U. S. NAVY CIVIL WAR MANUSCRIPT SHIP COLLISION 1864 CHESAPEAKE BAY VIRGINIA Naval

This is a 25 page hand-written official record of the proceedings of a Court of Inquiry Relative to the Collision between the U. Steamer'Iroquois' and the Schooner'Twilight' 1864.

Launched in April 1859, the U. Iroquois was active in the Civil War, seeing action in the Mississippi River campaign of 1862 and in the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron in 1863 and 1864. This court action concerns a collision of the coast of Hampton Roads Virginia between the "Iroquois" and a private schooner which was hauling coal from Georgetown Washington, D. To New York City, with a crew of six, in which the schooner was rammed and quickly sunk (with no loss of life). The Iroquois sustained minor damage.

In the hearing, held on board the Iroquois, there were a number of witnesses present from both vessels, and the conclusion reached was the the schooner was at fault for running into the path of the Iroquois, with the mitigating circumstance that the schooner's captain's view was blocked by the mainsail of a neighboring naval vessel. Good condition, with occasional edge chipping and soil, and lacking the original string ties with which it was originally bound.

---