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NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive

USS Enterprise (III)

Schooner:

Built in 1799 by Henry Spencer, Baltimore, MD.

Launched, date unknown

Placed under the command of LT. John Shaw.

USS Enterprise departed for service in the Caribbean, 17 December 1799, to protect US merchantmen from French privateers

During the Quasi-War with France Enterprise captured eight privateers and liberated eleven American merchantmen from captivity

Enterprise joined the Mediterranean Squadron in the summer of 1801

Defeated the Tripolian corsair Tripoli, 1 August 1801, west of Malta

Captured Tunisian ship Paulina, 17 January 1803

Ran a 30-ton craft ashore on the coast of Tripoli, 22 May 1803

Participated in the bombardment of the coast of Tripoli during June 1803

Joined frigate USF Constitution in capture of Tripolian ketch Mastico which was refitted and renamed USS Intrepid

Intrepid would serve Enterprise's captain LT. Stephen Decatur as the ship he sailed into the harbor at Tripoli to burn the captured USF Philadelphia, 16 February 1804

Enterprise continued to patrol the Barbary Coast until July 1804 when she joined the rest of the squadron in general attacks on the city of Tripoli during a period of several weeks

During the winter of 1804 Enterprise was at Venice being refurbished

Enterprise rejoined the squadron in July 1805 resuming patrol and convoy duty until August 1807

Enterprise returned to US waters late in 1807 and cruised the Atlantic coast into June 1809

Returned to the Mediterranean for a brief tour and was laid up at New York

Repaired at the Washington Navy Yard, USS Enterprise recommissioned in April 1811 for service along the southern coast

Hauled out of the water, 2 October 1811, at Washington Navy Yard for repair and rerigging as a brig

During the War of 1812 Enterprise cruised along the east coast the first year

Enterprise captured HMS Boxer, 5 September 1813, both commanding officers were killed during the action

At Portland, Maine, where Enterprise took Boxer a common funeral was held for LT. William Burrows, Enterprise, and CAPT. Samuel Blyth, Boxer

Repaired at Portland, Enterprise sailed for the Caribbean taking three prizes before being forced to flee by a superior enemy ship

From 9 March 1814 to the end of the war Enterprise served as guard ship off Charleston, S.C.

Enterprise joined the Mediterranean squadron from July to November 1815

From November 1817 until July 1823 Enterprise sailed the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico, suppressing pirates, smugglers, and slaves; taking thirteen prizes along the way

Final Disposition, Enterprise stranded and broke up on Little Curacao Island in the West Indies without loss of any crewmembers

Specifications:
Displacement 135 t.
Length 84' 7"
Beam 22' 6"
Depth of Hold 10'
Draft unknown
Speed unknown
Complement 70
Armament

twelve 6-pdr guns

Propulsion sail

Click On Image For Full Size Image	Size	Image Description	Source
	353k	Painting by unknown artist depicting USS Enterprise in her first action and victory in the Mediterranean, 1 August 1801, off Malta against the Tripolian corsair *Tripoli*. "History of the US Navy", by James M. Morris	Tommy Trampp
	362k	USS Enterprise capturing the Tripolian corsair *Tripoli* off Malta 1 August 1801. From a drawing (circa 1878) by CAPT. William Bainbridge Hoff, US Navy. Photo from the US National Archives.	Bill Gonyo
	129k	Bombardment of Tripoli, 3 August 1804 Oil by Michael Felice Corne, depicting Commodore Edward Preble's squadron engaging the Tripolian gunboats and fortifications during the afternoon of 3 August 1804. U.S. Navy vessels shown in the foreground are, from left to right: schooner USS Enterprise, schooner USS Nautilus, brig USS Argus, brig USS Syren, schooner USS Vixen, mortar boat *Dent, gunboat Somers, frigate USS Constitution* (Preble's flagship), mortar boat *Robinson, and gunboat Blake. Attacking the enemy flotilla in the center background are LT.Stephen Decatur's three gunboats and a gunboat commanded by LT. James Decatur, who was killed in this action. US Naval History and Heritage Command Photo # NH 65536-KN*. Courtesy of the U.S. Naval Academy Museum, Annapolis, Maryland.	US Naval History and Heritage Command
	507k	USS Enterprise engaging and capturing the 12-gun gun-brig HMS Boxer, near Portland, Maine in September 1813. Image taken from the pages of the book Twenty-Six Historic Ships, by Fredrick Hill, 1903.	Robert Hurst
098654913	112k	Print by George G.Smith (1795-1878) engraver George Girdler Smith of the United States squadron under Com. Bainbridge returning triumphant from the Mediterranean in 1815, The print shows the American squadron at sea, includes, on the left; USS Macedonian (I), USS Firefly (I), USS Torch, USS Boxer (I), at center, USS Independence, USS USS Spark (I), USS Saranac (I), USS Enterprise (III), USS Lynx (i), and on the right, USS Congress (III) USS Chippewa (II), USS Spitfire (III) and USS Flambeau. United States Library of Congress's Prints and Photographs division under the digital ID cph.3a47975	Robert Hurst
	110k	Warships of the sailing navy. Chromolithograph by Armstrong & Company, after an 1893 watercolor by Fred S. Cozzens, published in Our Navy -- Its Growth and Achievements, 1897. Ships depicted are from different eras, and are identified by the artist as (from left to right): U.S. Brig (Schooner) Enterprise (1799-1823), firing a salute; U.S. Ship of the Line Pennsylvania (1837-1861); U.S. Ship of the Line North Carolina (1825-1867), mis-labeled by the artist as *South Carolina; and U.S. Brig Hornet* (1805-1829). The vessel under sail in the far center distance is not identified. Collection of Captain Glenn Howell, USN, 1974. US Naval History and Heritage Command Photo #: NH 460-KN (Color)	Robert Hurst
	34k	Johnston Blakely commanded USS Enterprise during the capture of the Tripolian corsair *Tripoli* off Malta 1 August 1801. Image courtesy of North Carolina Office of Archives and History, Raleigh, N.C.	Bill Gonyo

USS Enterprise (III)
Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)

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Last Updated 13 May 2022