Timor

Timor

(Ship: t. 289)

Timor was one of a number of ships acquired early in the Civil War by the Union Navy Department for the purpose of sinking as an obstruction in channels and harbors important to the Confederacy. Purchased on 30 October 1861 at Sag Harbor, N.Y., she sailed with the first contingent of "stone whalers" which departed New England ports on 20 November 1861 bound for Savannah. En route, Atlantic gales severely tried the fleet and damaged Timor's canvas and hull so severely that she was forced to put in at Gloucester on 4 December. After being towed to Boston for repairs, she again set her course southward on 20 December.

No longer required at Savannah, Timor sailed instead to Charleston where, for a short time, she was turned over to the Army Quartermaster. However, when preparations began for blocking Maffitt's Channel, a secondary entrance to Charleston Harbor, Timor was returned to the stone fleet. She was sunk as an obstruction in Maffitt's Channel at the mouth of Charleston harbor on 26 or 26 January 1862, along with some 12 other ships.