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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
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WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060

Photo # NH 53957:  USS Frolic at Naples, Italy, circa 1865-69

Online Library of Selected Images:
-- U.S. NAVY SHIPS --

USS Frolic (1864-1883).
Named Advance until 1865

USS Frolic, an 880-ton side-wheel steamer, was originally built as a civilian packet at Greenock, Scotland, in 1862. She operated as the Confederate blockade runner Advance from 1863 until her capture by USS Santiago de Cuba on 10 September 1864. Purchased by the U.S. Navy from the prize court in that month, she was commissioned as USS Advance in October 1864. During the rest of that year, and into 1865, she was active off the North Carolina coast and took part in the assaults on Fort Fisher in December 1864 and January 1865. Advance went to New York in March 1865 and was out of commission there until June, when she was placed back into service and renamed Frolic.

Frolic was then assigned to the European Squadron as a dispatch vessel, a mission for which she was well suited by virtue of her small size and good speed. Arriving at Flushing, the Netherlands, in July 1865, she operated in northern European waters and in the Mediterranean until 1869. Again out of commission from May to September 1869, Frolic's next active service was patrolling the North Atlantic fishing grounds in April-October 1870. After another period in reserve, she operated off New England for several months in 1872 and was then station ship at New York. In 1875-77, she cruised in South American waters as a unit of the South Atlantic Squadron. Decommissioned for the last time in October 1877, USS Frolic was sold in October 1883. She was a civilian ship, retaining the name Frolic, for a few years after that.

This page features all our views related to USS Frolic (1864-1883), formerly USS Advance.

For views of this ship while she was in Confederate service, see:

  • Advance (Confederate Blockade Running Steamer, 1863-1864).


    If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."

    Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.

    Photo #: NH 53957

    USS Frolic (1864-1883)


    At Naples, Italy, circa 1865-1869.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 128KB; 740 x 615 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 66273

    USS Frolic (1864-1883)


    Contemporary photograph of an artwork, depicting her in the Bay of Naples, with Mount Vesuvius in the background, about 1866.

    Collection of Rear Admiral Ammen C. Farenholt, USN(MC).

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 63KB; 740 x 315 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 66972

    USS Frolic (1864-1883)


    Watercolor by Erik Heyl, for use in his book "Early American Steamers", Volume III.

    Courtesy of Erik Heyl.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 51KB; 740 x 350 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 59170

    "Second Attack upon Fort Fisher, showing the positions of the vessels, and the lines of fire", 13-15 January 1865


    Chart by Walter A. Lane, published in "The Soldier in our Civil War", Volume II.
    The positions of 58 ships are represented on the chart.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 216KB; 825 x 1225 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 2095

    Passed Assistant Surgeon James J. Allingham, USN


    Monument at Cherbourg, France, erected to his memory by the Officers and Crew of the U.S. Steamer Frolic. He had died at Cherbourg on 14 October 1865.
    Photographed circa the early 1900s.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 109KB; 510 x 765 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 2096

    Passed Assistant Surgeon James J. Allingham, USN


    Monument at Cherbourg, France, erected to his memory by the Officers and Crew of the U.S. Steamer Frolic. He had died at Cherbourg on 14 October 1865, at the age of 27.
    Photographed circa the early 1900s.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 113KB; 510 x 765 pixels

     

    For views of this ship while she was in Confederate service, see:

  • Advance (Confederate Blockade Running Steamer, 1863-1864).


    If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."


    Return to Naval Historical Center home page.

    Page made 16 January 2001
    Link added 17 July 2002