ROBERT J. WALKER (shipwreck and remains)

About this property

USCS Robert J. Walker was a survey ship that served in the United States Coast Survey, a predecessor of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey, from 1848 until sinking in 1860 after a collision at sea. Her loss resulted in the death of 21 men, the greatest loss of life in single incident ever to befall the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration or any of its ancestor agencies. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on March 19, 2014. Robert J. Walker was a 358-ton sidewheel paddle steamer built in 1844 by Joseph Tomlinson at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, as one of the United States Government's first iron-hulled steamers. She was among eight steamers originally intended for the United States Revenue Marine (renamed the United States Revenue Cutter Service in 1893). Robert J. Walker was one of two experimental sidewheel designs created by United States Navy officer William W. Hunter. She was launched on 27 November 1847. Richard Evans, the commandant of the Revenue Marine, was also her first commanding officer, called her "the finest iron vessel ever built in this country." Robert J. Walker departed Pittsburgh bound for her intended home port at Mobile, Alabama, in December 1847, but never entered her home port and instead was transferred in 1848 to the United States Coast Survey (renamed the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey in 1878). The Revenue Marine had decided that the steamers were too expensive to maintain and operate due to leaky hulls and excessive coal consumption. In Coast Survey service, Robert J. Walker's first operations involved conducting hydrographic surveys of the waters of Mobile Bay on the coast of Alabama in 1848. Her first Coast Survey commanding officer, Carlile P. Patterson, reported that year on her performance and capabilities compared with those of sailing ships. Robert J. Walker spent the 1850s charting the waters of the United States Gulf Coast. She suffered deaths among her crew in 1852 when two men — her second and third assistant engineers — died of disease during an epidemic along the Gulf Coast. On the night of 20 January 1858, Robert J. Walker was at Pensacola, Florida, when a major fire broke out at the United States Army's Fort Pickens. Her men and boats, along with the hydrographic party of the Coast Survey steamer USCS Varina, promptly assisted in fighting the fire. The next day, Robert J. Walker's commanding officer received a communication from Captain John Newton of the United States Army Corps of Engineers, commanding the harbor of Pensacola, acknowledging the important firefighting service rendered by Robert J. Walker.

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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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