Artifact of the Month:
USS Smith-Briggs

Ship Stats
Class: Hudson River Towboat
Length: 135 ft.
Beam: 28 ft.
Paddle Box: 8 ft
Draft: 4 ft
Displacement: 234 tons
Propulsion: Steam
Engine Speed: 30 RPMs
Launched: May 3, 1862
Owner: Schuyler Steam Towing Company, East Albany, N.Y.
Converted to Gunboat: March 1863
Destroyed: Feb. 1, 1864, in Smithfield, Va.

Ship History
The USS Smith-Briggs was built in East Albany, N.Y., as part of the Schuyler Towing Company Fleet serving traffic along the Hudson River. The U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps leased the

boat for $200 a day and refitted it as a gunboat. The crew set sail for Hampton Roads and arrived at the Portsmouth Navy Yard to be fitted with guns and armor.

According to James J. Booth, a local resident working at the shipyard, once the boat’s crew found out that she was to be fitted as a gunboat, they all left. A 32-pound Parrott rifle and a 42-pound banded rifle gun were added on deck. Armor plating was fitted on the edges of the open deck.

By some accounts, the USS Smith-Briggs was considered Maj. Gen. Benjamin Butler’s favorite boat. It saw action on the Nansemond River, Chuckatuck Creek, James River, York River and Rappahannock River.

During the engagement at Smithfield on Feb. 1, 1864, while attempting to rescue Union forces, Confederate troops fired a shot into the Smith-Briggs’ steam chest and disabled her. The vessel, crew and Union forces were captured, and the boat was salvaged by local residents. Confederate troops destroyed the boat with its own gun powder, and she sank in the Pagan River.

In July 1866, Malby & Brown Salvage Company, Norfolk, Va., won salvage rights to the Smith-Briggs for $675. The owners were paid $45,000 by the U.S. government for the loss of the boat.

Model on display at the
Isle of Wight County Museum. 


Builder: G.H. Pyles
Mr. Pyles is a retired ship designer and has been constructing models for a number of years. Since there is limited information about the boat, this model is a representation of what it looked like before refitting at the Portsmouth Navy Yard.