USS Trenton (1876) - Pacific, 1887-1889

Pacific, 1887-1889

On 16 May 1887, she was placed in commission once again. On 25 July, she exited Hampton Roads and headed south for Brazil. En route, Trenton stopped at St. Vincent in the Windward Islands and entered Rio de Janeiro on 10 September for a fortnight visit. After touching at St. Thomas on the return voyage, she dropped anchor in New York harbor on 3 November.

Almost three months later, on 30 January 1888, Trenton sailed for the Pacific. The voyage took her more than a year to complete, for she had to steam around Cape Horn at the southern end of South America. After stops at Panama and Tahiti, the warship reached Apia, Samoa, on 10 March 1889 and joined other units of the Pacific Squadron. Six days later, on 16 March 1889, while still at anchor in Apia harbor, Trenton was wrecked by the 1889 Apia cyclone. Before abandoning ship, however, her crew under commander Norman von Heldreich Farquhar assisted in the rescue of Vandalia's ship's company. Out of 450 men on the crew of Trenton, only one life was lost. Trenton was declared a total loss, and her name was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 13 April 1891.an