VANDALIA

Covers should be listed in chronological order. Use the postmark date or best guess.

Ship Name and Designation History

This section lists the names and designations that the ship had during its lifetime. The list is in chronological order.

USS VANDALIA Screw Sloop
Commissioned January 1876
She served with the European Squadron until late in 1878.
From December 1877 until March 1878, she transported former President Ulysses S. Grant on a tour of the Mediterranean Sea and its historic ports.
Vandalia was assigned to the North Atlantic Squadron from 1879 until 1884
She decommissioned for overhaul in October 1884.
Vandalia recommissioned in February 1886
August 1886, she left the east coast for the long voyage around South America to join the Pacific Station. She served as the Navy's Pacific flagship during much of the next two years.
In early 1889, Vandalia was sent to Samoa to help counter German political and military activities in that island kingdom. While anchored in Apia Harbor, Samoa, on 15-16 March 1889, Vandalia was driven ashore by a violent hurricane. The ship was utterly wrecked, and suffered the loss of 43 of her officers and men, including her Commanding Officer, Captain Cornelius M. Schoonmaker. After recovery of fittings and armament, her wreck was donated to the Samoans for its salvage value and broken up.

Each entry provides a link to the image of the front of the cover. There is also the option to have a link to the image of the back of the cover if there is anything of significance there. Finally, there is the primary date for the cover and the classification types for all postmarks based on the Locy System.

Thumbnail Link To Cachet Close-Up Image	Thumbnail Link To Full Cover Front Image	Thumbnail Link To Postmark or Back Image	Primary Date Postmark Type Killer Bar Text --------- Cachet Category

N/A		N/A	1888-03-12 USPO CDS South Butler, New York
			Mail to Ensign C. E. Sweeting, USN

The piece was mailed from South Butler, New York to the USS VANDALIA, San Francisco CA., in care of the "Navy Pay Agent".

If you have images to add to this page, then either contact the Curator or edit this page yourself and add them. See Editing Ship Cover Pages for detailed information on editing this page.

VANDALIA

Ship Name and Designation History

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