USS Peterhoff (1863)

USS Peterhoff was a British ship captured by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. Condemned as a blockade runner, she served the Union Navy’s struggle against the Confederate States of America as a patrol gunship.

Construction
The Peterhoff was a 416-ton iron-hulled yacht originally built for the Tsar of Russia by C. J. Mare & Co. of Blackwall, London, with 140 hp steam engines by J & G. Rennie. Launched in 1850, the ship was eventually acquired by British interests and fitted out as a cargo ship.

Seizure
Peterhoff sailed from Falmouth, Cornwall on 27 January 1863. On 20 February she was boarded and searched by the USS Alabama (1850) off the island of Saint Thomas in the Danish West Indies. Alabama found her papers in order and released her. Peterhoff then entered the harbour at St. Thomas where two U.S. Navy ships commanded by Acting Rear Admiral Charles Wilkes were at anchor. Wilkes, already notorious for his part in the "Trent Affair", ordered that the Peterhoff be boarded by the USS Vanderbilt (1862) just after she had left harbour on 25 February.

Peterhoff had papers that stated that she was bound for Matamoros in Mexico, but then a sailor aboard let slip that she was really bound for Brownsville, Texas, just across the Rio Grande. This comment was taken as sufficient justification for Vanderbilt to seize the ship as a blockade runner, and she was sent to Key West. Both the Danish and British governments vigorously protested the seizure, but the ship was eventually condemned by the New York prize court and bought by the Union Navy. She was commissioned in February 1864 with Acting-Volunteer Lieutenant Thomas Pickering in command, and assigned to the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron.

Sinking
The ship departed Hampton Roads, Virginia, on 28 February to blockade Wilmington, North Carolina. However, early on the morning of 6 March 1864, the Peterhoff was rammed by the gunboat USS Monticello (1859) who mistook her for a blockade runner. Although Peterhoff sank within half an hour, all of her crew were saved. On the night of 7 March men from USS Mount Vernon (1859) and USS Niphon (1863) boarded the wreck at low tide and destroyed as much as they could, cutting down the masts and spiking all the guns that they could reach.

Post-war
After the Civil War, the Supreme Court overturned the prize court's decision, and the owners of the Peterhoff received compensation for their loss.

The wreck of Peterhoff was rediscovered by divers in 1963 in 30 ft of water off Kure Beach, North Carolina. Three 32-pounder smoothbore cannon were later salvaged. In 1974 a 30-pounder Parrott rifle was raised, and is now on display at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. Other guns from the ship are on display at Fort Fisher State Historic Site and the Carteret County Museum of History at Morehead City, North Carolina. The wreck site was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.