USS O.M. Pettit

[Robert Gray]

USS O.M. Pettit was a sidewheel paddle steamer acquired by the Union Navy during the Civil War. She was used as a tugboat to service ships blockading ports of the Confederate States of America.

Built in 1857 at Williamsburg, New York, the Navy purchased her at New York City on 17 August 1861 and commissioned her at the New York Navy Yard in Brooklyn on 4 October 1861, with Acting Master A.S. Gardner in command.

After serving as a tug at the New York Navy Yard, the O.M. Pettit joined the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron early in 1862 for service in the Union blockade. She performed similar services at Port Royal, South Carolina.

On 24 April 1865, as the Civil War came to a close, O.M. Pettit sank in the Savannah River near Hammond, Georgia. She was refloated, repaired, and returned to service.

After the war, O.M. Pettit was sold at Bay Point in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina, on 2 September 1865 to J. W. Walcott. She was abandoned in 1879. (Wikipedia)

 

[JPK Huson 1863]

If she was part of the Blockading Squadron and at Port Royal, boy, did her crew have some stories or what? Thanks for the photo- can never see enough of these old treasures. Can't remember seeing the O.M. Petit before, either.