USS Shark

While doing an entry on another blog about two cannons from the USS Shark, which sank in 1846, washing ashore last weekend at Cannon Beach, Oregon, I looked up USS Shark in wikipedia. http://cootershistorything.blogspot.com

There was a Civil War USS Shark, so here goes.

The Second USS Shark was originally a Confederate blockade running schooner named tthe Shark, Hey, Blockade Running, I Like That!!! It was captured by the US Navy and eventually renamed the USS George W. Rodgers.

Initially, it was intended to be used as part of the Great Stone Fleet which was sunk off Charleston Harbor, SC, to seal it, but it was decided to retain it for picket duty.

It was originally captured by the USS South Carolina while trying to run the blockade by Galveston, Texas. on July 4, 1861. It was later sold to a private owner and later chartered by the US Navy under a civilian master. From 1862-1863 it served as a dispatch ship for the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron.

The US Navy took it over in 1863 to be sunk off Charleston Harbor, but plans changed. It was sold in 1865.