The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 7, July 1903 - April, 1904 Page: 223

Sketch of the Texas Navy.

223

SKETCH OF THE TEXAS NAVY.
GEO. F. FULLER.
I received my appointment as midshipman in the Texas navy
with orders to report for duty on the flagship Austin in May, 1842.
The Austin was then lying in the Mississippi River at New
Orleans. The navy at that time consisted of the following ves-
sels: the Austin,_ sloop-of-war, twenty guns; the two 18-gun brigs
Wharton and Galveston; and the three topsail schooners San An-
tonio, St. Bernard, and San Jacinto. The armament of the
schooners consisted of six 6-pounders each and a long gun on a
traverse circle amidships. These vessels were constructed by a
firm of Baltimore shipbuilders, and were in beauty, speed, and
other seagoing qualities unequalled. There was also an old side-
wheeler, the Zavala, but at that time she was not in commission.
Soon after my joining the Austin, the brig Wharton arrived and
anchored below us. The United States sloop-of-war Ontario was
anchored a short distance further up the river; so that there was
the unusual sight of three men-of-war anchored off New Orleans,
as well as the revenue cutter Hamilton.
The officers of the Austin were Commodore E. W. Moore, in
command; Jas. Moore, commodore's secretary; Alfred Gray, first
lieutenant; Cyrus Cummings, second; - Snow, third; Wilbur,
fourth; Wm. H. Glenn, master; Norman Hurd,. purser; Alfred
Walker, Robert Clements, Fairfax Gray, Andrew J. Bryant, Geo.
F. Fuller, Robert Bradford, and Edward Mason, midshipmen.
The officers of the Wharton were Captain Lothrop, First Lieu-
tenant Lansing, Second Lieutenant Lewis, and Third Lieutenant
Wilbur; midshipmen, Culp, White, Faysoux, and Middleton. The
two other ward room officers of the Austin were Surgeon Ander-
son and his assistant, Surgeon Peacock. The Austin was a ship
of five hundred tons. Her battery of medium 24's was on the
spar deck. Below were the berth deck, the steerage, and the ward
room. Under the latter was the magazine, under the steerage
were the spirit room and purser's stores, and under the berth deck
the provisions and water tanks. The bread was stowed in a locker
,on the starboard side of the steerage, which had a storage capacity
4-Q