| • Science | • People | • Locations | • Timeline |
| Career | |
|---|---|
| Built: | 1799 |
| Launched: | November 1799 |
| Fate: | Sold, October 1801 |
| Struck: | |
| General Characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 135 tons |
| Length: | 84,7 feet |
| Beam: | 22,6 feet |
| Draft: | 9,6 feet |
| Propulsion: | Sail |
| Complement: | 70 officers and enlisted |
| Armament: | 12 6-pounder |
The first USS Experiment was a schooner in the United States Navy during the Quasi-War with France.
Enterprise was built in 1799 at Baltimore, Maryland, Maryland; and first put to sea late in November 1799, Lieutenant W. Maley in command.
Experiment joined the squadron commanded by Captain Silas Talbot on the Santo Domingo station, and for 7 months, cruised against French privateers in the Caribbean, taking a number of valuable prizes. On 1 January 1800, while becalmed in the Bight of Leogane with a convoy of four merchantmen, Experiment was attacked by 11 armed pirate boats, manned by about 4 or 5 hundred buccaneers. In the 7 hours of fighting that followed, the pirates boarded one of the merchantmen, killing her captain, and towed off two other ships of the convoy after their crews had abandoned them. But Experiment sank two of the attacking craft, and killed and wounded many of the pirates, suffering only one man wounded.
Arriving in the Delaware RiverThe Delaware River is a river on the Atlantic coast of the United States. It meets tide-water at Trenton, New Jersey. Its total length, from the head of the longest branch to the capes, is 410 miles (660 km), and above the head of the bay its length is 36 early in July 1800, Experiment refitted, and returned to the West Indies. Again successful in her patrols against the French, she captured several armed vessels, one of which was carrying a high-ranking army officer. She also recaptured a number of American merchantmen, and in January 1801 rescued 65 SpaniardsThe Kingdom of Spain is a country located in the southwest of Europe. It shares the Iberian Peninsula with Portugal, Gibraltar and Andorra. To the northeast, along the Pyrenees mountain range, it borders France and the tiny principality of Andorra. It inc from the ship Eliza, wrecked on a reef of the island of Saona .
Experiment returned to NorfolkNorfolk is a city in the U. state of Virginia in the United States of America. It is an independent city, and therefore part of no county. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 234,403. Norfolk is located on the Elizabeth River, on Ham early in February 1801, and was laid up there until August, when she sailed to Baltimore. There she was sold in October 1801.
This article includes text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.
See USS ExperimentUSS Experiment has been the name of two ships in the United States Navy. The first Experiment served during the Quasi-War with France. The second Experiment was active in the 1830s and 1840s. for other ships of this name.