Texan sloop-of-war Austin

The Texan sloop-of-war ''Austin'' was the flagship of the Second Texas Navy from 1840 to 1846. Commanded by Commodore Edwin Ward Moore, she led a flotilla in the capture of Villahermosa in 1840. After a period of inaction in port, ''Austin'' participated in the Naval Battle of Campeche in 1843. ''Austin'' was transferred to the United States Navy when Texas joined the United States in 1845, but was run aground and broken up in 1848.

Background of the Texas Navy

The Texas Navy was officially formed in January 1836, with the purchase of four schooners: ''Invincible'', ''Brutus'', ''Independence'', and ''Liberty''. These ships, under the command of Commodore Charles Hawkins, helped Texas win independence by preventing a Mexican blockade of the Texas coast, seizing Mexican ships carrying reinforcements and supplies to its army, and sending their cargoes to the Texas volunteer army. Nevertheless, Mexico refused to recognize Texas as an independent country. By the middle of 1837, all of the ships had been lost at sea, run aground, captured, or sold. With no ships to impede a possible invasion by Mexico, Texas was vulnerable to attack.

In 1838, President Mirabeau B. Lamar responded to this threat by forming a second Texas Navy. Unlike Sam Houston, Lamar was an ardent supporter of the Texas Navy and saw the urgent need for its continuation. The second Texas Navy was placed under the command of Commodore Edwin Ward Moore, an Alexandria Academy graduate recruited from the United States Navy. One of the ships of this second navy was the ''Austin'', which served as the flagship of the navy.

History of the ''Austin''

The ''Austin'', named after Stephen F. Austin, was originally slated to be named the ''Texas''. Built in the Baltimore shipyard of William and George Gardner in 1839, ''Austin'' was referred to as a sloop-of-war and had a full ship rig.

''Austin'' was 125 feet in length and 31 feet across the beam, with a displacement of 600 tons and a draft of 12½ feet. She carried a crew of twenty-three officers and warrant officers and 151 sailors and marines and was armed with sixteen medium twenty-four-pound cannons, two eighteen-pound medium cannons, and two eighteen-pound long cannons.

Career

Upon arrival in Galveston, the ''Austins crew underwent months of training before the ship was dispatched in June 1840 to the Yucatán Peninsula, where a rebellion had broken out by the short-lived Republic of Yucatán against the central government in Mexico City. Commodore Moore was ordered to confer with the rebel leaders, but not to commence hostilities against Mexico until a delegation of Texas diplomats had completed a mission to secure recognition of Texas' independence. Thus ''Austin'' spent her time cruising around the gulf coast of Mexico and Yucatán gathering intelligence and investigating ports and suitable anchorages. When a large storm blew up near Lobos Island on 14 October 1840, ''Austin'' came upon a Mexican ship in distress. ''Austin'' recovered all of the crew of the stricken ship ''Fama'', delivering them to Tampico to great local acclaim. This did not deter a Mexican shore battery from opening fire a few days later on the flagship as she was close to the Mexican shore looking to replenish her water stores. Concluding that hostilities had recommenced, Commodore Moore hastened to rejoin his flotilla near Campeche.

Tabasco attack

Upon reaching the Cayos Arcas, where the rest of his flotilla had remained, Moore found that the ''San Jacinto'' had run aground on a sand bar and the rest of the ships were not to be seen. ''Austin'' set out to find the rest of the ships, ''Zavala'' and ''San Bernard'', touching at the port of Campeche on 8 November and Sisal on 10 November. The flagship finally caught up with the rest of the ships at Frontera on 14 November. In order to salvage the ''San Jacinto'' and provide fuel for the lone steamship, ''Zavala'', Moore hatched a plan to gain money. The ''Zavala'' towed the other two ships 60 miles up the San Juan Bautista River to the capital of the Mexican state of Tabasco, Villahermosa. There the small flotilla pointed their guns at the city and then sent troops into the seemingly deserted capital. Commodore Moore encountered a man bearing a white flag on a tree branch, and when he ascertained that this was the Mayor, the Texas commodore demanded $25,000 or he would level the town. The Mayor asked if silver would be acceptable, and upon receiving an affirmative reply, delivered the ransom. The commodore set sail with the silver and used the money to repair and outfit his ships.

Returning to the wreck of the ''San Jacinto'', ''Austin'' picked up the sick sailors and returned to Galveston, crossing the bar on 1 February 1841. During ''Austin's'' absence, Texas had achieved a hard-won recognition from the United Kingdom. Moore wanted to repair and recruit quickly in New Orleans