U.S.S. Vanderbuilt - Charleston, Boston Mass.

U.S.S. Vanderbuilt. A side-wheeler presented to the U.S. in 1861 by Commodore Cornelius (?) Vanderbuilt, a ship of 3360 tons, stout and swift, perhaps the most successful of the converted merchant ships. Equipped with 200 rifles, 12 nine-inch guns, and one 12 lb. howitzer. Used in blockading the Carolinas: hunted unsuccessfully the Confederate Alabama. Sold to private interests in 1873.
Courtesy of Boston Public Library