Vol. 64, No. 1 Spring 2019 58


3. President James Buchanan and his cabinet offi cers with Howell Cobb standing second from the right. (Library of Congress photograph)


Service’s fi rst successful side paddlewheel steamer; however, the ship carried a two-masted brigantine sail rig in case the steam power plant malfunctioned. Powered by an inclined direct-acting steam engine, Harriet Lane’s top speed of 14 knots under steam made it one of the day’s fastest Federal ships. Harriet Lane carried a powerful 32-pound pivot gun, four 24-pound cannons and one 12-pound boat howitzer making this not only the fastest, but also the largest and most heavily armed cutter in the revenue cutter fl eet. Aſt er the cutter’s commissioning, Harriet Lane sent a portrait of herself to the cutter, which she called “my boat,” and she maintained a close relationship with the crew.


Cutter Harriet Lane’s operational fame began in its fi rst year as part of the 1858 South American Punitive Expedition against Paraguay. T e cutter’s


fi rst captain, John Faunce, had been an offi cer in the Revenue Cutter Service over fi ſt een years and had served as a captain for three. Faunce won national acclaim for the cutter’s essential role in supporting the Punitive Expedition as it steamed up the Paraná River to Paraguay. T e cutter’s steam power and relatively shallow draſt of ten feet allowed it to navigate waters too shallow for the Navy’s warships. T e expedition’s Navy commodore, William Shubrick, reported “. . . it is proper that I express my sense of appreciation of the skill and zeal with which Captain Faunce has used this very effi cient vessel in extricating us from our diffi culties. USS Fulton would have been lost altogether, if not for the assistance aff orded by the Harriet Lane.”


In 1860, the cutter returned to New York and, for the next year, performed the usual duties as part of the


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