Named after President Thomas Jefferson's Secretary of the Treasury, the Gallatin was laid down by the David Bell Company at Buffalo, New York, in 1871 and commissioned in 1874. She was equipped with an iron hull and a Fowler patent steering propeller, a six-bladed screw with a separate engine for steering and reversing. Installed in October 1871, the Fowler propeller proved unsatisfactory and required reconstruction. On 4 October 1873, a sea trial of the reconstructed Fowler steering propeller proved to be uneconomical failure and a contract to make alterations was negotiated in March 1874. The Fowler propeller was replaced by the David Bell Company. Gallatin was finally ordered to Boston, Massachusetts, to begin patrol on 23 October 1874.[2][3]
In the morning of 6 January 1892, Capt. Gabrielson was attempting to make the safety of Gloucester Harbor during a snowstorm and became disoriented. The cutter hit Boo Hoo Ledge hard.
The ships Carpenter Mr. J. Jacobson was killed instantly when he was struck by one of the toppling smokestacks. She sank on 6 January 1892, off the northwest side of Boo Hoo Ledge in the Atlantic Ocean off Manchester, Maine, United States, with the loss of one life.
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