 Deck of USRC Wayanda, ca. 1863. The image of Lincoln in the photo was initially said to be authentic but is now thought to have been added later.
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
| Name | USRC Wayanda |
| Namesake | Derived from a Native American word for "The Place of Happy Hearts" |
| Owner | United States Revenue Cutter Service |
| Builder | J. T. Fardy & Bros., Baltimore, MD |
| Cost | $103,000 |
| Launched | 31 Aug 1863 |
| Commissioned | 1864–18 Oct 1873 |
| In service |
|
| Renamed | Los Angeles (about 1874) |
| Fate | Wrecked off Point Sur, California, 22 April 1894 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Pawtuxet-class cutter |
| Displacement | 350 tons |
| Length | 130 ft (40 m) |
| Beam | 26 ft 6 in (8.08 m) |
| Draft | 11 ft (3.4 m) |
| Depth of hold | 11 ft (3.4 m) |
| Propulsion | 1 × two-cylinder oscillating steam engine; single 8 ft (2.4 m) screw |
| Sail plan | Topsail schooner |
| Speed | About 12 knots |
| Complement | 7 × officers, 34 enlisted |
| Armament | |
USRC Wayanda[a] was a Pawtuxet-class screw steam revenue cutter built for the United States Revenue Cutter Service during the American Civil War.
Commissioned in the closing months of the war, Wayanda briefly operated as a convoy escort before the close of hostilities. After the war, she was placed at the disposal of Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase for a tour of the defeated Confederacy. Chase recommended extending suffrage to the South's black population, but his recommendations were ignored by the Johnson administration.
In 1866–67, Wayanda made the long journey around Cape Horn to the West Coast, where she would spend the rest of her career. In 1868, Wayanda carried out an important survey of the newly acquired territory of Alaska. Her commander, John W. White's recommendation that a federal reserve be established in the Pribilof Islands to protect both the Northern fur seals and the Aleut people who hunted them, was quickly acted on by the government.
Wayanda was sold in 1873 and refitted for commercial service as a freight and passenger steamer named Los Angeles, continuing in this role for some twenty years. She was wrecked off Point Sur in April 1894 with the loss of six lives.