Description

JP MORGAN's SAILING YACHT CORSAIR II

FULLY BUILT AND READY TO DISPLAY MUSEUM QUALITY SHIP MODEL

Dimension Approx.: 34″L x 25″H
Highly complex rigging with varied thread gauges, hundreds of blocks, and deadeyes.
Life boats on davits

The famous J.P. Morgan's yacht Corsair II was built in 1891. She employed both sail and steam for propulsion. She was first of several personal yachts carrying the Corsair linage.

The Corsair served eight years for J.P. Morgan before she was purchased for $225,000 by the US Navy for service in the Spanish-American War. She was renamed USS Gloucester. Lt. Richard Wainright, the last commander of the famous USS Maine, commanded her.

USS Gloucester was classified as a gunboat. She was armed with four 6-pounder and four 3-pounder guns as well as two Colt machine guns. At the battle of Santiago Bay, Cuba, July 3, 1898, when the Spanish fleet was bottled up inside the bay by the US Navy and about to exploit a break in the lines of the US Navy's dreadnaughts in order to escape, the USS Gloucester dove through the breech with its guns blazing, disrupting the Spaniards long enough for the dreadnaughts to maneuver back into position.

At the onset of the battle, as the Spanish destroyers appeared, USS Indiana sent out a signal stating "Torpedo boats coming out". However, Wainwright claimed he read the signal as "Gunboats close in" as an excuse to cover the Gloucester's disregard of orders. The Gloucester attacked, crossing the battleship USS Indiana's line of fire, causing her to stop firing.

Gloucester fiercely attacked the Spanish destroyer Furor and jammed her rudder, rendering her unable to continue the fight. When the major battleships engaged, the small Gloucester changed her role. She launched boats to rescue 45 of the crewmen from Spanish destroyer Pluton that had been blown up. She bravely steamed to the burning hulks of the Infanta MariaTeresa and the Almirante Quendo and picked up more Spanish survivors. Gloucester lost no men in the engagement.

On July 25, 1898, Gloucester attacked and captured the Spanish port of Guanica in Puerto Rico. On August 1, 1898, she and USS Wasp took the port of Arroyo in Puerto Rico and held it until the army arrived a day later.

Beginning on November 15, 1902, Gloucester served as tender for the Commander in Chief of the South Atlantic Squadron. She steamed in the West Indies and off the coast of South America.

USS Gloucester was decommissioned on February 8, 1905 at Pensacola. On April 7, 1917, the USS Gloucester was recommissioned. She patrolled harbors around New York during WWI. On August 12, 1919, she was struck from the Navy List and sold on November 21, 1919.