Pacific Ocean Operations
After a stormy transit of the Straits of Magellan, she called at Valparaíso, Chile, arriving 15 January 1855, then visited Honolulu from 28 March to 23 June. Sailing on to Washington Territory, Decatur entered the Strait of Juan de Fuca 19 July.
On her way to Seattle, on 7 December 1864, Decatur ran aground on rocks at Restoration Point, Bainbridge Island, Washington Territory. Had she not righted herself with the incoming tide, the fate of Seattle might have turned out very differently. Decatur remained in the Pacific Northwest to deter Native American outbreaks, providing support to the settlers in the Battle of Seattle (26 January 1856) (Decatur Senior High School in Federal Way Wa was named after her to honor this defense). She cruised to San Francisco, California between 2 August and 27 September 1855 for supplies.
On 13 June 1856, she arrived at Mare Island Navy Yard for repairs, and on 8 January 1857, sailed for Panama, touching at Central American ports for the protection of U.S. interests. She sailed 3 June to Nicaragua to evacuate U.S. citizens connected with the filibustering expedition of William Walker to Panama, where she arrived 5 August. She cruised off Panama, Peru, and Chile until 23 March 1859 when she was ordered to return to Mare Island.
Read more about this topic: USS Decatur (1839)
Famous quotes containing the words pacific ocean, pacific, ocean and/or operations:
“It is easier to sail many thousand miles through cold and storm and cannibals, in a government ship, with five hundred men and boys to assist one, than it is to explore the private sea, the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean of one’s being alone.... It is not worth the while to go round the world to count the cats in Zanzibar.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“It is easier to sail many thousand miles through cold and storm and cannibals, in a government ship, with five hundred men and boys to assist one, than it is to explore the private sea, the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean of one’s being alone.... It is not worth the while to go round the world to count the cats in Zanzibar.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The attention of those who frequent the camp-meetings at Eastham is said to be divided between the preaching of the Methodists and the preaching of the billows on the back side of the Cape, for they all stream over here in the course of their stay. I trust that in this case the loudest voice carries it. With what effect may we suppose the ocean to say, “My hearers!” to the multitude on the bank. On that side some John N. Maffit; on this, the Reverend Poluphloisboios Thalassa.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“There is a patent office at the seat of government of the universe, whose managers are as much interested in the dispersion of seeds as anybody at Washington can be, and their operations are infinitely more extensive and regular.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)