AH-WR-1617

Picket

Army Gunboat · United States · Lost 1862 · The Outer Banks

Picket was a Union army gunboat lost in the Tar River during the Civil War.

Artistic recreation based on recorded historical documents. See the documented evidence.

Interpretive Reconstruction, drawn to convey the vessel's era, type and general form. See the documented evidence.

The Vessel and Her Loss

Picket incorporated an iron hull inside a larger wooden hull and was converted to a screw-propelled gunboat. It served with the Union Army during the Burnside expedition in North Carolina. On 6 September 1862 it fired during the Confederate attack on Washington. Its magazine exploded and the vessel sank in the Tar River.

Vessel

Built: Not established
Builder: Not established
Yard: Not established
Material: Not established
Length: Not established
Beam: Not established
Tonnage: Not established
Propulsion: Steam, screw
Owners: Not established

Loss

Date: September 6, 1862
Cause: Enemy action
Location: Washington, North Carolina
Water: Tar River
Voyage: Not established
Cargo: Not established
Aboard: Not established
Lives lost: Not established
Master: Not established

The Wreck Today

Depth: Not established
Condition: Not established
Orientation: Not established
Discovered: Not established
Protection: Not established

Position

Coordinates: Not established
Accuracy: Position not established
Nearest: Washington, North Carolina
Region: The Outer Banks

No numeric position transcribed from the sources reviewed.

Evidence

Overall confidence: Documented (87/100)

Exact coordinates, depth and casualty totals are not established here.

North Carolina Office of State Archaeology, Eastern North Carolina Civil War Shipwrecks, 1861-1865
Service, loss circumstances and archaeological context; Bazely site 0008ROR and Otsego site 0009ROR are cited in the bibliography.