| • Science | • People | • Locations | • Timeline |
Immediately after the Revolutionary War the brand-new United States of America was struggling to stay financially afloat. National income was desperately needed and a great deal of this income came from import tariffs. Because of rampant smuggling the need was immense for the enforcement of tariff laws, and on August 4, 1790 the U.S. Congress, urged on by Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton, created the Revenue Cutter Service. It would be the responsibility of this new Revenue Cutter Service to enforce the tariff and all other maritime laws, as well as attending to emergency lifesaving duties.
Ten cutters were initially ordered. Between 1790 and 1798 the Revenue Cutter Service was the only armed maritime service for the United States. During the Quasi-WarThe Quasi-War was an undeclared war fought entirely at sea between the United States and France from 1798 to 1801. The pirates of the Mediterranean Sea caused the United States Congress in 1794 to begin building a navy for the protection of commerce. with France in 1798- 1801Events January 1 Legislative union of Great Britain and Ireland completed under the Act of Union 1800, bringing about the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. January 1 Giuseppe Piazzi discovers the first (and largest) asteroid Ceres. January 20 J the U.S. Navy was formed and the Revenue Cutter Service fought alongside the Navy, capturing or assisting in the capture of 20 French ships. Ten of these were captured by the USRC Pickering .
After 1794Events February 11 1st session of US Senate open to the public. March 14 Eli Whitney is granted a patent for the cotton gin. March 27 The United States Government established a permanent United States Navy and authorized the building of six vessels (in 17 the Revenue Cutter Service began intercepting slave ships illegally importing slaves into the United States. Many slave ships were seized and hundreds of would-be slaves were freed.
Revenue Cutters were assigned to enforce the very unpopular Embargo Act of 1807, which outlawed nearly all European trade, import and export, through American ports. The Act was enforced until it was nullified in 1810.
In wartime the Revenue Cutter Service was placed under the command of the United States Navy, and the cutters themselves often placed into military service. In the War of 1812 against Britain a Revenue Cutter made the first American capture of an enemy ship.
The small Revenue Cutter Surveyor with a crew of 16 and an armament of merely six 12-pound carronades, was anchored in Chesapeake Bay on the night of June 12, 1813, when the British frigate Narcissus attacked her. The Revenue Service seamen under the command of Captain William S. Travis were taken by surprise and the carronades could not be used. After a fierce fight which left five Americans wounded and three British dead, the Surveyor was captured.
On October 11, 1814 , the Revenue Cutter Eagle encountered the much larger British brigantine Dispatch which was guarding the Suzan, a captured American merchant ship. The Eagle was badly outgunned by the Dispatch and Captain Frederick Lee beached the Eagle on Long Island to avoid being sunk. Not yet defeated, the Revenue Cutter seamen dragged the cannon from the Eagle and set them up on a 160-foot bluff and continued firing at the Dispatch. When the Americans ran out of cannonballs they did not surrender, and instead retrieved the cannonballs fired at them by the Dispatch and shot them back at the British. Even after being forced to use the ships logbook for wadding, the crew of the Eagle fought on until finally overwhelmed and captured by the British.