View source for USS Annie

{{short description|Gunboat of the United States Navy}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}}
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'''USS ''Annie''''' was a [[schooner]] captured by the [[Union Navy]] during the [[American Civil War]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/nhhc/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/enwiki/w/wanderer-i.html|title=Wanderer I (Sch)|website=NHHC|language=en-US|access-date=2019-04-10}}</ref> She was used by the Union Navy as a [[ship's tender]] in support of the Union Navy blockade of [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] waterways.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/OnlineLibrary/photos/sh-usn/usnsh-m/malvern.htm|title=USN Ships&mdash;USS Malvern (1863-1865)|website=ibiblio.org|access-date=2019-04-12}}</ref> Her service during the Union naval blockade of Confederate waters peaked during the Second Chesapeake Affair (1863–64) as a "fresh reinforcement from the south"<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=McDonald|first=R.H|date=1974|title=Second Chesapeake Affair: 1863-1864.|journal=The Dalhousie Review}}</ref> in the search and capture of the U.S.S Chesapeake.<ref name=":0" />

== Capture ==
On the evening of 26 February 1863, armed boats commanded by acting Master Robert B. Smith from the Union sidewheel steamer {{USS|Fort Henry|1862|6}} captured ''Anna'' while that [[schooner]] was attempting to slip through the blockade and enter the [[Suwannee River]] with a widely varied cargo from the [[Bahamas]]. The prize's [[Master Mariner|master]], Captain H. Hanson, acknowledged that he was "endeavoring to run the blockade."{{quote without source|date=January 2019}}

== Lineage ==
The report of this action does not mention that the prize had ever carried any other name. However, later records maintain that she had been called ''La Criala'' when captured and was renamed ''Anna'' at the beginning of her service in the Union Navy. A schooner called ''La Criolla'' had been captured by the Union sidewheeler {{USS|Bienville|1861|6}} some {{convert|25|mi}} southeast of the [[Charleston, South Carolina]], bar and, subsequently, had been condemned and sold by the Federal [[prize court]] at [[Philadelphia, Pennsylvania]]. It is possible that the purchaser of ''La Criolla'' renamed her ''Anna'' and she was the vessel captured on 26 February 1863 by ''Fort Henry''. If so, she had been built, according to an inspecting officer from ''Bienville'', "...in one of the Northern States in the year 1857, and was [originally] named ''Nora''."{{quote without source|date=January 2019}} However, evidence that this was the case is far from conclusive.

== Union Navy ==

=== East Gulf blockade ===
''Anna'' was condemned by the [[Key West, Florida]], [[prize court]] and the Union Navy purchased her on 11 March 1863 for service in the [[East Gulf Blockading Squadron]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Union Navy}}</ref> Her name first appeared on the list of vessels composing that squadron in a report dated the 16th and bore the notation, "Tender to ''Dole'', fitting out."{{quote without source|date=January 2019}}

By 1 April 1863, she had begun her active service and was stationed at [[Boca Grande, Florida|Boca Grande]]. The vessel's name appeared as ''Annie'' and so it remained throughout her naval service. Almost a year later, on 8 March 1864, the squadron commanding officer, acting Rear Admiral [[Theodorus Bailey (US Navy officer)|Theodorus Bailey]], explained this discrepancy to the Navy Department.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=77v2AX6IxUoC&q=USS+Annie+%281863%29&pg=PA51|title=Civil War Navies, 1855-1883|last=Silverstone|first=Paul|date=2006-11-06|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781135865498|language=en}}</ref>

On the morning of the 13th, ''Annie''—Acting Ensign James S. Williams in command—took her first prize, the schooner ''Mattie'' which was attempting to run into the [[Crystal River (Florida)|Crystal River]], Florida, with a diverse cargo. Williams placed a crew on board the prize and sent her to Key West in charge of [[master's mate|Master's Mate]] Marcellus Jackson.

About half an hour before noon on 28 April, ''Annie'' sighted, chased, and fired upon ''Dream'' before that British schooner escaped into Spanish territorial waters off Cuba. This action prompted a protest by the English [[Master Mariner|master]] and added to the already large list of incidents that kept relations between the Federal Government and the United Kingdom tense throughout the Civil War.

=== Continued operations ===
''Annie'' scored again while proceeding to [[Tampa Bay]] on 11 July when she took the whaleboat ''Alice'' and her crew of six—from [[Havana]]—behind [[Cotteral's Key]]. Williams had been informed of the presence of the boat by the keeper of the Northwest Channel lighthouse who feared that she might attack his outpost. Another prize came ''Annie's'', way on the afternoon of 20 October when she captured the British schooner ''Martha Jane'', outward-bound from [[Bayport, Florida]], laden with cotton.

Ten days later, ''Annie'' joined the armed launch of the screw gunboat {{USS|Sagamore|1861|6}}—which she was then tending—in chasing ''Meteor'' and caught that British schooner which was attempting to slip into Bayport, with an assorted cargo from Havana. ''Annie'' and the launch again teamed up on 7 November when they took the British schooner ''Paul'' which—although cleared from Havana for Matamoras—was approaching the Florida coast with diverse merchandise.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://myfloridahistory.org/date-in-history/november-07-1863/uss-annie-captures-british-schooner-florida-coast|title=USS Annie captures British schooner off Florida coast|last=ben.dibiase|date=2015-11-06|website=Florida Historical Society|language=en|access-date=2019-04-08}}</ref>

In the second half of February 1864, ''Annie'' left ''Sagamore'' and was attached to the screw gunboat ''Takoma''; and, thereafter, she acted as a tender to several other Union blockaders. On the morning of 2&nbsp;March 1864, ''Annie'' anchored at 9:00&nbsp;a.m., some five miles from land. Two hours later, a lookout reported having sighted a small boat approaching. At noon, the boat reversed course and fled, prompting the Union warship to give chase. Thirty minutes' sailing brought her within sight of "a schooner inside the reefs"{{quote without source|date=January 2019}} and toward which the boat was rowing.

At 1:10&nbsp;p.m., ''Annie'' "anchored in 6&nbsp;feet of water"{{quote without source|date=January 2019}} and sent an armed boat to board the schooner. However, the fleeing boat reached that vessel before the Yankee sailors boarded her, set her afire, and then hurried on shoreward. At 2:00&nbsp;p.m., ''Annie's'' men went on board the schooner and found her to a new vessel of about 80&nbsp;tons carrying an assorted cargo which included a large amount of ammunition. The rapid spread of the flames forced them to leave the prize which exploded about three minutes after their departure.

Later that afternoon, a skiff flying a [[white flag]] came alongside ''Annie''. Its sole passenger, a man who "identified himself as Allen A. Stephens"{{quote without source|date=January 2019}} and reported that he was one of a group of 20&nbsp;men "about to rise against the rebel government&nbsp;...&nbsp;and requested arms for his company."{{quote without source|date=January 2019}} After promising Allen to report the incident, they allowed him to return to land, but no further mention of this man appears in the official record.

== Loss ==
During the remainder of 1864, ''Annie'' continued to serve in the blockade of Florida's [[United States Gulf Coast|Gulf Coast]]. On 30 December 1864, she departed Key West and headed for [[Charlotte Harbor (estuary)|Charlotte Harbor]] on Florida's west coast for further blockade duty. In January 1865, about two weeks after she left Key West, her hulk was found resting on the bottom in about {{convert|6|fathom|ft m|abbr=off|spell=in|sp=us}} of water. She was a total wreck, apparently the victim of an explosion; and no trace of her crew was found.

== References ==
{{Reflist}}
{{DANFS|http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/a9/annie.htm}}

{{1864 shipwrecks}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Annie}}
[[Category:Ships of the Union Navy]]
[[Category:Schooners of the United States Navy]]
[[Category:Tenders of the United States Navy]]
[[Category:Gunboats of the United States Navy]]
[[Category:American Civil War patrol vessels of the United States]]
[[Category:Shipwrecks of the Florida coast]]
[[Category:Shipwrecks of the American Civil War]]
[[Category:Shipwrecks in the Gulf of Mexico]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in December 1864]]
[[Category:Ships lost with all hands]]