USS Sylph (1831)

History
United States
Name	USS Sylph
Builder	Dorgin and Baily, Fells Point, Baltimore, Maryland[1]
Launched	1831[1]
Commissioned	19 May 1831
In service	3 June 1831
Fate	Foundered August 1831[1]
General characteristics [1]
Tons burthen	44 (bm)
Sail plan	Schooner
Complement	13
Armament	1 gun

USS Sylph was a schooner launched in 1831 at Baltimore as the mercantile Sarah Ann. The Navy purchased her in April 1831 and renamed her Sylph on 26 April 1831. She underwent fitting out at the Washington Navy Yard and was commissioned there on 19 May 1831 under the command of Lieutenant H. E. V. Robinson.^[1]

Sylph was reported ready for sea on 3 June.^[1] On that day or shortly thereafter she sailed for Norfolk in company with the schooners USS Shark and Fourth of July. The three schooners were under orders to patrol the coasts of the southern states to protect Southern live oak growing on public lands.^[2] (Live oak was then used extensively in shipbuilding.)

Sylph left Norfolk and sailed to Pensacola. Her station was District 7, i.e., the Gulf Coast from the Perdido River (just west of Pensacola), to the mouth of the Sabine River.^[2]

In July 1831 Sylph sailed on her first patrol from Pensacola and was never heard from again.^[3] A vessel reported that during a strong storm near the mouth of the Mississippi she had sighted a ship in distress that was believed to have been Sylph. lost with all 13 crew.^[2][4]

• Delgado, James P. (August 2016). "Missing and Presumed Lost". Naval History Magazine. 30 (4).
•  This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.