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USS Alligator

History

The first USS Alligator, a swift 12-gun schooner built in 1820, had a brief but remarkable career. Designed by William Doughty, Alligator was one of two schooners built at the Charlestown Navy Yard in Boston, and is the last known example of the five 12-gun schooners built to stop African slave traders and pirates.

Alligator served during a very challenging period in U.S. history. The 198-ton, 86-foot long schooner made two short cruises to the West Coast of Africa, during which time it captured several slavers. Alligator was sent to Africa not only to suppress the slave trade, but also to search for a stretch of land for the American Colonization Society. This society was formed for the purpose of returning former slaves to the African continent. Its historic first voyage off the coast of Africa led to the establishment of a colony for former slaves that later became the State of Liberia. In early 1822, Alligator returned from Africa and spent the remainder of its career hunting pirates in the West Indies. Alligator left Matanzas, Cuba escorting a convoy of vessels. On 9 November 1822, she captured a pirate schooner off Matanzas. During the engagement, Alligator's captain, W.H. Allen, was killed. On 18 November 1822, Alligator ran aground on Caryford Reef near Islamorada, Florida. The crew tried in vain to refloat the vessel by tossing articles over the side and transferring the more valuable articles to nearby vessels. When this attempt failed, and with no other option left to them, the crew regretfully abandoned and burned their ship which blew up.

The Wreck

The location of Alligator's remains have long been known, and the site is visited frequently by divers and snorkelers. It lies just a few miles from shore on Alligator Reef off Islamorada, Florida. It rests in very shallow water with only twelve feet over the deepest part of the wreck, and three to five feet over the shallowest points. The site is limited to the lower hull, two ballast piles, coral heads, coral rumble and sand. Unfortunately the site has been abused by both weather and man.

As an archaeological site, Alligator represents one of the Navy's rarest historic properties because it is the only one of the five schooners of this class that wrecked before any major repairs or modifications were made. Thus, of the schooners built for the suppression of the slave trade and piracy, only Alligator exemplifies the methods of construction used immediately following the War of 1812 when the U.S. established its peacetime Navy. Alligator was the first of the five that was lost, and it is the only wreck whose precise location is known. Although the Court of Inquiry indicates that most of the valuables were transferred to other vessels, artifacts may remain that could reveal details about the life of the men, as well as the ship's unique history and mission. The surviving hull remains only represent the ship's bottom, but this in itself can contain a treasure of information about early nineteenth-century American naval architecture.

In October 1995, federal and state officials, along with local citizens, visited the wreck to determine the site's integrity (how much of the actual shipwreck remained and was undisturbed by looters), and to confirm the identification. Due to inclement weather, however, archaeologists were unable to spend much time assessing the site. However, they were puzzled by the presence of two ballast stone piles. They theorized that the piles could represent the shipwreck and the ballast that was dumped overboard to lighten the ship after it ran aground. The larger of the two could be the ballast that was dumped, while the smaller pile to the north covers what remains of the hull. Archaeologists uncovered several of the hull's timbers and found the remains of the ship's bottom timbers under the smaller pile of ballast stones.

In April 1996, the site was nominated for listing on the National Register of Historic Places with a chance for nomination as a National Landmark. Future archaeological investigations are planned for the summer of 1996.

11 May 2001