Naval use of Sharps Carbine on board ship

Cannonman1

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Nov 28, 2018
I have in my collection what is termed a Naval Sharps Carbine.. This is a Model 1859 Sharps Carbine without Saddle bar and ring and it has a sling swivel on butt stock.. and falls in the serial number range that is classified as the Naval Contract for these...I have John D McAulays book on Civil War Small Arms for US Navy and Marine Corp but there is no mention of this weapon which makes me wonder a bit as John covered some pretty obscure weapons. What is the story on these carbines??
 
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I know some Marine Ships Detachments were issued Sharp's Carbines and Rifles for boarding parties and other away details. The Sharp's weren't a standard issue arm Corps wide it apparently by vessel, I have no idea as to the criteria of Sharp's issues in the Corps. Might have been a Navy Bureau of Ordnance thing.
 
I know some Marine Ships Detachments were issued Sharp's Carbines and Rifles for boarding parties and other away details. The Sharp's weren't a standard issue arm Corps wide it apparently by vessel, I have no idea as to the criteria of Sharp's issues in the Corps. Might have been a Navy Bureau of Ordnance thing.
Confederate sources stated that more than one Sharps sniper rifles were captured with the Morning Light off Sabine Pass. Apparently given to snipers up on the cross-trees. There was also what seems to have been an "Ellsworth Rifle" captured on the same vessel.
 
I realize this is an old thread, but I thought I'd note that you can find some comments on the Sharps Navy purchase in another of McAulay's books, Civil War Carbines, Vol. II.

I provided the relevant quote and those from a few other sources over in another thread: https://civilwartalk.com/threads/1859-sharps-navy-carbine.190786/post-2478686

You have one of generously 300 purchased. Nobody knows exactly how many were purchased by the Navy, so 300 is a swag, but there were just under 200 of these still in inventory by 1871. Stocks were then replaced if beaten up and the replacement stocks have an inspector's mark on them; most all barrels were relined with three groove rifling, although some six groove barrels were left if in good quality; the action converted for metallic .50-70.

Who knows how many still exist.. in addition to yours (assuming you don't have one of two others I'm aware of in the 43k range - 242 & 907) I'm aware of 13 others specifically.

I don't know where they were issued or how they were used. I've never seen any literature concerning these beyond the initial purchase and the conversions in '71. Given that the stocks evidently suffered some abuse and the barrels were shot out, it seems a safe assumption that they were deployed beyond simple guard duty on a dock. It's notable that the Navy purchased thousands of carbines overall before and during the War, so whatever they used those for they probably did the same with these, perhaps on a trial basis. The Navy was notably dissatisfied with the Jenks carbines, which were basically used (I gather) for smuggling interdiction (vis a vis the Revenue Marine Service) and such. That implies boarding parties to me, but I can only ignorantly speculate.
 
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