Su.wi ,S' KLw (. i ii'i'iR, From a Painting i.\ the VVatercraft Collection (USNM 761 13). The Mctcur, 

 represented in the collection by builder's half-model USNM 76045, was built at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, 

 in 1864 by Tobey and Littlefield from a design by Dennison J. Lawlor. Intended for a cruiser to capture 

 Confederate commerce-destroyers, she was not completed in time to be of service, and was sold to South 

 America, where she took part in the war between Chile and Peru. There she was scuttled to prevent capture. 

 {Smithsonian photo ^^6^g.) 



11 -inch muzzle-loading pivot gun amidships on her 

 lower deck, placed just forward of the mainmast 

 and firing through long ports on either side, or, as 

 an alternative, to have two 10-inch guns there, firing 

 on the broadside. Forward of this she was to have 

 two gunports on each side for 8- or 9-inch muzzle- 

 loading Dalgren guns, and abreast the engine hatch 

 abaft the mainmast two more ports on each side for 

 24- or 32-pounder muzzle-loading columbiads or 

 howitzers. On her spar deck forward she was to 

 have two 30-pounder rifled Parrott guns, muzzle- 

 loaders, as chase guns. She had four tubular l^oilers 

 and an engine having two 62j2-inch by 30-inch 

 cylinders; her propeller was 13 feet 6 inches in diame- 

 ter and 23 feet pitch. All her machinery and her boil- 

 ers were built in Scotland. She was about 400 tons 

 register larger than the Confederate steamer Alabama, 

 and with a speed of about 13 knots was considered to 

 be the fastest ocean-going screw steamer in America 

 at the time she ran her trials off New York. She 



was also said to have been very fast under sail alone; 

 she had a Forbes rig and was heavily sparred. 



The vessel \vas completed too late to be of service 

 in the Civil War. She made several short voyages 

 as a merchant ship but was thought too fast and 

 expensive to operate for that purpose, and was then 

 laid up. There v\-ere no buyers when she was offered 

 for sale in 1865, but on January 23, 1866, she was 

 seized by the U. S. Marshal at the request of the 

 Spanish Ambassador, it being alleged that negotiations 

 were then underway for her purchase by revolution- 

 ists of the rebelling Spanish colonies in South and 

 Central America. The court actions growing out of 

 this incident lasted almost three years. The steamer 

 was sold, however, ostensibly for use in China, but 

 she did not reach there; eventually she took part in 

 the war ijetween Chile and Peru under another 

 name and was destroyed to prevent capture. 



The Meteor was much admired, when iiuildinfi;. for 

 her hull form, which was considered a great acK ancc 



131 



