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USS Jackal

Schooner:
  • Laid down, date and location unknown
  • Launched, date unknown
  • Purchased at Baltimore, MD. in January 1823 for service in the COMO. David Porter's "Mosquito Fleet" being established for action against pirates in the West Indies
  • Jackal or Jackal, was one of eight schooners purchased for COMO. Porter's Squadron
  • USS Jackal, LT. T.H. Stevens, USN, in command, sailed from Norfolk with sloop of war USS Peacock, USS Sea Gull, and other schooners 14 February and arrived St. Thomas 3 March
  • Porter's efforts to secure the cooperation of the Governor of Puerto Rico were thwarted when a Spanish battery at San Juan fired on USS Fox, killing her commander, as she entered the harbor carrying a message.
  • Porter then divided his fleet to scour the coasts of Hispaniola, Cuba, and part of Yucatan for buccaneers. In this operation Jackal, Fox, USS Gallinipper (II), and USS Mosquito (II) were assigned to the northwestern coast of Cuba, where they searched each bay, inlet, and key and escorted merchantmen through the dangerous waters
  • The flotilla captured Pilot, a fast sailing schooner, off Norfolk, which the pirates had taken only 8 days before
  • About the same time they destroyed three pirate schooners and several of their bases
  • In August operations were interrupted by an epidemic of yellow fever in the fleet which forced Porter to take most of his vessels north where more healthful conditions prevailed
  • When the epidemic had passed, Jackal returned to the West Indies to resume her vigilant patrolling of waters previously infested by pirates but now comparatively safe and peaceful
  • The freebooters had suffered so severely at the hands of Porter's flotilla that they had all but abandoned operations at sea for less dangerous raids upon settlements ashore
  • When yellow fever broke out again in the summer of 1824, Jackal once more sailed north
  • Back in the West Indies on patrol off Cuba, Jackal rescued survivors of Ferret after her sister schooner had capsized in a gale 4 February 1825
  • Shortly thereafter Jackal, seriously in need of repair and was decommissioned and sold
  • Final Disposition, fate unknown.
    Specifications:
    Displacement unknown
    Length unknown
    Beam unknown
    Depth of Hold unknown
    Draft unknown
    Speed unknown
    Complement 31
    Armament three guns
    Propulsion sail
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    Jackal
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)
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    Last Updated 15 April 2022