USS Columbus
11 April 2004 00:00

For some reason I've recently become intererested in tall ships and sailing. I think it started when we watched a recent movie that was a remake of the Swiss Family Robinson adventure. Can't remember offhand what is was called, but it got me interested, so I pulled out my copy of Treasure Island, and read through that. Last night I read an old Jack London story, "The seed of McKoy" or something like that. Also good. I think I'd like to try the Patrick O'Brian novels as well. How is this related to genealogy? Well, Eph Hanks, along with a friend, as the story goes, "traveled to Boston [in 1842] where they signed up for what they thought was a freighting job on the ocean, but turned out to be a three year hitch in the Navy aboard the U.S.S. Columbus." (Richard Hanks Master's Thesis, page 14). So today I found a page on the U.S. Navy's history website about the U.S.S. Columbus (see the image at right). The deployment dates of the ship, from 1842 - 1844, match up with the time Eph was enlisted. I'd like to see if I can find ships logs for the boat.