Western Metropolis was a wooden side-wheel steamship built in 1863. She was chartered by the quartermaster corps of the Union Army during the American Civil War to provide logistical support. As a transport ship, she was unarmed, but nonetheless captured a Confederate blockade runner. After the war, she was in commercial service for another ten years. Notably, she made five trans-Atlantic voyages and brought several thousand immigrants to the United States from Northern Europe. She was idled in 1875, and had her engine removed in 1878. Her ultimate fate is unknown.
Construction and characteristics
Western Metropolis was commissioned by the Benner and Brown Company, whose principal owners were N. George Griswold, Hiram Benner, and William H. Wall. She was to supply the Union Army's need for additional seaborne shipping to support military forces along the Confederate coast. She was built at the Atlantic Marine Railway Company shipyard in Red Hook, Brooklyn, New York under the supervision of Captain F. Z. Tucker. She was launched on July 25, 1863.
Her frame was and hull planking were constructed entirely of oak. She was long, with a beam of , and a depth of hold of . Her loaded draft was . She displaced 2,250 tons.
The ship was propelled by side-mounted paddlewheels. They were powered by a walking beam steam engine. Its one cylinder had a diameter of and a stroke of . This engine had been used by two previous ships. It had been built in 1848 by Merrick and Towne of Philadelphia for Empire State. It was moved to a previous Western Metropolis in 1856. Both of these ships were steamers on the Great Lakes.
The ship's namesake was the earlier 1856 Western Metropolis, the lake steamer from which the ship's engine was obtained.
Civil War service (18631865) Western Metropolis was chartered by the Quartermaster Corps of the Union Army for $850 a day on December 23, 1863. This contract expired on January 24, 1865. She was put to work immediately. On December 27, 1863, Western Metropolis sailed from New York to Newport, Rhode Island. She arrived the next day to embark the 1st battalion of the 3d Rhode Island Cavalry Regiment which had been ordered to New Orleans. The ship was simply not ready. She took aboard 350 horses but there were no accommodations for the troops or for cooking their meals. It took several days to ready the ship for her first passengers. She reached Fortress Monroe on January 2, 1864 and put in for additional repairs. Three days later she sailed for New Orleans again. She arrived in New Orleans on January 13, 1864 and disembarked her cavalry troops. As an Army transport, Western Metropolis was not an armed vessel. She had no guns mounted. Nonetheless, while returning from New Orleans to New York, she managed to capture a British-flagged blockade runner, Rosita. On January 28, 1864 she observed the ship near Key West and chased her down in three hours. Despite having only three muskets and no ammunition, Captain William B. Hilton organized a boarding party of passengers and crew that seized the ship. Upon taking control, her captors found that Rosita was in the process of being scuttled. Her seacocks were open and the ship was flooding. Further, a safety valve on the steam engine was closed, creating the likelihood of a boiler explosion. Quick work resolved both threats and Rosita was towed to Key West as a prize of war. After her adventurous trip, the ship arrived in New York on February 3, 1864.
Western Metropolis made two trips between Boston and Hilton Head, South Carolina to move units of the 4th Massachusetts Cavalry Regiment. The 2nd battalion left Boston on March 20, 1864 and arrived on April 1. The 3rd battalion and 150 men from the 1st battalion sailed on April 23, 1864 and arrived on April 27. During the first trip, at 4 am on March 24, 1864, Western Metropolis collided with the fishing schooner Triumph near Nantucket, Massachusetts. The schooner sank immediately taking two of her crew with her. Her remaining three crewman were rescued. In subsequent litigation Western Metropolis was held at fault for the collision for lack of an adequate lookout.
