c.1848/49 "U.S.S. Yorktown Monrovia April 13th" dateline on 4-page letter with salutation "My dear Mrs. Ray", there was more to the latter than this folded sheet as there is no closing and the narrative at the remains an "unfinished" sentence, letter with some dampness staining but still intact and legible, Very Fine (no photo; see online scan)rnThe letter of a personal nature but with some interesting comments regarding Liberia and its people and some of the Yorktown's mission. "..to have the opportunities of studying the character and customs of the Liberian people in public and private..", "I have had the honor of dining with His Excellency the President ....at the ward room of the Yorktown.", "..the Republic of Liberia is a glorious republic. That the sovereign people thereof are free, enlightened and democratic; and that the President is (as one of his aides one day remarked) 'The President is a great nigga." "When we got down there (New Cess), however, we found there was a slave factory to be broken up, which with the assistance of a French steamer they did, capturing the slave-dealers and burning the towns of the chiefs who supported them."rnThe first USS Yorktown was a 16-gun sloop-of-war of the United States Navy used mostly for patrolling in the Pacific and anti-slave trade duties in African waters. She was wrecked off Maio, Cape Verde in 1850. Yorktown ranged up and down the west coast of Africa, going as far south as Cape Town, Cape Colony, as she labored to curtail the slave trade. In the course of her patrols, the sloop captured slave-ships Pons, Panther, and Patuxent. On 2 May 1846, Yorktown departed Porto Praya and returned to the east coast of the United States, reaching Boston on the 29th. There, on 9 June, the sloop was once again decommissioned. Subsequently recommissioned at Boston, she sailed on 22 November 1848 for her second deployment with the African Squadron searching for slave ships. On board at this time as acting Master was future Confederate Navy commander William Harwar Parker. (Image 2) (Image)

CV. 750-1,000