The passenger-cargo steamer Fah-Kee (or Fah Kee) was launched in 1862 at Greenpoint, Brooklyn and operated on the United States coast until purchased in July 1863 by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. The Navy used USS Fahkee as a collier and freight supply ship assigned to assist Union Navy ships patrolling Confederate waterways. At the end of the war she returned to mercantile service, as a mail ship to Cuba and Bermuda. In 1872 she was sold to Canadian owners, and renamed Pictou for service between that port and Quebec. In November 1873 she went missing and was believed lost by fire. Construction and commercial service Fah Kee or Fah-Kee, designed to carry both cargo and passengers was built of white oak in 1862 by the New York shipbuilder Edward F. Williams at his yard at Greenpoint, Brooklyn. She measured , with a length of , beam of , depth of hold and draft of . The ship was powered by a 300hp steam engine with a single vertical cylinder of 42 inches diameter and 42 inches stroke, made by Pusey and Jones of Wilmington, Delaware and driving a single propeller. In addition, she carried sail, rigged as a brigantine. The ship, intended for trading in the Far East, was launched on 24 November 1862 for Wetmore & Cryder of New York City, and named Fah Kee ("flowery flag" in Cantonese), a Chinese nickname for the USA. By then, however, she was already expected to be taken up for service with the United States Navy. Nevertheless, when Fah Kee was completed in February 1863, she was sold to the Adams Express Company and put into passenger-cargo service between the ports of New York, Beaufort, North Carolina and Port Royal, South Carolina. On 15 July the ship was purchased by the Union Navy. Civil War service North Atlantic Blockade USS Fahkee was commissioned on 24 September 1863 with Acting Master F. R. Webb in command, and served the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron as a collier and freight supply ship from the time of her commissioning to the close of the war. She carried cargo from New York City, Norfolk, Virginia, and Newport News, Virginia to the fleet on the North Carolina coast, as well as providing towing services and patrolling on blockade at frequent intervals. Operation in Battle Fahkee first came under fire on 3 January 1864 in