Name Active Christened SS Gold Hunter | Launched 5 September 1849 Completed November 1849 | |
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Builder J. A. Westervelt (New York, NY) Acquired (by U.S. Coast Survey) 1852 | ||
Active was a survey ship that served in the United States Coast Survey, a predecessor of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey, from 1852 to 1861.
Active was a sidewheel steamer. Intended for California service, she was built as SS Gold Hunter by Jacob Aaron Westervelt in New York in 1849. The Coast Survey purchased her on the United States West Coast in 1852 and renamed her Active. Lieutenant James Alden, Jr., was her commanding officer for most of her time in active Coast Survey service.
Active served on the U.S. West Coast. She conducted the Coast Survey's first reconnaissance from San Francisco, California, to San Diego, California, in 1852.
Active sometimes stepped outside her normal Coast Survey duties to support U.S. military operations, serving as a troop transport and dispatch boat during various wars with Native Americans and during the San Juan Islands "Pig War" with the United Kingdom in 1859. She also rushed Union troops to Los Angeles, California, in 1861 during the early stages of the American Civil War.
Active was taken out of Coast Survey service in 1861 and sold in 1862.