats from
Metacomet and Kennebec slipped in close to shore and burned
the steamer.
Metacomet and 17 other ships entered Mobile Bay in a double column
5 August. In the ensuing battle Metacomet and other Union ships captured
Confederate ram Tennessee, a major threat to the blockaders at Mobile.
Farragut's ships maintained a heavy fire on Fort Morgan and Confederate
gunboats, capturing Selma. Metacomet then rescued survivors
from Union monitor Tecumseh, sunk by a Confederate torpedo.
With Mobile in Union hands, Metacomet steamed to the Texas coast
and captured blockade runner Susanna off Campechy Banks 28 November,
and took schooner Sea Witch and sloop Lilly off Galveston
31 December and 6 January 1865, respectively.
Torpedoes remained a danger to shipping in waters near Mobile even after
that southern port had fallen to the Union so Metacomet returned
there to drag the Bay and Blakely Channel for the "infernal machines"
9 March through 12 April 1865. Returning north after the end of the conflict,
Metacomet decommissioned at Philadelphia 18 August and was sold there
to John Roach & Sons, 28 October 1865.