USCSS Walker Commanders-- Part &: Alban C. Stimers, Chief Engineer of the U.S. Navy During the Civil War

As this list of the USCSS Robert J. Walker shows,  as an early steamer in the service of the U.S. Government, the ship served as a training platform for  a number of officers eager to learn the operation of steamships at a time when there was not enough of such vessels to go around for all those with the desire to learn their operation.

Among those assigned to the Walker by the U.S. Navy was Alban C. Stimers, a 25-year-old second engineer attached to the ship  on November 18, 1852.  Stimers rose rapidly in naval ranks and during the Civil War served as the Chief Engineer of the U.S. Navy.

He played a major role in working with John Ericsson on the construction of the USS Monitor, and sailed with the ironclad, although not a member of the crew,  on its famous voyage south in 1862 and the resulting battle with the CSS Virginia, the former USS Merrimac.

--Old B-Runner

USCSS Walker Officers- Pt. 5: Benjamin Franklin Sands-- Part 1

The next commanding officer of the Walker after Lee was Benjamin Franklin  Sands (1811-1883).  he commanded the Walker longer than anyone.

Sands' autobiography says he took command in 1851 in Mobile, Alabama, and commenced   surveys along the Gulf Coast between Pensacola and the mouth of the Mississippi River.  After that, he took the Walker to Hampton Roads, Virginia, and then to Baltimore , where the ship was laid up.

He and his crew then continued working the local waters in two smaller  coastal schooners.

When the Walker was put back into commission in December 1852,  Sands took the steamer back to the Gulf of Mexico, where he continued command  through 1857.

--Old B-Runner

Officers of CS Ship Robert Walker-- Part 5: Samuel Phillips Lee

SAMUEL PHILLIPS LEE

The USCSS Robert J. walker's next commander was Samuel Phillips Lee (1812-1897).

He also rose to, positions of prominence in naval rank as a Civil War rear admiral.  H commanded the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron for a long time, during which he became very rich with his cut of the prize money from captured blockade runners.

Also, he commanded the Mississippi Squadron and the postwar North Atlantic  Squadron of the U.S. Navy.

He was born in Virginia and was the grandson of Richard Henry Lee and third cousin to Robert E. Lee.  Even so, he continued to serve in the U.S. Navy.

--Old B-Runner

Officers USCSS Walker-- Part 4: James Alden

JAMES ALDEN

Carlile Patterson was followed by Lieutenant James Alden (1810-1877), a promising naval officer who had been on the  Wilkes Expedition,  on board the USS Constitution during a global voyage and the Mexican War where he served withy the Home Squadron off Mexico.

Detached for Coast Survey duty from the summer of 1849 through late winter  1851, Alden commanded  the steamer John Y. Mason and then  the Walker.

After the Walker, he went on to command the Pacific Coast-based USCSS Active until 1860.

A distinguished Civil War career saw Alden promoted  to captain and then commodore. He was also at the two Battles of Fort Fisher.

 Postwar, he served as  a rear admiral  commanding the European Fleet of the U.S. Navy.

--Old B-Runner

Officers of USCSS Robert J. Walker-- Part 3: Carlile Patterson

Lieutenant (Commanding) Carlile P. Patterson (1816-1881) was the Walker's first  Coast Survey commanding officer, assuming his post in Mobile from Captain Evans of he Revenue Marine.

Patterson served with the Coast Survey with distinction as a naval officer on detached service, and commanded the Survey's first ship in the Gulf of Mexico, the schooner  Phoenix, in 1845.

After commanding the Walker, Patterson resigned and headed into merchant service with the Pacific Mail Steamship Company commanding the vessels Oregon and Golden Gate on their regular  voyages from Panama  to San Francisco from 1849 to 1853.  He was in command of the PMSSC Oregon when it brought news that California had been admitted to the Union.

Patterson remained in the West until 1861 with his family.  Returning east when the Civil War started he rejoined the Coast Survey and in 1874, became its Superintendent, a post he held until his death.

--Old B-Runner

Many Notable Officers Assigned to Coast Survey-- Part 2: Porter, Lee, Rodgers, Maffitt and Ammen

Some of the the U.S. officers who served on the Coast Survey ships who went on to achieve greater fame in the Civil War were David Dixon Porter, John Rodgers, Samuel Philips Lee, C.R.P. Rodgers, Thornton Jenkins, Daniel Ammen, C.H. McBlair and Alban Stimers.

Also, John N. Maffitt, who would later gain fame for commanding the CSS Florida and several blockade runners, was ordered to the Coast Survey in 1842, where he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant in 1843 and went on to serve fourteen years   in the hydrographic survey.  He surveyed Nantucket, Massachusetts; Wilmington, North Carolina; Charleston, South Carolina and Savannah, Georgia.  A channel in Charleston Harbor still bears his name.

These and others served on the Coast Survey's steamships.

These ships became an intrinsic part  of great national  endeavors driven by  remarkable changes in transportation  technology, new insights in science of the United States coastline in the first half of the 19th century.

--Old B-Runner

USCSS Robert J. Walker-- Part 6: Discovery of the Wreck

A commercial fisherman found the wreck of the Walker in the 1970s, located  10 nautical miles off the coast of New Jersey in 85 feet of water.  Divers have visited the wreck on a regular bases since then.  But, it  remained unidentified until 2013 when NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) announced  that a positive identification had been made.

On June 21, 2013, the NOAA research ship NOASS  Thomas Jefferson, operating in the area to conduct hydrographic surveys for navigation after Hurricane Sandy, held a wreath -tossing ceremony in the general area of the wreck of the Robert J. Walker to honor its dead on the 153rd anniversary of its sinking.  It was the first commemorative ceremony ever held for them.

The Jefferson then collected survey data using multibeam sonar and sidescan sonar later on that day that established with 80% certainty the identity and location of the wreck.

A NOAA dive team, also in the area for post-Hurricane Sandy operations,  confirmed the wreck's identity on 23 June 2013.  The NOAA used  several key clues to confirm  the identity of the ship, including the size and layout of the iron hull, unique engines, and rectangular portholes.

The NOAA has no plans to raise the wreck, make it a sanctuary, or limit diving on it, but does plan to work with the New Jersey diving community to increase understanding of the wreck.

--Old B-Runner

USCSS Robert J. Walker-- Part 5: Loss

That loss of 20 men was the greatest disaster ever suffered by any of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric  Administration (NOAA).

The commercial schooner R.G. Porter came to the Walker's assistance, recovered her survivors, searched for missing men and  brought the survivors to May's Landing, New Jersey.  Later that day, the Fanny, the schooner that caused the accident, arrived at  Cape May, New Jersey with damage consistent with a collision.

With the Civil War approaching, no inquiry was made into the loss of the Walker.  The Coast Survey did not pursue the Fanny's  presumed culpability in the incident.  No official ceremony was held to honor the lost men.

--Old B-Runner

USCSS Robert J. Walker-- Part 4: Some More Facts and Loss

TYPE OF SHIP:  Survey ship

LENGTH:  133 feet

BEAM:  31 feet

DRAFT:  9 feet 3 inches

PROPULSION:   steam engine, sidewheel

**************************************

LOSS

Early on the morning of  21 June 1860, the Robert J. Walker had completed her most recent  hydrographic survey work and was bound from Norfolk, Virginia, to New York City in rough seas and a crew of 72 and the wife of the executive officer aboard.  At 02:20, a commercial schooner , identified as the  Fanny by the Robert J. walker's crew, collided with her.

The Walker sank  in less than 30 minutes off the coast of New Jersey about 12 nautical miles southeast of the Absecon  Inlet Light, with a loss of 20 men.

--Old B-Runner

USCSS Robert J. Walker-- Part 3: Just the Facts

JUST THE FACTS

NAMESAKE:  Robert J. Walker

United States Senator from Mississippi (1836-1845)

Secretary of the Treasury (1845-1849)

Governor of Kansas Territory (1857)

BUILDER:  Joseph Tomlinson, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

COMPLETED:  1844  (Intended as U.S. Revenue Service cutter, but turned down.)

ACQUIRED:  1848

 IN SERVICE:  1848

FATE: Sunk in collision 21 June 1860

--Old B-Runner

USCSS Robert J. Walker-- Part 2: Work Surveying Mobile Bay and the Gulf Coast

The Walker's first  operations involved surveying the waters of Mobile Bay in 1848.  Her first commanding officer, Carlile P. Patterson, reported that year on her performance and capabilities  with those of sailing ships.

The 1850s were spent charting the waters of the United States Gulf Coast.  

Two men died in 1852 because of disease along the coast.

On the night of 20 January  1858, the Robert J. Walker was at Pensacola, Florida, when a major fire broke out at the Army's Fort Pickens.  Her men and boats, along with  the hydrographic party of the Coast Survey ship USCS Varina, promptly assisted in fighting the fire.

The next day, communication came from Pensacola's commander, Army Captain John Newton of the Army Corps of Engineers, acknowledging the important role the Walker had provided in fighting the fire. 

--Old B-Runner

USCSS Robert J. Walker (1844)-- Part 1: Coast Survey Ship

From Wikipedia

John Julius Guthrie also served on this ship before the Civil War according to one source I found.  But, in addition, it was amazing how many naval officers who gained fame during the Civil War also were on this ship.

The 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 its sinking in 1860 after a collision at sea.  Her loss resulted in the loss of twenty men, the greatest loss of life in a single incident to ever befall the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration or any of its ancestor agencies.

The Robert J. Walker was a sidewheel steamer built in 1844 by Joseph Tomlinson at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, as one of the U.S. government's  first iron-hulled  steamers.  She was among   eight steamers originally intended for the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service, but the Revenue Service decided that steamers were too expensive to maintain and operate, and she instead entered Coast Survey service in 1848.

--Old B-Runner