Colonial Despatches

USS Massachusetts was a wooden steamship of the US Navy.1

It originally operated as a trans-Atlantic auxiliary packet ship and was later used to transport troops during the Mexican War.2 It took part in the Puget Sound War, and spent most of the years 1855-57 along the Pacific Coast of North America.3 It was converted into a barque for use as a storeship in 1863, and was eventually sold in 1867.4

This 1856 despatch mentions its arrival to Victoria.

• 1. Massachusetts, Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.
• 2. Ibid.
• 3. Ibid.
• 4. Ibid.