USS Hope was a 19th-century wooden yacht schooner, designed and built in 1861 by Henry Steers for Captain Thomas B. Ives of Providence, Rhode Island. She was acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was placed into service as a gunboat assigned to support the fleet blockading the ports of the Confederate States of America. However, at times, Hope was assigned extra tasks, such as that of a dispatch boat, supply runner and salvage ship. She was a pilot boat from 1866 to 1891 and in 1891 she was replaced by the Herman Oelrichs, when the Hope was wrecked ashore the Sandy Hook Point. Service history Yacht Hope was launched from the shipyard of Henry Steers at Greenpoint, Brooklyn on March 11, 1861. She was designed and built by Henry Steers for Captain Thomas Boynton Ives, Esq, of Providence in 1861. A large crowd of witnesses were at the scene including Henry Steers and Moses H. Grinnell. She was christened "Hope," a symbol of the feeling in every pilot about their boat. US Navy career Hope, a wooden schooner, was purchased by the Navy 29 November 1861 from Thomas B. Ives, and commissioned at New York City 14 December 1861, Acting Master M. S. Chase in command. Hope spent the war with the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron based at Port Royal, South Carolina. She acted as a dispatch vessel supply boat for ships to the southward. In 1862 she took part in the blockade off Fernandina and the adjacent coast of Florida. While patrolling off Charleston, South Carolina, on 27 January 1863, Hope captured the schooner Emma Tuttle, with a cargo of saltpeter for the Confederates. In June, the ship returned north for repairs at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and in July resumed blockade station off Charleston. Throughout most of 1864, Hope remained off Charleston as a blockader, helping to tighten the noose, which did so much to choke the rebellion. She also performed limited dispatch and supply boat duty. Hope captured sloop Racer, her second prize, off Bull's Bay 1 August 1864. Shortly afterward the ship was fitted for diving duty and in October began salvage operations in the Savannah River, raising hulks and other obstacles. After the fall of Savannah, Georgia, in December, Hope worked on the salvage of CSS Savannah, and in the spring moved to Charleston to carry out similar duties in the Charleston