# USS Weasel

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The **USS *Weasel*** was a three-gun [schooner](/source/Schooner) in the [United States Navy](/source/United_States_Navy).

The *Weasel* was built at Baltimore and was initially intended to serve as a merchant vessel that would operate the area of [Chesapeake Bay](/source/Chesapeake_Bay).[1] However, the build of her [keel](/source/Keel) favored the strategic approach of the [West Indies Squadron](/source/West_Indies_Squadron_(United_States)), which became notorious for using smaller vessels to pursue escaping pirates into shallow waters, so it was acquired by the Navy in 1822 and outfitted for military use.[1] The process took place at Norfolk, with the ship being commissioned in 1823.[1]

## Service history

Lieutenant [Beverley Kennon](/source/Beverley_Kennon) was placed in charge of the vessel, serving under squadron leader commodore [David Porter](/source/David_Porter_(naval_officer)).[1] On February 15, 1823, she sailed off [Hampton Roads](/source/Hampton_Roads) along other members of the anti-piracy operations.[1] By the following month, the Weasel was monitoring the waters in the eastern Caribbean. Porter to assigned it to the [Mona Passage](/source/Mona_Passage) along the brigantine [USS *Spark*](/source/USS_Spark_(1813)) following orders from [United States Secretary of the Navy](/source/United_States_Secretary_of_the_Navy) [Samuel L. Southard](/source/Samuel_L._Southard) as the area had become the operation center of [Roberto Cofresí](/source/Roberto_Cofres%C3%AD) and other pirates.[2] By the year's end, an outbreak of yellow fever forced the *Weasel* to withdraw from the region in order to recruit a new crew.[1]

Returning to the West Indies in 1824, captain [Charles Boarman](/source/Charles_Boarman) was commanded to monitor the western waters of [Puerto Rico](/source/Puerto_Rico) as part of an international force.[3] There, the *Weasel* located a sloop commanded by Cofresí off [Culebra](/source/Culebra,_Puerto_Rico), but it fled to [Vieques](/source/Vieques,_Puerto_Rico) and ran inland into dense vegetation;[3] Boarman could only recover the abandoned vessel.[3] A second outbreak forced another return to the United States, returning in fall.[1] However, the capture of Cofresí in early 1825 resulted in a sharp decline of piracy in the Caribbean. Consequently, the United States Navy sold the schooners that belonged to the West Indies Squadron. The *Weasel* itself was sold to an unknown buyer within a year of Cofresí's capture.[1]

## References

### Notes

1. ["Weasel"](https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/w/weasel.html). Naval History and Heritage Command. Retrieved 2020-07-22.

1. Cardona Bonet 1991, pp. 75

1. Cardona Bonet 1991, pp. 140

### Bibliography

- Cardona Bonet, Walter A. (1991). *El Marinero, Bandolero, Pirata y Contrabandista Roberto Cofresí (1819–1825)*. Sociedad Puertorriqueña de Genealogía. ISBN 9781933545059.

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