Trivia 9-28-16 - What a deal!

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In November 1861, a large item was added to the equipment of the Union Aeronautic Service. The item was approximately 120 ft x 14.5 ft and had been purchased in August 1861 for an initial cost of only $150.

What was the item and what was its title/name?

credit: @JohnDLittlefield
 
The item was the first aircraft carrier. It was also called a balloon boat.

It's name was USS George Washington Parke Custis.

Interesting name bringing in the Lee family tree.

Thaddeus Lowe made balloon observation of Confederate forces from Balloon- Boat G.W. Parke Custis anchored in Potomac River. G. W. Parke Custis was procured for $150, and readied for the service at the Washington Navy Yard. Lowe reported: "I left the navy-yard early Sunday morning, the 10th instant– . . . towed our by the steamer Coeur de Lion, having on board competent assistant aeronauts, together with my new gas generating apparatus, which, though used for the first time, worked admirably. We located at the mouth of Mattawoman Creek, about three miles from the opposite or Virginia shore. Yesterday [11 November] proceeded to make observations accompanied in my ascensions by General Sickles and others. We had a fine view of the enemy's camp-fires during the evening, and saw the rebels constructing new batteries at Freestone Point."
 
A coal barge modified to a balloon barge named the USS George Washington Parke Custis
Balloon_barge.jpg
 
A coal barge named George Washington Parke Custis.
"Its 122-foot length could accommodate the portable hydrogen gas generators that Lowe had invented, while leaving space for the inflation of certain smaller balloons. The beam (width) of the GWPC was 14.5 feet; its hold’s depth of 5.5 feet allowed for 75 tons of cargo, perfect for iron filings that produced hydrogen gas when mixed with sulfuric acid. Even
fully loaded, the barge could be poled, rowed or tugged in about three feet of water, making it flexible under varying tidal conditions."
The Quarterly, Summer 2016, Civil War Balloon Barges
 
The item was the George Washington Parke Custis, a coal barge purchased by the US Navy in August 1861 and used in the Washington Naval Yard. It was adapted and put into service as a launch platform for one of Professor's Lowe's observation balloons on November 10, 1861. She was towed about by the USS Coeur de Lion.

Her initial coast to the Navy had been $150. She had an overall length of 122 feet, a 141/2 foot beam and was 51/2 feet in depth of hold. Of very shallow draft, she had a carrying capacity of 75 tons in 21/2 feet of water, which was increased in deep water to 120 tons

https://sites.google.com/site/290foundation/history/u-s-s-coeur-de-lion

mariners7.jpg
 
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"..the George Washington Parke Custis was selected. She had been purchased by the Navy Department in August of 1861 as a coal barge for the Washington Navy Yard and was 122 feet long with a 14 foot beam and a 5 1/2-foot depth of hold"
https://www.navalhistory.org/2012/08/01/the-birth-of-the-aircraft-carrier
Balloon Carrier or actually...


America's first aircraft carrier :wink:

tumblr_n0gae1iHcp1rwjpnyo1_r1_1280.jpg
 
The balloon-boat USS G.W. Parke Custis was added to the equipment of the balloon service in November, 1861.
This balloon-boat, which may properly be called the first aircraft carrier in history, was approximately 8 years old at the time of her conversion to the aeronautic service. Her initial coast to the Navy had been $150. She had an overall length of 122 feet, a 141/2 foot beam and was 51/2 feet in depth of hold.

Source: http://www.thaddeuslowe.name/CWbargeobservation.htm
 
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