In 1859 build at New York as the ferryboat Ethan Ellen was she purchased on 2 October 1861 by the Union navy and in the same month commissioned, after being decommissioned at the Washington Navy Yard on 5 May 1856 was she the same year sold on 20 July. With a displacement of 515 long tons/520 tons were her dimensions 143’x 33’x 9’ or 44 x 10 x 2,7 metres. The steam engine allowed a speed of 8 knots. Her crew numbered 96 men and her armament consisted of 1-100pdr rifle gun and 3-9” smoothbore guns.
She was heavily damaged during an expedition up the James River in begin August 1863 when a torpedo (mine) exploded. In his book The bugle blast, or, Spirit of the conflict: comprising naval and military exploits, dashing raids, heroic deeds, thrilling incidents, sketches, anecdotes etc. etc. the author E.S.S. Rouse described in 1864 on page 314 what happened:
“On the 4th of August, 1863, an expedition left Fortress Monroe, under the direction of Major-General Foster, accompanied by the turreted iron-clad Sagamon, and gunboats Commodore Barney and Cohasset, and proceeded up James river. When within seven miles of Fort Darling, at a point called Dutch Gap, a torpedo was exploded under the bow of the Commodore Barney, by a lock strongly connected with the shore. The explosion was terrific. It lifted the gun-boat's bow ten feet out of the water, and threw large quantities of water high into the air, which, falling on deck, washed overboard fifteen of the crew. Among "them was Lieutenant Gushing, Commander of the Barney. Two sailors were drowned, and the rest were saved. Major-General Foster was on board when the explosion took place. The enemy then opened, on them from the shore with 12-pound field-pieces. The Barney was penetrated by fifteen shots, besides a great number of musket-balls, but not a man was injured except the Paymaster, who was slightly wounded by splinters. The object of the reconnoisance being effected, the fleet returned. The Barney went to Newport News for repairs.”
The beautiful sharp picture is made in the period 1860-1865 by Mathew Brady (1823-1896) and preserved in the National Archives and Records Administration, see the link: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gunboat_%22Commodore_Barney%22_-_NARA_-_524601.tif
