South America
Assigned to the Pacific Squadron, Massachusetts operated along the U.S. West Coast in a project for the selection of sites for lighthouses and buoys by the joint Navy and Army Commission. She departed San Francisco 12 August 1852; steamed via ports in Ecuador, Chile, and Brazil; and arrived Norfolk, Virginia, 17 March 1853. She decommissioned the following day.
Massachusetts recommissioned at Norfolk 2 May 1854, Lt. Richard W. Meade in command. After fitting out, she departed for the Pacific Ocean 5 July, reached the Straits of Magellan 13 December, and arrived Mare Island, California, 8 May 1855. During June and July she cruised the coast between San Francisco and the Columbia River; thence, she sailed for Central America 25 August. She showed the flag from Mexico to Nicaragua and returned to San Francisco 9 January 1856.
Read more about this topic: USS Massachusetts (1845)
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