# USCS Phoenix > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/USCS_Phoenix > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/USCS_Phoenix.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USCS_Phoenix > Source revision: 1323275808 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{For|ships with a similar name|USS Phoenix|Phoenix (disambiguation)}} {{Infobox ship |display_title=USCS ''Phoenix'' |section1={{Infobox ship/image |image= |image_caption= }} |section2={{Infobox ship/career |hide_header= |country=United States |flag={{USN flag|1845}} |name=''Phoenix'' |namesake= |ordered= |awarded= |builder= |way_number= |laid_down= |launched= |sponsor= |christened= |completed= |acquired= |commissioned=1845 |recommissioned= |decommissioned=1857 |maiden_voyage= |in_service= |out_of_service= |renamed= |reclassified= |refit= |struck= |reinstated= |homeport= |identification= |motto= |nickname= |honours= |honors= |captured= |fate= |notes= |badge= }} |section3={{Infobox ship/characteristics |hide_header= |header_caption= |class= |type=[Survey ship](/source/Survey_ship) ([schooner](/source/schooner)) |tonnage= |displacement= |tons_burthen= |length={{convert|70|ft|m|abbr=on}} |beam={{convert|17|ft|m|abbr=on}} |height= |draught= |draft={{convert|6.8|ft|m|abbr=on}} |depth= |hold_depth= |decks= |power= |propulsion=[Sails](/source/Sails) |sail_plan=Schooner-rigged |speed= |range= |endurance= |test_depth= |boats= |capacity= |troops= |complement= |sensors= |EW= |armament= |notes= }} }} '''USCS ''Phoenix''''' was a [schooner](/source/schooner) which served as a [survey ship](/source/survey_ship) in the [United States Coast Survey](/source/United_States_Coast_Survey) from 1845 to 1857. After acquiring her from the [United States Navy](/source/United_States_Navy), the Coast Survey [commissioned](/source/Ship_commissioning) ''Phoenix'' in 1845 and operated her in its Atlantic fleet throughout her career.[http://www.history.noaa.gov/ships/ship17.html#phoenix NOAA History, A Science Odyssey: Tools of the Trade: Ships: Coast and Geodetic Survey Ships: Phoenix] She was the first Coast Survey ship to arrive on the [United States Gulf Coast](/source/United_States_Gulf_Coast).[http://www.lib.noaa.gov/noaainfo/heritage/coastsurveyvol1/BACHE5.html#SHIPS Theberge, Captain Albert E., NOAA Corps (ret.), ''The Coast Survey 1807–1867: Volume I of the History of the Commissioned Corps of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration'': "LIFE IN THE FIELD," noaa.gov, 1998.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714212518/http://www.lib.noaa.gov/noaainfo/heritage/coastsurveyvol1/BACHE5.html#SHIPS |date=2014-07-14 }} Her first [commanding officer](/source/commanding_officer), Lieutenant Commanding [Carlile P. Patterson](/source/Carlile_Pollock_Patterson) (1816–1881), conducted the first surveys for the Coast Survey in the [Gulf of Mexico](/source/Gulf_of_Mexico) in 1846, including [tide](/source/tide) and [current](/source/Ocean_current) surveys and [hydrographic survey](/source/hydrographic_survey)s of [Horn Island](/source/Horn_Island_(Mississippi)) Passage, parts of [Mississippi Sound](/source/Mississippi_Sound), and the [bar](/source/Shoal) at [Mobile](/source/Mobile%2C_Alabama), [Alabama](/source/Alabama). ''Phoenix'' also performed [hydrographic](/source/Hydrography) work in 1847, but beginning in 1848 she was used only to transport and house [triangulation](/source/triangulation) and [topographic](/source/Topography) parties, a role she performed for the remainder of her career. A [tornado](/source/tornado) struck ''Phoenix'' while she rode at anchor in [Mississippi Sound](/source/Mississippi_Sound) on the U.S. Gulf Coast on the night of 31 March 1854, causing her to capsize and sink in 20 seconds. Her crew survived by clinging to her mastheads, which remained above water after she sank in {{convert|20|ft|m|abbr=off|sp=us}} of water. The crew managed to free one of her boats about an hour after she sank and row to shore safely. She was raised three weeks later, repaired, and returned to service. Her [captain](/source/Captain_(nautical)), Coast Survey Assistant [Julius E. Hilgard](/source/Julius_Erasmus_Hilgard), took advantage of the calamity to examine and report on the condition of surveying instruments aboard ''Phoenix'' after their three-week immersion in [seawater](/source/seawater). ''Phoenix'' spent the 1855 field season transporting and housing Coast Survey teams who triangulated an approximately 60-mile (97-kilometer) stretch of coast between [Pascagoula](/source/Pascagoula%2C_Mississippi), [Mississippi](/source/Mississippi), and the entrance to [Lake Pontchartrain](/source/Lake_Pontchartrain) in [Louisiana](/source/Louisiana). In 1856, she supported survey parties along the coast of [Texas](/source/Texas), arriving there with significant storm damage after a rough passage. ''Phoenix'' was retired from service in 1857. ==Citations== {{reflist}} ==References== *[http://www.history.noaa.gov/ships/ship17.html#phoenix NOAA History, A Science Odyssey: Tools of the Trade: Ships: Coast and Geodetic Survey Ships: Phoenix] {{1854 shipwrecks}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Phoenix (1845)}} Category:Ships of the United States Coast Survey Category:Schooners of the United States Navy Category:Maritime incidents in March 1854 --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [USCS Phoenix](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USCS_Phoenix) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USCS_Phoenix?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.